Tony and Olivier Award-winning Bob Avian's dazzling life story, Dancing Man: A Broadway Choreographer's Journey, is a memoir in three acts. Act I reveals the origins of one of Broadway's legendary choreographers who appeared onstage with stars like Barbra Streisand and Mary Martin all before he was thirty. Act II includes teaching Katharine Hepburn how to sing and dance in Coco and working with Stephen Sondheim and Michael Bennett while helping to choreograph the original productions of Company and Follies. During this time, Avian won a Tony Award as the cochoreographer of A Chorus Line and produced the spectacular Tony Award-winning Dreamgirls. For a triumphant third act, Avian choreographed Julie Andrews's return to the New York stage, devised all of the musical staging for Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard, and directed A Chorus Line on Broadway. He worked with the biggest names on Broadway, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Carol Burnett, Jennifer Holliday, Patti LuPone, Elaine Stritch, and Glenn Close.
Candid, witty, sometimes shocking, and always entertaining, here at last is the ultimate up-close and personal insider's view from a front row seat at the creation of the biggest, brightest, and best Broadway musicals of the past fifty years.
Industry Reviews
He's a Broadway legend . . . or, he would be if he weren't one of those talented creatures who does the work and happily allows others to dance in the spotlight. Even in Bob Avian's memoir, you'll probably remember the larger-than-life personalities he collaborated with more than you'll remember the choreographer himself. But he's done it all, and theater buffs will savor his story. . . . Avian tells his story with all the grace and precision one would expect from one of Broadway's best.
