Musical Theater and Musical shows have been around for centuries. In the beginning, a musical show was the “integration of narrative, song, and dance characteristics” that “glorified beautiful women and surrounded them with comedian, singers, and dancers” (Reynolds and McCormik). From the early 1900 to 1930’s, the theater supporter was charmed by Minstrel shows, Variety Shows, and Follies which led to musicals with dramatic action. As the theater progressed, dance numbers became more a part of the entire show. Over the next 30-40 years Broadway Musicals would hit their highs and lows, but it was all too evident that the integration of professional dancers and the use of all genres of dance became a more integral function for the choreographer (Reynolds and McCormik). In the mid 1970’s, a time when Broadway was dying due to the enormous costs of putting a production, “a shows most expendable element was always dancing and choreography”. Enter stage left – the artistic genius of a young choreographer/dancer named Michael Bennett would provide the spark needed to reinvigorate the Broadway Musical Theater. Michael Bennett is known for his unique ability to intertwine a mindless dance into a meaningful piece using choreographic movements of fluidity and continuous action. He was also a creative mastermind in the staging and the production of several awards winning Broadway Musicals. This essay seeks to explore Michael’s unique nature in dealing with theatrical issues of the unity style, molded by the story, and the respective characters. It seeks to assert the fact that Michael was unique due to his personality and adaptability skills; his ability to integrate cinematic staging with dance choreography to project a contemporary feel; and his directing ability to strive for harmony of style in each distinct piece of work (Clarke).
Broadway refers to some location in theatre district situated in Manhattan, New York City. A performance must be at least held in one the forty professional theaters with 500 or more seats in those areas before it can be considered a Broadway. Such performance is then marked as successful, and it is highly seen to be at the highest attainable levels of commercial theater. During the earlier days, attending a Broadway production theater was a popular tourist activity taking place in New York City. This continued with time, and in 2009 and 2010, more than one billion tickets for Broadway Theater were sold (Reynolds and McCormik). However, one of the factors that undermined the success and performance of Broadways are the fact that some of the several plays which qualify for the theatre were produced as movies at the Hollywood film industry. The implementation of sound technology for screenings in movie studios saw the production of musicals released on silver screens. In addition, several actresses and actors as well as scripts moved from stage to screens in the form of movie productions. As a result, several well-known film actresses and actors started their career on Broadway (Clarke). Among the commonly known theaters is the Majestic and the Metropolitan Opera Theater. As such Majestic Theatre is highly regarded as the home of the musical by several people. The play pieces or the musicals are further divided into Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, and Off-Broadway.
Michael Bennett's reinvigoration of Broadway came with the creation and production A Chorus Line, a landmark musical which reads like a folklore. The dazzlingly and brilliant life of Bennett is clearly manifested in this musical as equally folkloric. This is because Michael began dancing classes at the tender age, and this greatly assisted him in building his talent. While still a child, Michael was the talk of Buffalo flowing from his performances. Several of his routines visited great dancing stars of late 1940s and early 1930s like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Michael on several occasions acted in theater productions and sang on local radio shows in Buffalo. While still a teenager, Michael not only performed extensively at major public functions, but began to choreograph and teach local productions (Reynolds and McCormik). The turn that his life took was not an ordinary thing to a common average teenager in western New York. After receiving a diploma, the majority of teenagers in New York were entering vocational schools and joining assembly lines. Michael chose a different path and sometimes before his graduation; he met Jack Lenny, a theatrical agent as Lenny was casting a tour company in West Side Story, and he was to play the part of Baby John. Michael Bennett got the job with the European company as he was in his early seventeen and still looking much younger. This was a turning point in his life becauseMichael Bennett began to pursue his dream of being a Broadway dancer after just a few days of graduating with a diploma (Clarke).This was an eye opener as Michael's performance introduced him to longtime creative friend Robert Avian.
American has been endowed with numerous prolific musicians and dancers; their styles have shaped the course of performances, and by extension the way in which a majority of the citizens viewmusical works. Since time immemorial, the thoughts of great men and women have been immortalized through performance and artistic works; even America's Founding Fathers in their fluency in drafting the highly acclaimed Declaration of Independence in the 1700s. Michael Bennett kept the spirit and he did not disappoint those who had hoped with him and held him with high esteem (Clarke). At the height of his productivity in Broadway films and musicals, Michael Bennett was able to point out the basic and obvious differences between performing in commercial theater and concert dance. This is a character which was common among other choreographers, chief among them being Helen Tamiris, one of the pioneers of modern dance (Reynolds 674). Bennett created the deep necessity to put across his ideas, something that the audience identified with and liked. He was able to deal and remove the center in the Broadway Theater so that his contribution could be of a higher notch and a distinct level with other contributors (Reynolds and McCormik).
