Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

150 Chapter 6 The Director
on the Broadway show Showboat.
Liza [Minnelli] also saw Flora. She
asked me to choreograph her
show Stepping Out at Radio City
Music Hall. The key is really to
be ready for that break when it
happens.
RC: How did you then make your
transition to directing?
SS: The transition to directing was
very natural. Being a theatre
choreographer is very different
from being a ballet or modern dance
choreographer (although I have
done these too—for the New York
City Ballet and the Martha Graham
company). For choreographing
theatre you have to acknowledge
the lyric. Everything must center
on the plot; your role is to push
the plot forward through the
choreography. Plus you have to
create time period, geographical
area, and rich characters. Because
of all this, the choreographer is
right there with the director from
beginning to end. It’s not like one
job starts where the other one
finishes; you’re trying to make a
total vision together. So it was a
very natural transition for me.
The first Broadway show that
I directed was The Music Man, and
that was perfect for me because
I love that show. Love it, love it!
I grew up in a house filled with
music. My father was my real Music
Man: he was a salesman and he
played the piano. There’s a wonderful
line in the show where the little
boy accuses Harold Hill of lying
about being the leader of a band.
Harold Hill says, “I always think
there’s a band, kid.” For musical
comedy people that line resonates
because we grow up thinking that
there’s always a band—we’re always
hoping our band is coming around
the corner. So for The Music Man
to be the first Broadway show I
directed was very meaningful. The
movement in Music Man is a very
important aspect. When you first
meet the characters in Iowa they’re
very stiff, they don’t move at all, but
by the end, the entire town is
dancing the “Shipoopee.” And it’s
all because Harold Hill has introduced
the town to rhythm and music.
RC: How did you come up with the
terrific ending?
SS: Closing the book after one of
my readings of the script during
rehearsals I thought, Well what is
this town doing now? What could
they be doing? Well, perhaps they
all took trombone lessons? So
for the curtain call I decided the
entire company should play the
trombone. What did I have to lose?
I’ll hire a trombone teacher, they’ll
either learn it or they won’t, and
if they don’t they’ll just come out
and bow. After the second week
of rehearsal they sounded like a
moose herd, and I thought this is
never going to happen. And then I
became the music man! All of a
sudden, they had become my kids,
and they were playing seventy-six
trombones and it sounded beautiful.
I was so pleased and proud! And that’s
how it ended up as the curtain call.
RC: What do you like about directing?
SS: It gives me great pleasure to be
in the back of the house and see
something I’ve created affect an
audience. Whether it makes them
laugh from something they saw in
The Producers or makes them cry
from a moment in Contact or—in
Crazy for You—the audience puts
their arms around one another
(laughs). Even last night at the first
preview of our Vegas production
of The Producers, I saw a lady
doubled over with laughter and
tumbling into the aisle at the sight
of the walker dance with the little
old ladies. It gave me such joy to
see her laugh.
RC: How do you conceive of some of
the darker themes you explore, as
in Contact?
SS: Oh, I have a million stories in my
head. Being allowed to do
something like Contact was
amazing. Lincoln Center is the
only place you can do something
like that: take an idea and build
it into a show. My production of
Steel Pier only lasted about six
months on Broadway, but [Lincoln
Center’s artistic director] André
Bishop saw it and called me. He
loved the choreography and said,
“If you have an idea I will help
2. Directing often takes the form of oneon-one
coaching. Here Stroman works
with Burns on the “Ball and Chain” prison
number in the final act. © Robert Cohen
3. Studying the script, Stroman and Vargo go
over dialogue.© Robert Cohen