Broadway Who's Who: Bob Avian

When Bob Avian passed away on January 21, a true Broadway great was lost to us. And yet, probably even to many theater fans, his name doesn't really ring a bell. In a career that spanned nearly 60 years, he did it all: he was a performer, production assistant, director and producer. But it was his work as a choreographer/musical stager that was really what made his name.

Broadway Who's Who:

Bob Avian

Bob Avian & Michael Bennett
1979 Tony Awards - Ballroom

It all started in 1959, when he was in the international company (and later on Broadway) of West Side Story, where he met the soon-to-be great Michael Bennett. Their friendship also became a professional partnership, with Bennett charging Avian with associate and co- choreographer duties. Together, they created the staging and choreography for such classic musicals as Promises, Promises, Seesaw, Coco and Company. But it was three specific collaborations that cemented their place among the greatest choreographers the stage has ever seen: Follies, Ballroom, and their greatest achievement, A Chorus Line. The latter two would earn him Tony Awards (out of his six nominations).

Following, Bennett's death, Avian continued staging such musicals as Miss Saigon (London and Broadway, and the revival), Putting It Together, and the original London and Broadway productions of Sunset Boulevard. He also directed the hit revival of A Chorus Line in 2006.

Did You Know?...

• Born: December 26, 1937
• Died: January 21, 2021
• Birthplace: New York City
• Broadway Acting Credits: West Side Story, Nowhere To Go But Up, Funny Girl, Henry, Sweet Henry, Cafe Crown, Coco
• Broadway Production Credits: Assistant Stage Manager: I Do, I Do; Production Assistant: Twigs; Producer: Ballroom, Dreamgirls; Assistant Director: God's Favorite
• Broadway Choreography Credits: Associate/Assistant: Promises, Promises, Coco, Company, Follies, Seesaw; Co-choreographer: A Chorus Line, Ballroom, Musical Staging: Miss Saigon (Broadway and revival), Sunset Boulevard, Putting It Together; Director: A Chorus Line (revival)
• London Credits: Choreographer: Follies, Martin Guerre, The Witches of Eastwick, Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard
• Awards: Tony Awards: A Chorus Line and Ballroom; Tony Nominations: Ballroom and Dreamgirls (as producer); Olivier Award: Martin Guerre

⭐- 1976 Tony Award for Best Choreography: A Chorus Line

⭐- 1979 Tony Award for Best Choreography: Ballroom

⭐- 1979 Tony Award Nominee for Best Musical: Ballroom

⭐- 1982 Tony Award Nominee for Best Musical: Dreamgirls

⭐- 1991 Tony Award Nominee for Best Choreography: Miss Saigon

⭐- 1995 Tony Award Nominee for Best Choreography: Sunset Boulevard

⭐- 1997 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Choreography: Martin Guerre

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This Week in Broadway History: February 16 - 22

This Week in 

Broadway History:

February 16 - 22

🎭OPENING NIGHTS🎭 

• February 16, 2007: The future Tony-winning Best Play, Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? opens at the Golden Theatre, starring Mercedes Ruehl and Bill Pullman. This odd play stayed for 309 performances.
• February 18, 1948: Henry Fonda starred in 1948's Best Play, Mister Roberts, which opened its 1,157 performance run on this date.

• February 18, 1982: The short-lived play (just 52 performances), Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, opened at the Martin Beck Theatre, starring Sandy Dennis, and a Broadway newbie named Cher.
• February 19, 1992: The Gershwin tune-fest Crazy For You, featuring spectacular Susan Stroman choreography, opened at the Shubert Theatre. It would win the Tony Award for 1992, and played an impressive 1,622 performances.
• February 19, 2007: 5 performances was all The Story of My Life was all this Will Chase-Malcolm Getz two-hander would get at the Booth Theatre.

• February 20, 2014: The Bridges of Madison County played an even 100 performances after opening on this date at the Schoenfeld Theatre.
• February 20, 2020: The controversial Ivo van Hove revival of West Side Story opened at the Broadway Theatre.

• February 21, 1991: The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Best Play by Neil Simon, Lost In Yonkers began its acclaimed run at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
• February 21, 2002: Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, Tony winner for Best Special Event, began its run at the Neil Simon Theatre.

• February 22, 1961: The very first Neil Simon play to make it to Broadway, Come Blow Your Horn, opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it stayed for 677 performances.
• February 22, 1983: Perhaps the most infamous flop in Broadway history, Moose Murders, opened and closed at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

📰BROADWAY HEADLINES📰

• February 17, 2003: Broadway shut down for several performances thanks to 20 inches of snow and a blizzard.
• February 17, 2015: It was opening night off-Broadway for a new show called Hamilton.

• February 21, 2019: Joel Grey directed Fiddler on the Roof - In Yiddish, which opened off-Broadway.
• February 22, 2005: Broadway star of Beauty and the Beast, Heath Lamberts (he played Cogsworth) passed away age 63.

