Grove Music Online. This kiss of fate allowed him, in one afternoon, to loosen forever Europes grip on the conductors baton. The latter led to his creating the anthology show Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989 which recreated the most successful production numbers from his 50-plus year career. New York, NY 10023 New York City Ballet and the block letter logo are registered trademarks of New York City Ballet, Inc. A look at Jerome Robbins' extraordinary body of work, bridging Broadway and ballet like no other choreographer before or since. They were both, Jerry wrote in his journal, oversensitive and insensitive: he scared of me & me feeling he always put me down. Yet neither one ever thought to let this artistic marriage go. He is relaxed, his left elbow propped on his left leg, which is hitched up on the seat, and his left cheekbone resting in his left hand as he gazes into the camera. Yup, says Paul Gemignani. Education photography by Rosalie O'Connor and event photography by Patricia Burmicky or John Calabrese, unless otherwise noted. He fought his way through . They loved to break down the walls between genres, making things more fluid., Obviously, if you break boundaries, says Harold Prince, the producer of West Side Story, you want to break further and larger boundaries. A mere eight months later, on December 28, 1944, On the Town opened on Broadway, directed by that granddaddy of the stage George Abbott. (When you make your first work with someone, Robbins would say in an interview before Dybbuks premiere, it makes for a certain bond.) And the plays focus on the existential secrets of the Kabbalah had a Promethean subtext, the reaching after cosmicread artisticpower. The company performed to acclaim in the United States and Europe. He was a director of musicals, plays, movies, and television programs. by Philippe Halsman, 1959; right, director-choreographer Robbins on the set of West Side Story with Chakiris and Verso. In 1964, he took on a floundering Funny Girl and devised a show that ran 1348 performances. Robbins, meanwhile, was indeed a colossus with a Broadway hit parade to his name, shows including High Button Shoes, The King and I, Pajama Game, Peter Pan, and Bells Are Ringing. He said that one of his inspirations for this ballet had been Paul Cadmus's 1934 painting The Fleet's In!, even though it was lighthearted, which the painting decidedly was not. 20 Lincoln Center Plaza August 14, 2014. Robbins was the engine and Bernstein the environment, his score sui generisa rite of spring inside a Ben Shahn line drawing. How did Jerome Robbins influence Bob Fosse? "[12] Although it opened to good reviews, it was overshadowed by Meredith Willson's The Music Man at that year's Tony Awards. Lenny was educated at Harvard and then on scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music. All he needed was a score, which took him to Bernsteins studio in Carnegie Hall. To promote authenticity, Robbins kept the cast members for the Jets and the Sharks separated from each other during rehearsals and continuously posted news stories about gang violence on the bulletin board . This dual interest produced a staggering number of ballets and stagings of musical plays, notable for their diversity, brilliance, lyric beauty, and humor. He's the one . From 1941 through 1944, Robbins was a soloist with the company, attracting notice for his performance as Hermes in Helen of Troy, the title role in Petrouchka, the Youth in Agnes de Mille's Three Virgins and a Devil, and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet; he also came under the influence of the choreographers Michel Fokine, Antony Tudor, and George Balanchine. At their best, they completed each other. QUICK FACTS Name: Jerome Robbins. Dostoyevsky territory, Guare calls it. Jerome Robbins entered the scene with On the Town (1944), which actually began its life as a ballet called Fancy Free (1944) to a score by a young Leonard Bernstein. I will never, never work with Jerome Robbins again, as long as I livelong pause of silencefor a while. Gerald Freedman, Robbinss assistant director on West Side Story, remembers Bernstein saying this over dinner, after the show opened. Gene Kelly was born in the Highland Park district of Pittsburgh on August 23, 1912. The simple story concerned three American sailors on a 24-hour shore leave in New York City and their search for female companionship. Jerry did not feel lovable and was deeply guarded. I never wanted to be a Jew, he would write in notes for an autobiography. Broadway, ballet, and Jerome Robbins. Because Robbins was touring with Ballet Theatre, much of the collaboration on Fancy Frees score took place through the mail. In 1940, Robbins joined Ballet Theatre (later known as American Ballet Theatre). . During rehearsals for it, an incident happened that became a part of Robbins and Broadway lore: the choreographer, preoccupied by giving directions to the dancers, backed up onstage until he fell into the orchestra pit. Jerome Robbins Influence Robbins choreographed shows that combined ballet with soft shoe and broke ground with the start of a new style. Over the headset I said, Please, guys, keep it down. . He took over the direction of two troubled productions during this period and helped turn them into successes. Robbins was only the second director to win the Academy Award for Best Director for a film debut (after Delbert Mann for Marty). The prizes should "lean toward the arts of dance" The first two Jerome Robbins Awards were bestowed in 2003 to New York City Ballet and to lighting designer Jennifer Tipton.