People that you consider Geniuses?- Page 3

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/26/14 at 2:46pm

Beyond those few geniuses who have written or composed great musical theater, I agree that there is a wider second category of brilliant men who have shepherded great works to the stage-- directors, choreographers, designers. I'm still miserly giving out the title Genius though:

Jerome Robbins: for changing the way dance BECAME the story in the 1st Golden Age from ON THE TOWN to FIDDLER
Hal Prince: for directing nearly a dozen masterworks of the second Golden Age, from SHE LOVES ME to PHANTOM

Of those I'm not sure I'd call a genius--
Bob Fosse: sure he rewrote the way bodies move on Broadway, but his body of great shows is small.
Michael Bennet: I'm at a disadvantage, having only seen his SEESAW, ACL, DREAMGIRLS and BALLROOM myself. Can I call him a genius based on 2 masterpieces plus what I've heard FOLLIES staging was like? Sorry, nope.
George Abbott: Same disadvantage-- I'm too young to have seen any of his 100's of shows. My sense is he was adverse to breaking traditions though, something a genus tries to do every time up at bat.
Tommy Tune: Too few masterpieces to judge.

I have no reservations calling the following designers geniuses, but the word means just a bit less here:

Jo Mielziner
Boris Aronson
Ming Cho Lee
Tony Walton
Patricia Zipprodt
Florence Klotz
Jean Rosenthal
Tharon Musser

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/26/14 at 2:47pm

double post

Updated On: 7/26/14 at 02:47 PM