Today we are tying together the 2012 Tony Awards Clip Countdown selection with BroadwayWorld's extensive and exclusive InDepth InterView Tony Awards Edition premiere entry, spotlighting NEWSIES and BONNIE & CLYDE director/choreographer Jeff Calhoun, by focusing on Calhoun's first major choreographic contributions showcased on a Broadway stage, as seen in the 1991 Tony Award-winning Best Musical - helmed by multi-Tony-winner Tommy Tune - THE Will Rogers FOLLIES.
Boasting a creative team comprised of not one, not two, not three, not four, but five outright Tony Award-winning Broadway legends - composer Cy Coleman, lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green, book-writer Peter Stone, as well as director/choreographer Tommy Tune - from the outset, THE Will Rogers FOLLIES may have always somehow seemed destined for Tony Awards glory, yet, it had an unusual birthing period. Eschewing an out-of-town tryout, Tune worked with Coleman, Comden, Green and Stone on the perfection of the book and score while also attending to his massive staging duties whenever possible, which meant more often than not choreographic demands fell to his gifted and talented assistant, Jeff Calhoun. The show managed to open to almost unanimously strong reviews when it opened 33 previews later due in large part to the creative collaboration of the two major visionaries. As Calhoun told me in our candid conversation, Tune outright dared him to create Tony-winning choreography in his first time at bat, and, as was revealed on the 1991 Tony Awards telecast, he did just that - with the show also taking home trophies for Best Director for Tune, Best Score for Coleman, Comden and Green, as well as wins in two technical categories; and, of course, winning the biggest prize of all, Best Musical. Featuring a dazzling assortment of Ziegfeld-ian production numbers with a notably charismatic lead performance by Keith Carradine as the showman who "never met a man [he] didn't like," THE Will Rogers FOLLIES was an American-bred and Broadway-birthed musical in the great tradition of the Golden Age and its pristine sheen and minutely perfected polish was a joy and thrill to experience - and, thanks to the video preservation, anyone can see for themselves what all the hollerin' was about twenty years ago and why the show is still knee-slappin' and quite heart-warmin' entertainment all these years later.
Now, take in the thrilling performance of "Will-O-Mania" and more at the 45th annual Tony Awards ceremony, introduced by Julie Andrews.
As a special bonus, see "Our Favorite Son" from the TV performance capture of THE Will Rogers FOLLIES.
In your opinion, what is the most dazzling and eye-popping moment from the elaborate and beguiling original production of THE Will Rogers FOLLIES? Is "Will-O-Mania" the big winner or do you have a fondness for "Our Favorite Son", as well - or, another one of the many bedecked production numbers, perhaps? It's been more than twenty years since THE Will Rogers FOLLIES first opened on Broadway, so maybe now is the time for powers-that-be to start a-thinkin' about a revival. What say you?
