“Forgotten Hollywood”- The Cat’s Meow…

Posted on July 2, 2018 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

“`Choreographer Gillian Lynne for years collaborated with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber on a number of his most iconic plays. Her credits include the phenomenally successful Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. She won a Tony Award for each production.

“`Lynne began her career as a lead solo dancer with Sadler’s Wells Ballet in 1944, and moved into directing and choreography. She was a choreographer for Northern Ballet and the Bolshoi. Lynne directed many productions in London’s West End and on Broadway. She also worked on television specials, collaborating with performers from a variety of music genres, including Ray Charles, Perry Como, and Petula Clark.

“`Just last month, Lloyd Webber re-named his New London Theatre as The Gillian Lynne Theatre, making it the first in London’s theater district named for a woman. Though she had a prolific career as a choreographer on stage, her work also involved film. Gillian appeared in The Master of Ballantrae with Errol Flynn, and became the dance supervisor for Man of La Mancha and Yentl.

“`She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours, and as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire  (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours:  for service to musical theatre and dance. Lights around London’s theater district will dim for a minute over the next few days before each show as a fitting tribute to Lynne.

“`Gillian Lynne (right) transformed and updated modern musical theatre through dance. She was 92.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2018 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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