Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett 1943-87, American dancer and choreographer, b. Buffalo, N.Y. He appeared in West Side Story and Subways Are for Sleeping. During the 1970s, he was one of the most successful directors and choreographers of Broadway musicals. His credits include Promises, Promises (1968), Coco (1969), and Follies (1971). In A Chorus Line (1975), one of the most successful musicals in history, the song-and-dance elements of the show are so interwoven with the plot as to be inseparable.

Bibliography: See K. Mandelbaum, A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennet (1989).

Bennett [Di Figlia], Michael (1943–87), choreographer and director. Born in Buffalo, he made his debut as a dancer in Subways Are for Sleeping (1961) and, after dancing in several other musicals, he choreographed the short‐lived musicals A Joyful Noise (1966) and Henry, Sweet Henry (1967). But Bennett's dances for Promises, Promises won him widespread recognition and he solidified his reputation with his choreography for Coco (1969), Company (1970), and Follies (1971), co‐directing the last with Hal Prince. He moved closer to totally controlling the conception of his musicals when he served as librettist, director, and choreographer for Seesaw (1973) and over the next several years he interviewed dancers and ran workshops to develop his greatest musical triumph, A Chorus Line (1973). Although his Ballroom (1979) failed to run, Bennett had a final hit with Dreamgirls (1981) before his premature death. Frank Rich wrote, “He keeps ‘Dreamgirls’ in constant motion—in every conceivable direction—to perfect his special brand of cinematic stage effects (montage, dissolve, wipe). . . . Throughout the show, Mr. Bennett uses shadows and klieg lights, background and foreground action, spotlighted figures and eerie silhouettes, to maintain the constant tension.” Biography: One Singular Sensation, Kevin Kelly, 1990.