Everything about Susan Stroman totally explained
Susan Stroman (born
October 17,
1954) is an
AmericanTony Award-winning
Broadway director,
choreographer,
film director, and performer.
Biography
Early life
Stroman was born in
Wilmington, Delaware, to Frances and Charles Stroman. She was exposed to show tunes by her
piano-playing
salesman father. She began studying dance, concentrating on jazz, tap, and
ballet at the age of five. She studied under
James Jamieson at the
Academy of the Dance in Wilmington. She majored in English at the
University of Delaware; her first professional appearance was in
Hit the Deck at the
Goodspeed Opera House in 1974. After graduating in 1976, she moved to
New York City.
Career
Stroman's first big break came when director
Scott Ellis hired her to choreograph his
off-Broadway revival of
Flora the Red Menace at the Vineyard Theatre in
Greenwich Village in 1987. Her work there was seen by
Hal Prince, who hired her to work on the dance sequences for his
New York City Opera production of
Don Giovanni. Her first Broadway credit was as an ensemble member in the 1979 musical
Whoopee!. In 1980 she was assistant director, assistant choreographer, and dance captain for
Musical Chairs. She earned her third Broadway credit for her collaboration with director, and then-future husband,
Mike Ockrent (1946-1999) on
Crazy for You in 1992.
In 1994, Stroman collaborated with Prince on a revival of
Show Boat, where she unleashed some of her most innovative ideas. She added several dance montages to the show, complete with a revolving door, to help guide the audience through the generations that are covered in the show. Stroman heavily researched the period in which the show takes place and learned
African-Americans are credited for inventing the
Charleston. She used information in designing of the montages, as the popular dance is introduced by and eventually appropriated from the black characters.
After suffering two major failures with
Big, The Musical (1996) and
Steel Pier (1997), Stroman was approached by
Lincoln Center's artistic director
Andre Bishop, who offered her assistance in developing the project of her choice. She and
John Weidman, who had written the book for
Big, began working on what would become the three-part "dance play"
Contact which she choreographed as well as directed. The show opened at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theater in the fall of 1999, and later transferred upstairs to the larger
Vivian Beaumont Theater (where it was reclassified as a musical, and won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical).
While preparing for
Mel Brooks' musical version of
The Producers, Stroman's husband Ockrent lost his battle with
leukemia, and she assumed the reins of the production. Its success and record twelve
Tony Awards proved a bittersweet triumph. In 2005, she made her directorial debut as a feature filmmaker with
a big screen adaptation of the show. In 2007, she collaborated with Brooks again, this time as the director and choreographer of the musical
Young Frankenstein which is currently running on Broadway.
Awards and nominations
Awards
Nominations
1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Choreography - Liza Minnelli Live from Radio City Music Hall
1996 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Big
1997 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Steel Pier
2000 Tony Award for Best Choreography - The Music Man
2000 Tony Award for Best Director - Contact
2000 Tony Award for Best Director - The Music Man
2002 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Oklahoma!
Stage productions
1994 Picnic (choreographer of Musical Interludes) (Broadway)
1994 A Christmas Carol (choreographer) (Madison Square Garden)
1998 Oklahoma! (choreographer) (West End)
2000 The Music Man (director/choreographer) (Broadway)
2001 Thou Shalt Not (director/choreographer/creator) (Broadway)
2002 Oklahoma! (Choreographer) (Broadway)
2004 The Frogs (director/choreographer) (Broadway)
2004 Double Feature (ballet): Makin' Whoopee / The Blue NecklaceFurther Information
Get more info on 'Susan Stroman'.
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