Susan Stroman (born October 17, 1954) is a Tony Award-winning American Broadway director, choreographer, film director, and performer.
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Biography
Early life
Stroman was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Frances and Charles Stroman.[1] 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 future husband) Mike Ockrent 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). 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 huge success - and record twelve Tony Awards - proved to be a bittersweet triumph for the grieving widow. In 2005, she made her directorial debut as a feature filmmaker with a big screen adaptation of the show. In 2007, she will collaborate with Brooks again, this time as the director and choreographer of the musical Young Frankenstein which is currently running on Broadway.
Additional stage credits
- 1990 A Little Night Music (Choreographer) (New York City Opera)
- 1991 And The World Goes 'Round (Conceiver/Choreographer) (off-Broadway)
- 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/Conceiver) (Broadway)
- 2002 Oklahoma! (Choreographer) (Broadway)
- 2004 The Frogs (Director/Choreographer) (Broadway)
Awards and nominations
- 1992 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Crazy for You (winner)
- 1995 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Show Boat (winner)
- 1996 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Big (nominee)
- 1997 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Steel Pier (nominee)
- 2000 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Contact (winner)
- 2000 Drama Desk Award for Best Choreography for Contact (winner)
- 2000 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Direction for Contact (winner)
- 2000 Tony Award for Best Choreography for The Music Man (nominee)
- 2000 Tony Award for Best Director for Contact (nominee)
- 2000 Tony Award for Best Director for The Music Man (nominee)
- 2001 Tony Award for Best Choreography for The Producers (winner)
- 2001 Tony Award for Best Director for The Producers (winner)
- 2001 Drama Desk Award for Best Director of a Musical for The Producers (winner)
- 2001 Drama Desk Award for Best Choreography for The Producers (winner)
- 2001 Drama League's Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award (winner)
- 2002 Laurence Olivier Award for Choreography for Oklahoma! (winner)
- 2002 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Oklahoma! (nominee)
Further reading
Susan Stroman - Woman of Steel by Eric Grode, ShowMusic: The Musical Theatre Magazine, Spring 1997
References
External links
- Susan Stroman at the Internet Movie Database
- Susan Stroman at the Internet Broadway Database
- Susan Stroman - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org
