Título: Michael Bennett (theater)
Seção: Analysis
Background: Michael Bennett (April 8, 1943 - July 2, 1987) was an American musical theatre director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. He won seven Tony Awards for his choreography and direction of Broadway shows and was nominated for an additional eleven. Bennett choreographed Promises, Promises, Follies and Company. In 1976, he won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and the Tony Award for Best Choreography for the musical A Chorus Line.

Conteúdo: Unlike his more famous contemporary Bob Fosse, Bennett was not known for a particular choreographic style. Instead, Bennett's choreography was motivated by the form of the musical involved, or the distinct characters interpreted.  In Act 2 of Company, Bennett defied the usual choreographic expectations by deliberately taking the polish off the standard Broadway production number. The company stumbled through the steps of a hat and cane routine ("Side By Side") and thus revealed to the audience the physical limitations of the characters' singing and dancing. Bennett made the audience aware that this group had been flung together to perform, and that they were in over their heads. He intended the number to be not about the routine, but rather the characters behind it.  The song "One" from A Chorus Line functions in a different way. The various phases of construction/rehearsal of the number are shown, and because the show is about professional dancers, the last performance of the song-and-dance routine has all the gloss and polish expected of Broadway production values. Bennett's choreography also reveals the cost of the number to the people behind it.  Bennett was influenced by the work of Jerome Robbins. "What Michael Bennett perceived early in Robbins' work was totality, all the sums of a given piece adding to a unified whole". In Dreamgirls, Bennett's musical staging was described as a "mesmerizing sense of movement":  The most thrilling breakthrough of the extraordinary sho

user: what was the analysis made?

assistant: Instead, Bennett's choreography was motivated by the form of the musical involved, or the distinct characters interpreted.

user: could you tell me something interesting about the analysis?

assistant: In Act 2 of Company, Bennett defied the usual choreographic expectations by deliberately taking the polish off the standard Broadway production number.

user: What did they do instead?

assistant: The company stumbled through the steps of a hat and cane routine ("Side By Side") and

user: and what else?

assistant: and thus revealed to the audience the physical limitations of the characters' singing and dancing.

user: what was the audience's reaction to this?

assistant: Bennett made the audience aware that this group had been flung together to perform,

user: did he do any other work that was different?

assistant: in Dreamgirls he has choreographed the set.... Bennett's use of [the plexiglass towers that dominated the set] was revolutionary.

user: what was revolutionary about it?

assistant: But Bennett had made the mechanical set his dancers."

user: what did critics have to say about his style?

assistant: In Dreamgirls, Bennett's musical staging was described as a "mesmerizing sense of movement":