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Let’s just start with some facts. Susan Stroman has won five Tony
Awards and has an additional nine nominations. She’s the first
woman to ever win the Tony Award for Best Direction and
Choreography at the same time. Her production of The Producers
won a record twelve Tony Awards and made a record-breaking $3.5
million dollars in one day—because, yes, female-helmed shows can
be critical and commercial hits. In the 2013-14 Broadway season, she
opened Big Fish and Bullets Over Broadway, making her the first
woman to ever open two new musicals on Broadway in the same
season. She is also the first woman to ever choreograph a full-length
ballet for the New York City Ballet. Coming up, her production of
Little Dancer will be seen at The Kennedy Center, and she will direct
The Merry Widow at the Metropolitan Opera. Okay, so those are
facts, but what numbers fail to capture is the influence that Susan
Stroman has had on the theatre. The scope of her work encompasses
theatrical innovation and a sense of bringing Broadway back to
itself. And then there’s her effect on women in theatre. There is no
doubt that there are women pursuing theatre and succeeding
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(i.) Present
a famous ballet dancer and, in fact, through Degas she became the
HOME INTERVIEWS FEATURES
most famous dancer of FEATURETTES
all. COMMUNITY EDITORIAL ABOUT
(ii.) Space
You mentioned the space of The Met being evocative. How does the
actual physical space of the theatre affect your work?
Every space that I use is very different. Doing something like The
Scottsboro Boys at the Vineyard Theatre is very different—the size of
the space is very different, and the way the audience is raked up is
different—than say the St. James for Bullets Over Broadway. And
then the opera is so grand and so huge. So it does affect how you
visualize. For the opera, there are about 65-70 people on stage, so
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that’s very different than The Scottsboro Boys , which was thirteen
HOME INTERVIEWS FEATURES
people, and FEATURETTES
in Bullets Over COMMUNITY
Broadway, there’s EDITORIAL
twenty-five people. ABOUT
It’s all very different, but the space does play a big part in the story.
So when I’m creatingCONTACT
a piece, I doSHOP
want to take it to a place that’s
appropriate. For something like Little Dancer, the original statue
that Degas sculpted is actually at the National Gallery in Washington
D.C. so it seemed the perfect place to take it to was the Kennedy
Center.
When you read a novel do you hear music in your head as you’re
going?
I do. Absolutely. Even when I read a novel. And, of course, I always
imagine what’s happening at the end of the page—the very last thing
that I read—I always wonder what happens next.
So it’s almost instantaneous that you hear a story and then there’s
music?
It is instantaneous. It’s very much a part of me. I love many different
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styles of music: jazz and Latin jazz and classical and then good old
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Rodgers and FEATURETTES
Hammerstein. COMMUNITY EDITORIAL ABOUT
(iv.) Art
(v.) Actors
You’ve worked with actors from all different backgrounds and who,
no doubt, have different processes. That seems like it would be one
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(vi.) Groundbreaker
the best. You really don’t come up for air until the first preview when
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there’s an FEATURES FEATURETTES
audience. Otherwise, COMMUNITY
you’re just working on EDITORIAL
the piece andABOUT
enjoying the artfulness of it. Whether one is celebrated at the end is
CONTACT
not something one strives SHOP
for. I love the work so much. I love the
collaboration with all the different types of artists. I feel the theatre
is the most unique one of all [the arts] for collaboration. I feel very
fortunate to be in a field where I really do get to have long
conversations with the visual artists, the actors, the musicians. It’s
all art forms rolled into one and I feel very fortunate to be a part of
it.
Going along with women being criticized more, do you think your
work is discussed differently than it would be if you were a man?
It’s tricky, I think. Because it’s been male-dominated for so long, I
think people feel more comfortable with a man in charge, so they’re
less likely to criticize, but when a woman steps forward and is in
charge, it’s sort of like open season. And it’s not just in the theatre.
