Susan Stroman

Susan Stroman
Born	October 17, 1954 (1954-10-17) (age 55) Wilmington, Delaware, USA
Years active	1970s-present
Spouse(s)	Mike Ockrent (1996-1999†)

Susan Stroman (born 17 October 1954) is an American theatre director, choreographer, film director, and performer.

Biography

Early years

Stroman was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Frances and Charles Stroman.^[1] She was exposed to show tunes by her piano-playing salesman father. She began studying dance, concentrating on jazz, tap, and ballet at the age of five. She studied under James Jamieson at the Academy of the Dance in Wilmington. She majored in English at the University of Delaware; her first professional appearance was in Hit the Deck at the Goodspeed Opera House in 1974. After graduating in 1976, she moved to New York City.

Career

Stroman's first big break came when director Scott Ellis hired her to choreograph his off-Broadway revival of Flora the Red Menace at the Vineyard Theatre in Greenwich Village in 1987. Her work there was seen by Hal Prince, who hired her to work on the dance sequences for his New York City Opera production of Don Giovanni. Her first Broadway credit was as an ensemble member in the 1979 musical Whoopee!. In 1980 she was assistant director, assistant choreographer, and dance captain for Musical Chairs. She earned her third Broadway credit for her collaboration with director, and then-future husband, Mike Ockrent (1946-1999) on Crazy for You in 1992.

In 1994, Stroman collaborated with Prince on a revival of Show Boat, where she unleashed some of her most innovative ideas. She added several dance montages to the show, complete with a revolving door, to help guide the audience through the generations that are covered in the show. Stroman heavily researched the period in which the show takes place and learned African-Americans are credited for inventing the Charleston. She used that information in designing the montages, as the popular dance is introduced by and eventually appropriated from the black characters.

After suffering two major failures with Big, The Musical (1996) and Steel Pier (1997), Stroman was approached by Lincoln Center's artistic director Andre Bishop, who offered her assistance in developing the project of her choice. Her husband, Mike Ockrent, who had had a production deal with Warner Bros. to develop movie musicals following in the vein of the recently successful "Evita" had had two employees develop ideas for musical films based on the current swing dance craze and the book "Therese Racquin." After Ockrent's deal was dismissed, Ockrent gave the employees' ideas to his wife. She and John Weidman, who had written the book for Big, began working on what would become the three-part "dance play" Contact, which she choreographed as well as directed. The show opened at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theater in the fall of 1999, and later transferred upstairs to the larger Vivian Beaumont Theater, where it was reclassified as a musical. It won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical.

While preparing for Mel Brooks' musical version of The Producers, Stroman's husband Ockrent lost his battle with leukemia, and she assumed the reins of the production. It was a commercial success and won a record twelve Tony Awards. In 2005, she made her directorial debut as a feature filmmaker with a big screen adaptation of the show.

In 2007, she collaborated with Brooks again, as director and choreographer of the musical Young Frankenstein.

She is both director and choreographer of the new musical Happiness, which has a book by John Weidman, music by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie. The musical opens in previews in February 2009 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at (Lincoln Center).^[2][3]

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1992 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Crazy for You
• 1993 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer - Crazy for You
• 1995 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Show Boat
• 1999 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer - Oklahoma!
• 2000 Drama Desk Award for Best Choreography - Contact
• 2000 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Direction - Contact
• 2000 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Contact
• 2001 Drama Desk Award for Best Choreography - The Producers
• 2001 Drama Desk Award for Best Director of a Musical - The Producers
• 2001 Tony Award for Best Choreography - The Producers
• 2001 Tony Award for Best Director - The Producers
• 2001 Drama League's Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award
• 2002 Laurence Olivier Award for Choreography - Oklahoma!

Nominations

• 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography - Liza Minnelli Live from Radio City Music Hall
• 1996 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Big
• 1997 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Steel Pier
• 2000 Tony Award for Best Choreography - The Music Man
• 2000 Tony Award for Best Director - Contact
• 2000 Tony Award for Best Director - The Music Man
• 2002 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Oklahoma!

Stage productions

• 1994 Picnic (choreographer of Musical Interludes) (Broadway)
• 1994 A Christmas Carol (choreographer) (Madison Square Garden)
• 1998 Oklahoma! (choreographer) (West End)
• 2000 The Music Man (director/choreographer) (Broadway)
• 2001 Thou Shalt Not (director/choreographer/creator) (Broadway)
• 2001 The Producers (director/choreographer) (Broadway)
• 2002 Oklahoma! (Choreographer) (Broadway)
• 2004 The Frogs (director/choreographer) (Broadway)
• 2004 Double Feature: The Blue Necklace and Makin' Whoopee for New York City Ballet
• 2007 Young Frankenstein (director/choreographer) (Broadway)

References

1. ^ "Susan Stroman Biography". filmreference. 2008. http://www.filmreference.com/film/27/Susan-Stroman.html. Retrieved 2008-09-01. 
2. ^ Hetrick, Adam."Tickets for Stroman-Helmed Happiness Go On Sale Jan. 25",playbill.com, January 25, 2009
3. ^ Newhouse listing for Happinesslct.org, accessed January 25, 2009

Further reading

• Grode, Eric (Spring 1997). "Susan Stroman - Woman of Steel". ShowMusic: The Musical Theatre Magazine (no.1). ISSN 87559560. 

External links

• Susan Stroman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Susan Stroman at the Internet Movie Database
• Susan Stroman - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org

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