BANDSTAND's Andy Blankenbuehler Reflects on Career Milestone

Rhapsody Magazine for United Airlines recently talked to choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, of Hamilton fame, as he gears up for the opening of his newest show Bandstand.

Bandstand is unlike anything Blankenbuehler has done before because for the first time he is both choreographing and directing. Bandstand is about a group of World War II veterans competing to be America's next big swing band.

"Hopefully, it will make people think," Blankenbuehler told Rhapsody. "I'm not about the warm bath. But I'm not necessarily a downtown person who's going to be so esoteric and abstract that you can't understand what's going on. But I do like to challenge a little bit."

Blankenbuehler began as a dancer, but with his work on the revival of Cats last summer, his choreographer credits have officially outnumber his performer credits.

Blankenbuehler says that he is happy to adapt his style to fit the show, "but more than anything else, I think character first," he says. A trademark of his style is slow-motion movement, which is shown specifically in Hamilton when the titular character is killed by a bullet represented by a person moving in slow motion toward his body.

"That will probably always be done for the life of Hamilton," Blankenbuehler says. "It feels really good to me to be able to have an impact on things."

Read the full story here.

Mr. Blankenbuehler won a 2008 Tony Award for his choreography in the Tony Award winning Best Musical In The Heights (also Lortel Award, Outer Critics Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography). He also choreographed the Broadway revival of The Apple Tree. Other recent projects include the new Broadway-bound musical Waiting For The Moon (music by Frank Wildhorn); the world premiere of the musical A Little Princess (music by Andrew Lippa); the Paper Mill Playhouse production of A Wonderful Life; as well as the off-Broadway play Burleigh Grimes (music by David Yazbek); and the hit Caesars Palace production Nights On Broadway. As a performer, he has danced on Broadway in Fosse, Contact, Man of La Mancha, Saturday Night Fever, Steel Pier, Big and Guys and Dolls.

Photo Credit: ioulex, Rhapsody Magazine for United