TIVO RED ALERT!!! JEROME ROBBINS: Something to Dance About Airs Tomorrow Night in NYC

DO NOT miss this! FANTASTIC!!! I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of this extraordinary, and quite thorough 2-hour film, on The Life and career of the singularly gifted Broadway choreographer. Directed and produced by six-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Judy Kinberg and written by best-selling Robbins Biographer Amanda Vaill, this PBS presentation, having its Thirteen/WNET premiere on February 18, 2009, at 9 p.m., will make your jaw drop.

Other markets should check their local listings.

My goodness, where to begin? Jerome Robbins had an extraordinary career and a reputation to go with it. The program is bursting with a cast of actors, dancers, choreographers, composers, designers, lyricists - among them ... Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Martins, Chita Rivera, Suzanne Farrell, Rita Moreno, Jacques d'Amboise and his daughter Charlotte, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents ... you name it, eagerly sharing stories and information on the master .. and the footage .. eye-popping! I even got melancholy when the late Gerald Schoenfeld spoke of the extraordinary demand, by Robbins, that Jerome Robbins BROADWAY be given a 23 week rehearsal period.

Probably the most amazing information here, was learning that Robbins kept journals throughout his lengthy and astonishing career. All the heartbreak and darkness are present, also. Romantic and political. It's all here .. the stars, the dancers, the shows, the ballets, rare rehearsal footage .. even an ex-fiance. Jerry Robbins, after Agnes DeMille, changed EVERYTHING! Narrated by Ron Rifkin, this program, part of the AMERICAN MASTERS Series, can also be purchased. Riveting! I am also now "chomping at the bit" for another look at West Side Story .. which is headed our way!

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