A Chat with Broadway Bares' Denis Jones and Dontee Kiehn

This year's Broadway Bares is being held on Sunday June 18^th and is promising to be one of the best yet - celebrating New York's "colorful characters and interesting places." Of course, we can also expect a lot of heat! I checked in with director Denis Jones and one of the choreographers, Dontee Kiehn to get the full scoop on what the always-fun night has in store for audiences this year.

For starters, please give us the "birds-eye" view on this year's Broadway Bares…

Denis: Well, we're doing a NY theme this year and Broadway Bares 16: New York Strip is the name of the show. It's a theme that seems to lend itself nicely to the show. I think that New York's a very sexy town filled with sexy people. I'm really excited to celebrate those aspects of our naughty, dirty, filthy town!

Will this year's Bares differ at all from years past?

Well, certainly I don't intend to reinvent the wheel Broadway Bares wise. There's a formula that works nicely, and that's basically just people shaking their money makers. I think that at the end of the day people want to come and see some incredibly hot New York bodies exposed. I think that we're doing a little more of a story this year though. The show follows the journey of an out of town gay couple. It follows a young, sort of bright eyed, pearly white teeth couple from the Midwest, the idea being that they won tickets online to Broadway Bares as part of an all expense paid trip to New York. So, we get to experience New York through the eyes of these young, gay visitors and see them literally become exposed to the city. It's going to be great fun and those 2 boys are Andrew Rannels from Hairspray and Barrett Foa as the couple. They meet all kinds of celebrities including the Jersey Boys, Fran Drescher and Alan Cumming and Mario Cantone, and others. Basically we show them that when you're in New York, you order the New York strip basically! We're very excited about that.

How did you first become involved with Broadway Bares?

This is the 11th Broadway Bares that I've been involved in and that's 11 out of 16. I started as a go-go dancer when I was doing Grease on Broadway with Rosie O'Donnell and Jerry Mitchell was the Associate Choreographer on that show. He asked me if I would do this thing, so I went and I danced in my underwear! Then I became a dancer and subsequently a stripper and then started as a choreographer a couple of years ago. This will be my second year directing. I've been involved with it for some time and hope to be involved with it for some time to come too. It's very dear to my heart.

Are there any lessons that you learned last year that you'll be applying this year?

No, nothing. I learned nothing, that's my problem! I'll never learn! I think that having been in it for so many years as a performer is the most helpful because I can talk to the dancers in a certain way. Having had their experience and having lived through the adrenaline rush that is the evening I can answer all of those questions. Plus, I'm well aware of the insanity of the backstage life that there is as well. But, did I learn anything last year as a director? I'm not sure.

For those of us who have always wondered - just how insane is that backstage life?

I don't know what's a more interesting show, the one on stage or the one in the dressing room! Just imagine, it's really one big space downstairs that is the dressing room for one and all so it's 200 naked dancers running around. You can imagine the insanity! It is a joyous, beautiful, crazy, nuts scene and it's at times an almost unbearably energized environment. I've had moments over the years at Broadway Bares where I've literally had to go and hide in a coat closet for just 2 minutes because it's sensory overload. At times it's almost just unbearable, but I wouldn't change it for the world. It's amazing, and it's what I think keeps the dancers coming back year after year. One of the nice things about the event is that unlike other Broadway Cares events, there's no competitive atmosphere. It's not an event with just separate shows coming in and doing their presentations, it's a different environment. I don't mean to misrepresent any of the other events because they're not people driving knives into each other's backs but it is the one event where all people from different shows meet people from other shows and they all come together with all of these numbers at this great, beautiful event that's like a big playground. I can't say it enough, but it's just tremendous.

It seems like each year there's more and more celebrities getting involved as well. Has this been a challenge or are they pushing to be included?

That's definitely true that each year we get more celebrities involved in the event, and each year that you do that, the easier it is to get them the next year. You can say that 'oh, last year we had David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry and Christina Applegate' and that makes things easier. I think that it now has gotten to the point where it's well known enough that people are familiar with it so when we approach them about it they know about it. And more and more, celebrities are starting to approach us. I'd say that more than half of this year's celebrities are involved because they called, or their people called the organization and said I'd love to be a part of this.

Are there celebrities that say 'no' as well?

Ooh, well, yeah. I think that celebrities that have sometime been associated in their careers with nudity or known for their physique are less interested in displaying it at our show. People who haven't had that opportunity in their career however - you can't keep their clothes on! So, yeah we've had some celebrities shy away from it because they're concerned about their image, and don't want to be out there like that, but there's very few instances of that. All of the celebrities that we've spoken to this year were happy to be a part of it.

Pulling together an event of this size must require a ton of planning. How long ago did you and your team begin working on this year's Bares?

It's year-round preparation now since the event has gotten so big that literally the week before we did Broadway Bares last year, Jerry (Mitchell) was asking me what next year's was going to be. I told him to leave me alone!

I guess the first meeting that we had with Jerry was in August of last year, so it's pretty much year round, at least conceptualizing things. In January we had our first meeting with the creative people and I pitched them the theme of the show, and the basic structure and just started getting their juices flowing. It really takes a whole year.

Since you brought him up first, how involved is Jerry Mitchell in the events these days?