[21]. His career as a gifted ballet dancer developed with Ballet Theatre where he danced with special distinction the role of Petrouchka, and character roles in the works of Fokine, Tudor, Massine, Lichine and de Mille, and of course his first choreographic sensation: During this extraordinary, prolific career, Mr. Robbins served on the National Council on the Arts from 1974 to 1980, and the New York State Council on the Arts/Dance Panel from 1973 to 1988. Jack Cole, Fred Astaire, and Jerome Robbins, Fosse was fluent in a dizzying . He changed each of his worlds from . Robbins was still highly sought after as a show doctor. The book and lyrics were written by a team that Robbins would work with again, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and the director was the Broadway legend George Abbott. Get the latest chatter, from Kensington Palace and beyond, straight to your inbox. He established and partially endowed the Jerome Robbins Film Archive of the Dance Collection of the New York City Public Library at Lincoln Center. Images, Digital Colorization by Impact Digital. His numerous awards and academic honors included the Handel Medallion of the City of New York (1976), the Kennedy Center Honors (1981), three Honorary Doctorates, an honorary membership in the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1985) and in 1988 he was awarded the National Medal of the Arts. Theres no explaining why he had this incredible aptitude for rhythm, but it is true that he synthesized what he got out of Hebrew cantillation, and the music and dancing in that world, combined with his getting really obsessed with what were called race records, in his college yearsBillie Holiday and Lead Bellyto say nothing of Stravinsky and Gershwin. Nobody had Jerrys invention. His work continued with Two's Company (1952), Pajama Game (again co-directed with Mr. Abbott in 1954), and Peter Pan (1954), which he directed and choreographed. But there was no control over that.. Regarding Jerry, Bernsteins view was simple: We have to cater to genius. A journey into the world of Jerome Robbin's Broadway is more than just a trip down memory lane. . We went crazy, Lenny recalled. Bob Fosse is one of the most revered figures in the annals of jazz. Web. Matt Mattox: A Dancing Life. Jerome Robbins received world renown as a choreographer of ballets created for the New York City Ballet, Ballets U.S.A., American Ballet Theatre, and other international companies. Les Misrables by Composer Claude-Michael Schonberg and lyricist Alain Boublil is based on Victor Hugo's novel of the same title. Jerry just breathed theater, says the composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who worked with both men. Oxford University Press. In 1964 they returned to the Wilder with high hopes; Comden and Green were now on board and New York was waiting. He received equal kudos for his work in commercial theater Broadway. Worse was Robbinss attempt in 1968, revisited in 1986, to turn Brechts play The Exception and the Rule into a sort of musical vaudeville, a torturous episode for everyone involved, especially Bernstein. Today, people are constantly fusing styles to make new forms of dance and this is what Robbins was doing. And, man, you couldnt wait to go home and write after you got finished talking to Jerry. While both men loved music, including the songs of the synagogue, and took pride in the accomplishments of their children (Lenny had younger siblings Shirley and Burton; Jerry an older sister, Sonia), they expected their sons to come into the family business and were horrified by the artistic ambitions blossoming in their homes. mix of styles: in Redhead alone he incorporated elements of the ballet, jazz, march, cancan, gypsy dance, and the traditional English music-hall. A collaboration as frequent and close as theirs is a marriage, says In 1954, Robbins collaborated with George Abbott on The Pajama Game (1954), which launched the career of Shirley MacLaine, and created, choreographed, and directed the Mary Martin vehicle, Peter Pan (which he re-staged for an Emmy Award-winning television special in 1955, earning himself a nomination for best choreography). [8] He also enlisted Oliver Smith as set designer. His innovative attitude to choreography is still timeless and so are his pieces. They started, but, as often happened, other obligations got