Jack Cole: Alive and Kicking
Leonard Nimoy Thalia |
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Dancers Over 40 begins the second season of its series of panels and performances by honoring legendary director and choreographer Jack Cole, and features Dancer Over 40 members who performed in his first Broadway Show (Magdalena, 1948) to his last (Man of La Mancha, 1965).
There will be clips of Cole’s TV and film work as well, and special guests, including DO40 Advisory Board Members Chita Rivera and Marge Champion, choreographer Alan Johnson, original Cole company members Ethel and George Martin, DO40 members Gemze de Lappe and Stuart Hodes from the Cole revival of Kismet, and other Broadway performers from the ‘40s to the current day. The event will be hosted by legendary television talk show host Dick Cavett and will include clips from the movie Three for the Show, with a stunning number featuring Marge Champion, and Chita Rivera will talk about her experiences with Cole during the 1950s television era, specifically her Cole-choreographed numbers on The Sid Caesar Show. There will also be a tribute to original Cole company member Gwen Verdon. Virtually all the clips that will be shown feature Verdon, Ethel and George Martin, Matt Maddox and Cole himself. DO40 member and filmmaker Annette Macdonald will discuss her upcoming documentary on Cole, chat with DO40 member Norma Doggett Beswick (Magdalena,1948) and feature a clip of an interview she did with DO40 board member George Marcy (Man of La Mancha, 1965). Also featured in this segment will be director/choreographer Larry Fuller (Evita) discussing Cole’s Las Vegas years.
Dancer Dana Moore (Dancin’, Fosse, Sweet Charity) will perform a Cole inspired piece with the group NYC Dance Makers, an organization founded by DO40 member Patricia Lockery and her sister Lesley. They are dedicated to preserving not only theater, but television and film dance. The program will be the first for DO40 to include multi-media, since Cole was active in film and television, as well as theatre. Video of the event, as with past DO40 panels, will be donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Collection at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts.
Along with honoring directors, choreographers and dancers, DO40’s mission is also to assist dancers in need, and DO40 begins the season with a new DO40 initiative in association with The Actors Fund. Starting this fall, Dancers Over 40 will donate a yearly portion of their Zoya Leporska Fund to The Dancers’ Resource, a new program at The Actors Fund spearheaded by Bebe Neuwirth. This program was created to assist dancers in all aspects of their lives and careers. Founding Member Zoya Leporska left DO40 money in trust just for that purpose. DO40 will be presenting their first check to the Actor’s Fund at the Cole Event.
Dancers Over 40 was founded in 1994 by a group of Broadway dancers who were concerned about their ability to continue to live and work in a creative environment. DO40 publishes a newsletter and website, as well as producing social events and panel discussions that focus on topics important to the mature dancer – and to the next generation of Dancers Over 40. For information on Dancers Over 40, visit www.dancersover40.org and to see clips of previous panels and performances, go to www.youtube.com/dancersover40.
