Listen: Jerry Mitchell Discusses Tony Wins & Losses on WHY I'LL NEVER MAKE IT Podcast

Director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde) has been nominated eight times at the Tony Awards as well as the Drama Desk Awards, both in the categories of direction and choreography. He joins host Patrick Oliver Jones to discuss the losses and what he's learned from them.

Listen below!

Their conversation chronicles a career of persistence and passion with Mitchell sharing early personal challenges of being a male dancer and coming to terms with his sexuality as well as recent public failures like Pretty Woman. "Even if an experience isn't everything you thought it was going to be, it will only help guide you in the direction in which you want to go."

This has at times been a difficult lesson for Mitchell to learn, such as in 2007 when he was director and choreographer for the first time on Broadway. "The thing that was hardest for me in Legally Blonde was being alone," he recalls. "I had to do it all, I had to come up with all." Mitchell had to rely on his work with Michael Bennett, Jerome Robbins, and Jack O'Brien to steer him through that transition.

Change has been a constant theme of Mitchell's career. In fact, he recounts several of his shows like Hairspray and Kinky Boots that went through significant and sometimes costly changes. Which is why he values honesty and openness within a creative team, so that no one is hesitant to fix problems and ultimately tell the story in a better way.

One poignant exchange in their interview occurs when Jones, an Off-Broadway actor and singer, confesses to being a non-dancer and how choreographers like Mitchell intimidate him. Mitchell understands and also admits that he has gotten better at handling such performers in auditions and rehearsals. He gives the example of Full Monty and how he "was looking for characters...not choreography."

Listen to the full interview with Jerry Mitchell on Why I'll Never Make It, available on all podcast platforms.

Jerry Mitchell is a prolific choreographer and director both on and off Broadway. He has received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics' Circle Awards for choreographing the 2005 Best Revival production of La Cage aux Folles and another Tony for choreographing Kinky Boots. His losses exceed his wins, though, with nominations but no wins for The Full Monty, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Never Gonna Dance. He also conceived and created Broadway Bares, a comedy burlesque show performed annually for the charity Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

WHY I'LL NEVER MAKE IT is one of Feedspot's Top 25 Theater Podcasts and recently received a 2022 Communicator Award of Distinction. This weekly podcast is hosted by Off-Broadway actor, singer, and producer Patrick Oliver Jones and features fellow creatives sharing the realities of a career in the performing arts, all while challenging the notion of what it really means to "make it" in this business. Past directors on WINMI include David Ruttura (Spider-Man), Al Blackstone (So You Think You Can Dance), and Erin Cronican (Seeing Place Theatre Company).