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During the Golden Age of the Broadway musical, few director-choreographers could infuse a new musical with dance and movement in quite the way Gower Champion could. From his earliest Broadway success with Bye Bye Birdie to his triumphant and bittersweet valedictory, 42nd Street, musicals directed by Champion filled the proscenium with life. At their best, they touched the heart and stirred the soul with a skillful blend of elegance and American showmanship. He began his career as one-half of "America's Youngest Dance Team" with Jeanne Tyler and later teamed with his wife, dance partner, and longtime collaborator, Marge Champion. This romantic ballroom duo danced across America in the smartest clubs and onto the television screen, performing story dances that captivated the country. They ultimately took their talent to Hollywood, where they starred in the 1951 remake of Show Boat, Lovely to Look At, and other films. But Broadway always called to Champion, and in 1959 he was tapped to direct Bye Bye Birdie. The rest is history. In shows like Birdie, Carnival, Hello, Dolly!, I Do! I Do!, Sugar, and 42nd Street, luminaries such as Chita Rivera, Dick Van Dyke, Carol Channing, Mary Martin, Robert Preston, Tony Roberts, Robert Morse, Tammy Grimes, and Jerry Orbach brought Champion's creative vision to life. Working with composers and writers like Jerry Herman, Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse, Lee Adams, and Bob Merrill, he streamlined the musical making it flow effortlessly with song and dance from start to finish.John Gilvey has spoken with many of the people who worked with Champion, and in Before the Parade Passes By he tells the life story of this most American of Broadway musical director-choreographers from his early days dancing with Marge to his final days spent meticulously honing the visual magic of 42nd Street. Before the Parade Passes By is the life story of one man who personified the glory of the Broadway musical right up until the moment of his untimely death. When the curtain fell to thunderous applause on the opening night of 42nd Street, August 25, 1980, legendary impresario David Merrick came forward, silenced the audience, and announced that Champion had died that morning. As eminent theatre critic Ethan Mordden has firmly put it, "the Golden Age was over." Though the Golden Age of the Broadway musical is over, John Gilvey brings it to life again by telling the story of Gower Champion, one of its most passionate and creative legends.
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (November 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312337760
ISBN-13: 978-0312337766
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #794,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #159 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Dancers #353 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Theater > Broadway & Musicals #354 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Theatre
Gower Champion had one of the more interesting careers in Broadway history. After minor stage work and major Hollywood and TV work, he wowed Broadway with his production of BYE BYE BIRDIE, following that success with three other big hits, CARNIVAL, HELLO DOLLY! And I DO, I DO. He then had a long series of flops and misfires before going out on a blaze of glory with his production of 42ND STREET. He died on the day of the show's opening but the news was kept a secret until after 42ND STREET'S triumphant opening night curtain call. BEFORE THE PARADE PASSES BY is a much-needed critical re-assessment of the work of Gower Champion. As John Anthony Gilvey points out in the final chapter, he is usually excluded from mention with the other great director/choreographers of the period, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett. Gilvey pleads a good case for including Champion in that pantheon. What's best about the book are his descriptions of how the individual shows were put together and how the musical numbers were staged. What's disappointing about the book are the parts dealing with the director's personal life. Some major bombshells are dropped but then not elaborated upon like this quote from Alexander Cohen: "He was a dictator and a fascist...and he had strange sexual alliances. First Marge, then a girl in the show, then a guy in the show." There are illusions to his buying a house in Topanga Canyon and living a bohemian life of drugs and sexual experimentation. No details are provided. Perhaps Gilvey is reluctant to go into the unsavory elements because he is a Catholic priest, although this is not revealed in the author's bio and his picture doesn't show him in his priest's clothes.
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