BWW Interviews - Andy Blankenbuehler Talks Tonight's PBS ANNIE Special; Plus Next Projects FLY and ONLY GOLD!

How do you take seven, young talented actresses, a Tony Award winning score by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin and a beloved musical whose original production is firmly etched in the minds of any audience member who was lucky enough to have seen it at the Alvin (now Neil Simon) theater in the 1970's, and turn it into a hit Broadway revival? That was the daunting task faced by choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler. The Tony winner is no stranger to Broadway musicals, having appeared in such productions as 1992's Guys and Dolls and 1998's Fosse and having choreographed such memorable shows as In the Heights and Bring It On.

Blankenbuehler spoke exclusively to BWW about the new PBS documentary - ANNIE: It's the Hard-Knock Life, From Script to Stage, which follows the cast and creative team of the 2012 Broadway revival as they prepared for the production of the iconic musical number "It's the Hard-Knock Life." The special premieres tonight, Friday, June 28 on PBS.

Andy, thanks for taking time out of your hectic schedule to speak with us. In the special you call the song 'Hard Knock Life', "music of the underdog" How do you go about translating that idea into dance?

I love the dramatic idea of an underdog...of a hero fighting for his or her chance. For me, there are some immediate physical ideas that come to mind when I imagine that type of fight. The positions have to be strong and aggressive. Immediately, I think of the position of the feet getting wider. A wider stance shows that the character is primed for action. Also, the movement should all lean forward...leaning into the battle. And, with "It's the Hard-Knock Life," I also quickly found that the actions most clearly matched the idea and music when they were angular like gears of machinery.

Can you talk a little about choreographing a revival versus a new, original show. What extra pressures and expectations does a revival bring?

In one way a revival is a bit easier to do in that the material is already established. You're not struggling for the bigger ideas of how to musicalize the story. That's already been done. In this case with ANNIE, it's been done brilliantly. But the hard thing is to have a new take on the material while being true to the expectation that is bound to be there. In some ways, it's like painting within the lines rather than starting from scratch. You want to paint with as intense and lively colors as possible, but at the same time, there are lines to stay within. That's an interesting challenge.

What are the challenges of teaching choreography to kids versus adults?

I've worked with kids a lot, but I learned some new lessons with this production of ANNIE. I found that the kids will rise to your challenges. Even if they can't get the material at first, if they are drilled and drilled, they will get the material. It pays to have as much of the material prepared in advance so that you can just start working those ideas. You want the material to be organic and to be suited to the strengths of the kids, but if you leave too much up for experimentation, there isn't the time to perfect through repetition. With adults, you generally don't have to reserve so much time for the repetition, so you can spend more time experimenting.

In the special, it was so interesting to see the interaction between you and the show's set designer, David Korins and learn how the two jobs overlap. At what point in a show's development do you typically become involved with set design?

Every show is a bit different. I think that the more the movement is integral to the playing of the show, the earlier I get involved with the design team. I have worked with David Korins a lot so we have a great way of sharing ideas. I love for my ideas to be directly tied to the environment so I like to be talking design as early as possible. There's nothing more frustrating to me than to do a full draft of the material without having very specific design ideas to latch onto. And, Korins and I have a great time in building that foundation. It was great in the ANNIE process, for director James Lapine to invite me into those design conversations very early on.

You have a great line in the documentary which is, "you have to make mistakes to find out what doesn't work to get to what does work." Is this a philosophy you follow in all your productions or was it specific to Annie?

I have to admit that I really hate to make mistakes. It's hard for me to admit that after all of these years, every time out is still a learning process. Some people love that life keeps bringing you lessons, but sometimes my ego struggles with that. With ANNIE, I learned a lot of lessons, and I think that I made a lot of mistakes along the way. Some I think I figured out in time to fix for the production....some I didn't really understand until everything was finished. Those lessons will hugely impact my work in the future.

I was lucky to be sitting at this year's Tony Awards, and a lifetime achievement awardwas being given to Ming Cho Lee. One of the first things that he said as he was accepting his award was about how important failure was. Having a wrong answer is so difficult, especially when it's on display for thousands and thousands of people, but if we stay open, it can open the door to big improvements in the future.

Who are some of your greatest influences as far as choreographers?

Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Michael Bennett were choreographers that inspired me from the start. Some new inspirations include Steven Hoggett and Susan Stroman.

What's up next for you? When can we hope to see your wonderful work back on a Broadway stage?

Right now I'm actually out of town opening a new musical called FLY. It's a contemporary retelling of Peter Pan. It's a lot of the same people who made IN THE HEIGHTS, and it's going really well. So, hopefully we'll be making our way to New York soon. I'm also working on a new piece called ONLY GOLD with British singer/songwriter Kate Nash. It's a full-length dance narrative, and I'm really excited about continuing to work on that new endeavor.

The documentary "ANNIE: It's the Hard-Knock Life, From Script to Stage" premieres tonight, Friday, June 28 at 9 p.m. (check local listings) on PBS.

About Andy Blankenbuehler:

Andy Blankenbuehler has appeared on Broadway in many musicals, from Guys and Dolls (1992) to Fosse (1998). His Broadway work as a choreographer includes the musicals In the Heights (2007-08) and 9 to 5 (2008-09).

He won the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for his choreography for In the Heights. Other New York work includes choreography for the "Broadway By The Year:1930, 1938 and 1978" series, and the City Center Encores! productions of The Apple Tree (2006) and The Wiz(2009).

He served as director and choreographer of the Tony-nominated production Bring It On: The Musical, written by Jeff Whitty, with music by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tom Kitt and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Amanda Green.

Additionally, Blankenbuehler choreographed the Frank Wildhorn world premiere production of Waiting for the Moon. He was nominated for a Barrymore Award for Choreographing the show.

Blankenbuehler has choreographed for Bette Midler and directed, choreographed and co-conceived the production "Nights On Broadway" at Caesars Palace. In 2012, he served as choreographer for the revival of "Annie" at the Palace Theater.

About PBS's ANNIE: It's the Hard-Knock Life, From Script to Stage:

Filmmaker Joshua Seftel and his crew spent more than six months following the cast and creative team of the 2012 Broadway revival as they prepared for the production of the iconic musical number "It's the Hard-Knock Life."

Through casting and rehearsals to the Opening Night performance, the film captures the work that goes into a Broadway production, with a special emphasis on the choreographer (Andy Blankenbuehler - recently nominated for a Tony for his work with Bring It On: The Musical), the costume designer (Susan Hilferty - Tony winner for Wicked), and the set designer (David Korins) as they ready the young actors who play the orphans for the stage, most of the girls making their Broadway debut.

Photo credit: Joan Marcus

Photos courtesy of PBS