in the wayfor Lenny, the Philharmonic; for Jerry, Fiddler on the Roof. His influence on all aspects of technique, choreographic style, music, costume, lighting and stage design has been far-reaching. Carol Lawrence, the original Maria in West Side Story, has said that Lenny would bring in new music and he would play it for us. As we were rehearsing we keep hearing guys talking, says Silvey. THE MUSIC MEN . Left, Philippe Halsman/Magnum Photos; Right, United Artists/Photofest, Digital Colorization by Lee Ruelle. The third of five children, Kelly was a sports fanatic and dreamed of playing shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was awarded three honorary doctorates including an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 1980 from the City University of New York and an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from New York University in 1985. Among his numerous stage productions were On the Town, Peter Pan, High Button Shoes, The King and I, The Pajama Game, Bells Are Ringing, West Side Story, Gypsy, and . He had the ability to make the most complex movement appear effortless, and totally reflective of the musical score, as if it were created spontaneously for that exact moment in time. He also directed and co-choreographed (with Bob Fosse) Bells Are Ringing (1956), starring Judy Holliday. The genesis, impact, and influence of West Side Story has been explained and analyzed in countless histories and memoirs. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student . Both were artists in love with classicism, trained in European traditions yet bending them to their new-world will. Robbins recreated his stage dances for The King and I for the 1956 film version. He choreographed his first piece when he was just nine years old and continued to create new works throughout his formative years studying at London's Royal Ballet School. I suddenly felt at the center of a universe I could control. For Jerry, whod been playing violin and piano from the age of three and who began taking dance classes in high school, art seemed like a tunnel to me. Privately, Bernstein called it a dreadful experience. The Robbins biographer Amanda Vaill suggests that Robbins may have become just too authoritarian for his On the Town family. Shortly after Fancy Frees premiere, Robbins was already pushing the envelope, thinking about a ballet dance play in one scene, combining the forms of dance, music, & spoken word into one theater form. It didnt come to anything at Ballet Theatre, but when Oliver Smith suggested that the situation of Fancy Free might be retooled into a Broadway show, spontaneity and content merged and the result was On the Town. Jerome Robbins (born 11 October 1918 in New York City) was the younger of two children of Harry Rabinowitz, who emigrated to America from Poland in 1904, and his wife Lena Rips. A starry crowd gathered Tuesday for Browne's latest showcase, an extravagant spectacle inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupry's beloved 1943 novella. I see Fancy Free as their mighty yawp. ; the year after that he teamed with Irving Berlin to choreograph Miss Liberty. Matt Mattox, the renowned dancer, choreographer and teacher who helped shape contemporary jazz dance in the United States and Europe, died on February 18, 2013 in France aged 91. It is often said that Leonard Bernstein wanted everyone in the world to love him; while still in college he said as much to a close friend. But when it was put into the context of conducting or composing, suddenly his sense of rhythm was spectacularits what gives his music a thumbprint. Patricia McBride, the first Leah, loved dancing Dybbuk. He continued working on Broadway, as well as, staging dances for Irving Berlin's Call Me Madam, starring Ethel Merman, Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I, in which he created the celebrated "Small House of Uncle Thomas" ballet in addition to other dances, and the revue Two's Company, starring Bette Davis. How did Jerome Robbins influence dance? Robbins had to make his own luck. All performance photography Paul Kolnik or Erin Baiano. In 1947, the photographer Irving Penn made a black-and-white portrait of a young American musician. What happened when Balanchine died? Finally I walk all the way up onstage and yell, Quiet on the gallery! I look up and theres Jerry and Lenny, side by side, looking over the rail at me. Its not going to work. West Side Story was originally East Side Story. Top, Bernstein at work in New York City, 1958; bottom, a scene from Broadways West Side Story in 1957. After the triumph of Fiddler on the Roof, Mr. Robbins dedicated his energies to creating ballets for the New York City Ballet. He is seated on drab carpeting draped over a chaise-like shape, vaguely old-world. Does the Colossus mistrust the camera or himself? On the evening of his death, the lights of Broadway were dimmed for a moment in tribute. He received equal kudos for his work in commercial theater