Bennett used his knowledge of the the craft, taste, and basic set of values that had a strong basis on the materials on his script. He was able to balance between the torturous and stimulating effects of collaboration to make his strings hit on the Broadway. This was something unique and distinct as the majority of choreographers did not have the ability to solve the challenges of the show. Working on his own material did not call for utilitarianism or satisfying the expectations of many people, but to work in the simplest way with dancers (Reynolds and McCormik). He developed his own ballet based on the ideas he formulated with his dancers at the studio. Some of the choreographers wanted to satisfy the needs of many people, and they considered their needs while on the stage. Some of the Broadway's excellent burning via the high-powered David Winter's choreographywas evident in this show, and they were through the assistance of Michael. At this point, they worked with Donna Mckechnie in the development of the Broadway as they were able to introduce new styles of dancing on stage. Although, musical theater was a profit making venture or was for personal gains, Bennett produced entertainment principally for enjoyment and built on consensus.
The experience that Michael Bennett had with Here's Love fundamentally influenced his contributions to Broadway. This is because it fueled his choreographic attitudes and he were to develop new styles that greatly impacted on Broadway. He had a chance of staging a number of dances for Hullaballoo, and he made his debut as a Broadway choreographer by giving dances for A Joyful Noise. This made him to be nominated for the Tony award for his outstanding performance and he battled and lost to Ron Field, who was a well established choreographer. Even though, sometimes he found it hard to be a famed choreographer in the sense that new language or artistic models needs to be developed, he achieved it by creating new myths, universal aspects, to express life in its immense reality and from that reality extract sounds and images which audience found pleasure in (Clarke). Always, the truth of life and Broadway is found in the impulsiveness of matter as the mind of the audience is informed by concepts.
The sound artistic choreography adopted by Bennett resonates with the audience; a majority of the American population related with dazzling principals that are aptly brought out in his shows. When related with age in which it was directed the majority of plays reveal Michael Bennett’s unrivalled gift of contextualizing his worksandcreating a natural image in choreography. With 'Follies', Michael Bennett won two awards for co-direction and choreography. He assisted in the creation of the haunting, theatrical, and elegant cynical 'Follies'.Being the president of Plum Productions, he directed and produced the first non-musical offering. It was at this period that Bennett greatly impacted on the development of Broadway with his new styles. This is one of the highest periods of Bennett's creative career and life as he exhibited tendencies that eclipsed his rapidly growing fame as a choreographer (Reynolds and McCormik). His personal life was highly crowded with streams of unending love to both female and males. As a result, his professional demeanor began to show his dictatorial underside, and this was enticing to some and formidable to others.
The roots of the new American lively dance styles that improved the face of entertainment during the twentieth century were largely borrowed from other continents such as Europe and Africa. Michael Bennett is one of the choreographers who managed to wed the American experiences to these forms of entertainment to protect the theatrical tradition of Americans. Bennett could sing and dance as well as be in line with the various theatrical formats at the same time. This made him one of the first artistic to wear two separate hats, both as a director and choreographer at the same time.His dancing styles have an excellent combination of mystery, action and comedy elements as well as a natural rhythm that makes it highly humorous and allegorical. It is an authentic combination of a number of preexisting collections of codes that are related together to produce a choreograph (Clarke). This set of combination or collection of dancing style results to interdependent images or what is known as the iconic solidarity. By participating in a series, the collection of style display separation through double characteristics. They at times get little harrowing when Bennett decides to remind the audience that they have a part to play in these shows or plays.Michael Bennett perfected the art of personifying his experiences and involves the audience in his shows through his movements.There is elegance in Bennett's shows owing to its English quality. All musical pieces composed by Bennett were eminently vocal and showed excellent masters of choral music. He interweaved simple but massive harmonic passages together with great ingenuity of contrapuntal passages that illustrated the text of the music. His composition for solo voice out stood for its unerring melodic line and suitability for the medium. He depicted human nature musically in an aria or a single scene which was a great gift used in his oratorios and operas with a great dramatic power. This resulted to a series of large-scale music concert for winds and strings which developed into Broadway (Clarke).
The choreography demonstrated by Michael is classical, not just because of the dancing styles, but also because it is carefully balances, steps, and movements. The horizontal and vertical movements seem placed with the primary function of ballet dancing as well as conveying motion and direction. In designing his movements, Bennett developed new dancing styles which attract and persuade the audience. This brings out the motivation and purpose behind the style used in the choreography.Michael Bennett displayed high credibility through his use of styles. He demonstrated to be an expert and reputable person. He introduced dancing styles that are unique from other choreographers and even to other individuals who enjoy ballet dancing. Most of the viewers had to ordinarily experience or witnessed his dancing styles or movements’ designs. This assisted in reaffirming his credibility of the designer of the choreograph and development of Broadway(Clarke).
Works Cited
Clarke, Mary. International Encyclopedia of Dance. London: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Kothari, A and Lockwood. "Managing protected Areas." A Global Guide. London: Earthscan, 2006.
Pathak, N and A Kothari. "A series of articles on community conservation initiatives." A series of articles on community conservation initiatiatives. Bombay, 2005-2006.
Reynolds, Nancy and Malcolm McCormik. No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century. Yale: Yale University Press, 2003.
