Interview: CHOREOGRAPHERS ELLENORE SCOTT & AYODELE CASEL GIVE FUNNY GIRL'S SAGA FLAIR, FUN & FINESSE
by Valerie-Jean Miller - May 28, 2024
VJM: Thank you both for giving of your time to answer my questions. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of two Choreographers being hired for the same Broadway show, not even a revival, that I can think of. How did that come about for both of you? Ellenore Scott: Funny Girl was my Broadway debut as a choreographer. I was so happy when I got a call from Michael Mayer (the director) asking me to work on this revival with him. He knew I was NOT a tap dancer and was aware of the multiple tap routines in the show and asked if I would be down to share the billing with Ayodele Casel. Ayo is an extraordinary artist so I was thrilled to be by her side as she made her Broadway debut as well. Michael first met me initially at Head Over Heels on Broadway where I was an associate choreographer to Spencer Liff. In 2019, he asked if I would choreograph the Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors and we opened the show October 17th, 2019. I have loved working with Michael and feel as though he keeps his people close and I’m grateful he thought of me for this historic revival. Ayodele Casel: I met Michael Mayer in 2016 when he directed a New York City Center Encores! show I performed in. Later that fall he invited me to perform that piece in a Broadway for Hillary fundraiser he was also directing. We'd kept in touch over the years and in 2019, after seeing a show I’d premiered at The Joyce Theater, he asked if I would be interested in providing the Tap choreography for a revival he was working on. Like Ellenore shared, Michael wanted to work with us both to deliver the full choreographic vision of the show. I believe it was a very progressive vision on his part and I’m really thankful that I was able to make my Broadway debut with this team.
BWW Previews: THE GOOD SWIMMER World Premiere at BAM Fishman Space
by Cindy Sibilsky - Nov 25, 2018
The saying, 'Good things come to those who wait,' could certainly be applied to the world premiere of The Good Swimmer playing at BAM's Fishman Space as part of the Next Wave festival from November 28th-December 1st. Defined as a pop requiem for the youth of the Vietnam War, this collaboration between Heidi Rodewald (music) and Donna Di Novelli (lyrics) directed by Kevin Newbury has been the better part of a decade in the making since the two women began working on the piece at a Eugene O'Neill Theater Center residency and left with three songs based on text from out-of-print lifesaving manuals that would become the foundation of The Good Swimmer -- the title song, 'Red Cross' and 'Double Drowning'.
BWW Exclusive: National Music Theater Institute Embraced by Broadway
by National Theater Institute - Oct 6, 2014
The National Music Theater Institute (NMTI) students have just returned to campus from two weeks training in New York City; scroll down for photos from the visit! NMTI is the newest credit-earning, semester-long intensive from the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Utilizing the O'Neill's 50-year experience in training young theater artists and history of developing new musicals (including Nine, Avenue Q, In The Heights, [title of show], and Violet), NMTI offers broad-based training in all areas of musical theater: acting, singing, directing, writing, dance, composition, and choreography. In addition to the semester's rigorous curriculum-classes 14 hours a day, 7 days a week with emphasis on collaboration and the creation of original work- two weeks of the semester are spent learning in the epicenter of American music theater.
Photo Coverage: Doubt Opens on Broadway
by Walter McBride - Apr 1, 2005
The MTC production of DOUBT, the new play by John Patrick Shanley, celebrated its Broadway opening on Thursday, March 31st.
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