Billie Joe Armstrong     Etai Benson

Corbin Bleu     Trent Kowalik  Kiril Kulish

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY🎂

• February 16: The Phantom of the Opera designer Maria Björnson, actor (Once On This Island) Hailey Kilgore, dancer/actor (Billy Elliot) Kiril Kulish, actor (Newsies) Kara Lindsay, actor (Avenue Q) John Tartaglia
• February 17: composer/actor (American Idiot) Billie Joe Armstrong, actor (Seminar) Jerry O'Connell, actor (Here Lies Love) Conrad Ricamora
• February 18: Broadway's Belle Susan Egan, actor (Cabaret) Molly Ringwald, actor (The Prom, Shrek) Christopher Sieber
• February 19: To Kill a Mockingbird actor Jeff Daniels, actor (Side Show, Phantom) Hugh Panaro, actor (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) George Rose
• February 20: The Band's Visit's Etai Benson, actor (Peter Pan, Chicago) Sandy Duncan, actor (Waitress, Beautiful) Jessie Mueller, actor Sidney Portier
• February 21: actor (Holiday Inn, Kiss Me, Kate) Corbin Bleu, In the Heights' actor Andrèa Burns, actor (The Little Mermaid, Ratatouille) Titus Burgess, Tony-winner (Gypsy) Tyne Daly, Tony-winner (Grey Gardens) Christine Ebersole
• February 22: Jagged Little Pill's Celia Rose Gooding, actor (Little Shop of Horrors) Ellen Greene, dancer/actor (Billy Elliot) Trent Kowalik, Miss Saigon/Allegiance actor Lea Salonga

📆ON BROADWAY THIS WEEK IN 1959📆

62 years ago, theatergoers sure had a lot to choose from! If plays were your thing, perhaps you were one of the first ever to see Eugene O'Neill's new play, A Touch of the Poet, starring the great Helen Hayes. She was so great, the show was playing at the theater named for her! If you had tickets for the Booth Theatre, you were seeing Tony-winner Anne Bancroft in Two For the Seesaw. Tony nominee Anthony Perkins was showing off his talents at the Barrymore in Look Homeward, Angel. The hottest play ticket was for the 1958 Tony Award Best Play, Sunrise at Campobello, starring Ralph Bellamy as FDR at the Cort.

If musicals were more your style, there were plenty of choices, too. The original production of West Side Story was thrilling audiences at the Winter Garden, just before moving to the Broadway Theatre. Good luck getting a ticket to the 1958 Tony winner for Best Musical, The Music Man, now starring Eddie Albert and Barbara Cook at the Majestic. 

If cutting edge, brand spankin' new shows are your thing, you'd want to run to the Lunt-Fontanne and snag a seat to the soon-to-close Goldilocks with Elaine Stritch and Don Ameche. Or, if you could get a ticket to the newly crowned smash hit Redhead, with Gwen Verdon and Richard Kiley, you'd just go across the street to the 46th Street Theatre! Rodgers and Hammerstein had a big hit  in the making with the recently opened Flower Drum Song at the St. James, starring Pat Sazuki, Baayork Lee and Jack Soo.

Talk about being alive during the Golden Age! Before 1959 was over, the world would be introduced to no less than The Sound of Music, A Raisin in the Sun and Gypsy!

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2010s Broadway Musical Logos Bracket Tournament - Region 2 Elimination Round!

Over the past months, we've been in search of the very best in Broadway musical logos, going back 40 years. And now, here we are starting a new tournament, looking for the very best logo of the most recent complete decade of the new millennium! The 2010s were a mix of everything, really. From movie-to-stage adaptations to bio-musicals to a few completely original works, variety was the name of the game. As usual, there were big hits and even bigger flops. There was even a genuine cultural phenomenon.

But how were the show logos? That's up to you to decide. We've created a bracket of 64 Broadway show logos from the decade. The Tony winners and hits and flops have been evenly distributed over four 16 "team" regions. This week, its the Elimination Round for Region 2. 

See the full bracket below, including the winners from Region 1:   

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2010s Broadway Musical Logo Madness!

Region 2 Elimination Round!

HOW IT WILL WORK:

• Each week, we'll open the voting for a different segment of the bracket, and you will select your favorite from each pairing.
• Your selection should be based on the logo/window card ONLY. We are NOT looking for your favorite show! It is possible to like a logo from a show you've never heard of before!
• We will provide pictures of the full window card (in most cases) or logo above each week's ballot, then you scroll down and make your selections. You MUST click/tap the "Click Me to Count Your VOTES" button at the bottom of the survey.
• THIS ROUND WILL CLOSE ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH AT 5 PM!

Here we go again! May the best logo win! BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE FULL LOGOS BEFORE YOU VOTE! THE ACTUAL BALLOT IS BELOW THE FULL-SIZE LOGOS/WINDOW CARDS!

GAME 1:                                                                    GAME 2:

                    

GAME 3:                                                                    GAME 4:

                         

GAME 5:                                                                    GAME 6:

                         

GAME 7:                                                                    GAME 8:

                         

Broadway Games: Broadway Romance

Broadway Games:

Broadway Romance

This week, we have a matching game for you! In honor of Valentine's Day, match the Broadway couple with the show in which they appear. As you can see, there's been a lot of love on our stages over the years! Good luck! The answers will appear under next week's game.