Broadway. Robbins had come to a place of peace about being a Jew. His debut made the front page of The New York Times, and the skinny kid, soon dubbed the Sinatra of the concert hall, soared to stardom. Although he gave this testimony only after years of pressure, and threats to make public his sexual orientation, his naming names caused resentment among some of his artistic colleagues, including blacklisted actors Jack Gilford[17] and Zero Mostel, who, while working on Fiddler on the Roof "openly disdained Robbins". Or like two boy wondersco-pilots on the same comet. May 20, 2001. Little did they know their partnership would make waves for decades to come. Jack Cole, born John Ewing Richter, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.Early on he decided to pursue dance with the Denishawn Dance Company led by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Even Bernstein, who wrote the music for that show, came in for a pounding, at least psychologically, when Robbins crossed out some of his . You should have seen some of the scenery, gold-covered flames, and the Kabbalah stuff and the symbolism. Both these men were about energypositive, negative, generativeand while they racked up stunning achievements separately, they were elevated when joined. The musical is based (loosely) on the life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. United States. We were always embarrassed by his dancing, says his older daughter, Jamie Bernstein. Each man in his own right was astonishing. Categories . Jerome Robbins. The New York premiere was September 26, 1957: Jets and Sharks; Polish-Irish-Italian Americans vs. Puerto Ricans; Tony and Maria. In the summer of 1937 Robbins began dancing and choreographing at Tamiment, a progressive-movement resort in Pennsylvania's Pocono mountains which featured a resident singing-acting-dancing troupe and weekend revues starring emerging talents like Danny Kaye, Imogene Coca, and Carol Channing. When they had shot all but three musical numbers, Robbins was fired for taking too long with shooting. [20] Robbins was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame 10 years later, in 1989. [13] Robbins named the names of persons he said were Communists, including actors Lloyd Gough and Elliot Sullivan, dance critic Edna Ocko, filmmaker Lionel Berman, playwright Jerome Chodorov, his brother Edward Chodorov, Madeline Lee Gilford and her husband Jack Gilford, who were blacklisted for their perceived political beliefs and had their careers suffer noticeably, to the point Gilford and his wife often had to borrow money from friends to make ends meet. Robbins wanted to choreograph dances that captured the reality of American life, rather than the ideal. At New York City Ballet Robbins distinguished himself immediately as both dancer and choreographer. 2. It was a very precious subject to Jerry, says former N.Y.C.B. Off-Broadway, he directed the play by Arthur Kopit, Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad (1962). Robbins shared the Academy Award for Best Director with Robert Wise for the film version of West Side Story (1961). Among his numerous stage productions were On the Town, Peter Pan, High Button Shoes, The King and I, The Pajama Game, Bells Are Ringing, West Side Story, Gypsy, and Fiddler on the Roof. No choreographer has so epitomized the American scene, or been so prolific in his expenditure of his creative energy. West Side Story is a contemporary version of Romeo and Juliet, set on the Upper West Side. Jerome Robbins received world renown as a choreographer of ballets created for the New York City Ballet, Ballets U.S.A., American Ballet Theatre, and other international companies. Jerome Robbins, who died in 1998, was less public, a watcher whose uncompromising vision as a choreographer and directorin ballet and on Broadway, in shows filmed and on televisionplaced the. repertory this spring, a tale of two souls fated and luminously fused. Lenny kept saying to Jerry, Why do you need me in this show? He was afraid he was just being used to supply incidental music and he wanted to make a statement that would give it importance. Serving Denver's small businesses. At the height of his mastery on Broadway he insisted that his billing include a box around his name, showcasing his contribution, protecting it, arms crossed around it. . With this ghosts effort I know that suddenly something will be on paper that will get us all started. They finally made a start in 1972, and, when N.Y.C.B. In 1956 Robbins's muse, Tanaquil LeClercq, contracted polio and was paralyzed; for the next decade Robbins largely withdrew from his activities at New York City Ballet, but he established his own small dance company, Ballets USA, which premiered at the inaugural season of Gian Carlo Menotti's Festival of the Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy in June 1958, toured Europe and the US under the auspices of the State Department, and appeared on television on The Ed Sullivan Show.