Jerry's always very involved. It's an event that he created, and as executive producer, he likes to be involved in the conception of the show and also to keep an eye on it. I feel though that at least for the last two years that I've been directing it, that the eye that he casts out is a very loving and supporting one. We've worked together for many years and have a great relationship so I think that he guides me in a rather freeing kind of way.

He's literally the busiest man in show business though, with 8 million projects going on simultaneously and such an "ADD personality" that so he's a busy guy but he always makes time for Broadway Bares.

What's the rehearsal schedule for Bares like?

We rehearse for 3 weeks ahead of the event, and the dance team, which is all of the choreographers and the assistants that help out, begins production another 3 weeks ahead of that. We don't really get the cast until 3 weeks before next Sunday, so we're starting on our 3^rd week of rehearsal tomorrow. It's a very tight schedule, especially given the number of people that we have in the show. It's very tight so it's kind of miraculous that it comes together honestly, but that's due to the level of talent that everyone involved has.

How many choreographers are involved in this years event?

Well, I think that there's 7, but there are a lot of assistants that help out as well. It's a grey area really. I do a lot of choreography for the show myself, but I work with a great team of assistants, who can spearhead their own projects and do it independently of the group, as well as a lot of things that we do together as a group. Some numbers are a mish-mosh of choreography really.

Sometimes we'll schedule rehearsals, and really whoever shows up can contribute. We're a very talented group of people who connect really harmoniously which works out for us really well. Plus, given the limited amount of rehearsal time, teaching a number to 30 people you need a lot of assistants in the room to work with everyone. You can't do an event like this without a big team.

Speaking of your talented team of choreographers, with us as well is Dontee Kiehn. What can you tell us Dontee about your contribution to this year's event?

Dontee - I'm choreographing a number myself that's kind of a 'coming to America,' showing the diversity of New York. It begins at Ellis Island and transitions to the diversity of now.

Is this your first year working on the event?

Dontee - I choreographed last year, doing a Leonardo DaVinci number which was 'the study of man.

Denis - Dontee does the artsy pieces… She does the arty masterpieces and I do the tawdry crap!

Dontee - (laughing) That's true, and I've danced in the show before as well.

What was that experience like for you?

Dontee - I think that it's the most looked forward to event of the year as a dancer because you get to do something that's not your show. We're all very thankful for doing our shows to begin with, but you get to go to an event that's such a huge amount of fun, for such a good cause and it's great. You get to be a new person on stage, and it's really sexy and fun and as a choreographer it's really a huge opportunity. Especially as a younger, new, beginning choreographer, it's a huge opportunity to use Broadway dancers, Broadway lighting designers and Broadway costume designers to see it all come to fruition. It's pretty exciting to be working on that level.

What else have you worked on as a choreographer?

Dontee - As a choreographer, most of my stuff so far has been for Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS - Gypsy of the Year, and Easter Bonnet, things like that.

And as a performer?

Dontee - As a performer, I was in Gypsy and 42^nd Street.

Denis - Dontee's number, I should mention a huge thing about it. Cyndi Lauper is singing in the show, and we're tying Dontee's number with Cyndi Lauper singing "True Colors," which is something that we're extremely excited about. I hope that we're not keeping that a surprise!

Dontee - It's a big secret!

That sounds very exciting and I can't wait to see it! Tell us how you made the transition from dancer to choreographer.

Dontee - It's something that I've always wanted to do, and I assisted in many different ways to get here over the years. As a performer, I was very happy to be a fly on the wall and to help out any way that I could. We did it a little bit differently last year, where Jerry kind of 'opened up the floor' for a number of people to pitch ideas. Some things got scrapped, some things were good and developed and my idea made it through. That was exciting to have that opportunity.

Ignoring that he's sitting here, what has it been like working with Denis as a director?

Denis - It's amazing! Should I go to the bathroom?

Dontee - No, I'd say the same thing if you weren't here. Truly, and not just because he's sitting here, Denis is one of the most liked people on Broadway. He's very, very giving, and open to listening to new ideas and he's very able to let other people develop things, and to nurture new ideas and bring them to the table. He also has an overview and a vision to keep everything on track as well. He's a wonderful director.

People come running to work for him as well. I understand  that because people really enjoy him, and he's really a very nice guy and very easy to get along with.

Denis - And it's great to work with Dontee as well. She brings the class to the event…

Dontee- I like to think of it as the sorbet to cleanse your pallet before the meat…

Denis - She keeps the cops out too!

To wrap things up, what else are you working on at the moment?

Denis - I'm Jerry Mitchell's Associate Choreographer for the upcoming Legally Blonde musical that we just finished the workshop of. I'm really excited about that and I think it's incredible. At the moment, I'm taking a leave of absence from Chicago which I perform in. I'll be returning to that right after Broadway Bares and will be in that through November. It's a nice place to be and I love those guys, and I'll be there till we start rehearsals for Legally Blonde in November.

Thank you both for your time!

This year's Broadway Bares sounds better than ever and tickets are on sale now. For the 9:30 PM show, tickets are $600 VIP seating plus open bar, $225 VIP standing plus open bar, $95 priority viewing, and $50 general admission. For the midnight show, tickets are $600 VIP seating plus open bar, $225 VIP standing plus open bar, and $50 general admission. Call (212) 840-0770, ext. 268 or visit www.broadwaycares.org for tickets.