 

Couples                                                                  Shows

1. Guy & Girl                                                                         A. A Chorus Line
2. Amalia & Georg                                                                 B. Carousel
3. Albin & Georges                                                                C. Fiddler on the Roof
4. Wendla & Melchior                                                            D. Fun Home
5. Julie & Billy                                                                       E. Hadestown
6. Pamela & Mopsa                                                                F. Hairspray
7. Alison & Joan                                                                    G. Head Over Heels
8. Donna & Sam                                                                    H. Hello, Dolly!
9. Simba & Nala                                                                     I. How to Succeed...
10. Peter & Mary Jane                                                            J. Jagged Little Pill
11. Frankie & Phoenix                                                           K. La Cage aux Folles 

12. Christian & Satine                                                            L. Mamma Mia! 
13. Tony & Maria                                                                  M. Moulin Rouge! 
14. Zach & Cassie                                                                  N. Once
15. Dolly & Horace                                                                O. Promises, Promises

16. Tevye & Golde                                                                 P. Rent
17. Fran & Chuck                                                                  Q. She Loves Me 
18. Tracy & Link                                                                   R. South Pacific
19. Roger & Mimi                                                                 S. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
20. J. Pierpont & Rosemary                                                   T. Spring Awakening
21. Orpheus & Eurydice                                                        U. Sweeney Todd
22. Marian & Harold                                                              V. The Lion King
23. Kira & Sonny                                                                  W. The Music Man
24. Nellie & Emile                                                                 X. West Side Story
25. Anthony & Johanna                                                          Y. Xanadu 

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📸 : C. Fazzino

Answers to Last Week's Game

Broadway Dining

1. Come From Away    H. Tim Hortons

2. Waitress   G. Joe's Diner

3. Rent   I. Life Cafè

4. 45 Seconds From Broadway   E. The Cafè Edison

5. Hello, Dolly!   A. Harmonia Gardens

6. She Loves Me   J. Cafè Imperiale

7. Cabaret   B. The Kit Kat Club

8. Sweeney Todd   F. Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop

9. The Prom   C. Applebee's

10. Sweet Charity   D. Barney's Chile Hacienda

At This Theater: The American Airlines Theatre

Like the Hudson and Lyric Theatres, the American Airlines Theatre is one of Broadway's "new-old" venues, with its auditorium revitalized to its former glory. For me, it is one of the most comfortable places to see a show. The leg room - especially in the mezzanine - is a spacious luxury. And I don't think there's a bad seat in the house; even the last row upstairs feels close to the action. I look forward to my fifth visit! (Check out the seating chart and seat views HERE.)

At This Theater:

The American Airlines Theatre 

The Shows I saw There: Violet, On The Twentieth Century, Noises Off, Long Day's Journey Into Night

How They Rate:

4. On The Twentieth Century: Maybe it was the show itself, but all of the lavish sets and costumes, spectacular tap dancing porters, and across-the-board star-casting couldn't save this one for me. I truly adore Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher (not to mention the supporting cast), but I found them to be over-acting and shrill. I was bored within 15 minutes, and really only stayed to see how bad it would get. I wasn't disappointed in that regard.

3. Long Day's Journey Into Night: This one was the show itself. Far be it from me to cast aspersions on a true American classic. I can appreciate why it is so highly ranked by critics everywhere. But we got the point O'Neill was trying to make by the end of act one. Three acts? Torture. The saving grace? The casting, with Jessica Lange (and her table) turning in a spectacular performance, and Gabriel Byrne, Michael Shannon and John Gallagher, Jr. more than holding their own as father and sons. The tension was thick. But it was exhausting.

2. Noises Off: I had seen the previous revival (with Peter Gallagher!) and loved it. But I had to wonder if I'd get much out of this production, given that I knew all of its many surprises going in. Well, I wasn't disappointed one bit. It was great fun to see a new crop of amazing actors chew through this one. I especially loved Megan Hilty and Andrea Martin. Sardines!

1. Violet: Other than being aware that Jeanine Tesori was involved in the creation of the piece, I went into this show completely unknowing. What a beautiful, moving piece it is - at times horrifying, joyful, sinister and hopeful, I was immediately swept up in the journey of a disfigured girl. That said, it was the three principals that sealed my love for this show. Both Colin Donnell and one of my all-time favorites, Joshua Henry, were wonderful. But it was Sutton Foster who impressed me most. With no traditional musical comedy tricks to play, and even less glamour, Ms. Foster shined in way I didn't think she could. And without a stitch of extra make-up on her face, she made me see Violet's disfigurement clearly, and the beautiful young woman underneath it.

House chart & seating views site courtesy of SeatPlan.com. 

Do you have fond (or not so fond) memories of a show at the American Airlines Theater? Please share with us by email (jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com) or on Twitter (@jkstheatrescene).

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