It’s everywhere. I suppose as women become more equal in these
different forms that are male-dominated, that will subside. But right
now it is definitely something that is evident.
When you were younger, did you have a conversation with yourself
like: I’m a woman and I’m in charge, and people might have an
attitude about that, so I need to think about how I present myself?
When I started, which would be like 35 years ago, I actually would do
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(vii.) Representation
remember what Broadway show you saw two weeks ago and where
HOME INTERVIEWS FEATURES FEATURETTES
you ate dinner—everything COMMUNITY
about it. There’s somethingEDITORIAL
about live ABOUT
theatre that hits you in the heart. But as far as getting it out there, I
feel it would be greatCONTACT
if there wereSHOP
more organizations for women to
observe and to partake in the different art forms that are involved in
the theatre. My union the SDC [Stage Directors and Choreographers
Union] has an observership program for young, upcoming directors
to observe—and I always choose a woman. I always have a young
woman observe whatever show I’m doing. I’ve chosen a young
woman for Little Dancer to observe and she hopes to be a director
someday. But they should do that with everybody, like the set
designers and the costume designers and musicians and everybody. I
think allowing women to observe the different art forms that they
might long to do is a wonderful thing, and a lot of those young
women whom I’ve had observe on all of my shows have gone on to
become directors and choreographers.
(viii.) Economics
What was the first piece of music that had a major impact on you?
I was a bumblebee in my dance recital and the song was Be My Little
Baby Bumble Bee. And that was the last time I wore horizontal
stripes, I think. That was the song that I learned to sing as a little kid
and danced around to.
What was the first moment where you felt like a grown up?
I don’t know that that’s happened yet. I think probably… well… let’s
see… I don’t think it’s happened yet.
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Do you have any moments you feel were very definitive in your
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creative development? FEATURETTES COMMUNITY EDITORIAL ABOUT
Well, something like Contact, I think, was very definitive in my
career and in my life.CONTACT SHOP
It was a show that wasn’t based on a book or a
movie or anything, and it ran for three and a half years at Lincoln
Center. And it really moved people. People were taken by it. So I
think that particular show, because I created it just from visions. I
think that’s the one show that probably means the most to me.
1. Top Hat
2. The Bandwagon
3. Swing Time
4. Center Stage (because I worked on that one)
5. Holiday Inn
(xii.) Heroes
Did they always make you feel like you could be anything you
wanted to be? And that going into the arts was a complete
possibility?
Yes, they did. And as difficult as they knew the arts were to take a
chance on, I think they always felt that people who were involved
with the arts were good people. And I think that’s why they steered
me that way.
Who are your heroes now? Who do you look to for inspiration?
Well, I have to say, I’m inspired by a lot of female artists. People like
Kara Walker. I’m inspired by Hillary [Clinton]. And novelists—Donna
Tartt who wrote The Goldfinch. I’m inspired by all of those women
who have accomplished things in their different fields. Absolutely.
(xiii.) Bravery
You wanted to choreograph and direct from the time you were quite
young. Did you ever have a moment of, “All of my idols doing this
are men and I am not?”
My father was a wonderful piano player, and I was that little girl that
would dance around the living room when he would play the piano. I
would create dance, create movement, and create stories when he
would play. And that’s from ever since I was about five. But I don’t
think I was consciously ever aware that it was always a man. I don’t
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think I was. Not until I was in it, and all of a sudden had to put a
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baseball cap on. I don’tFEATURETTES COMMUNITY
think I was consciously EDITORIAL
aware of that until I ABOUT
went out to grab it.
CONTACT SHOP
We’ve been frequently quoting Lucille Ball’s advice to young
actresses which is, “Develop as a person first and artist second.”
What would your advice to emerging artists be?
I always say that you can’t be afraid to ask the question. What’s the
worst that could happen? The answer could be “no” and you go on.
But you’d be surprised. If you really want to do something you
should go after it and ask that question: “Can I do this? Can I make
your book into a musical? Can I take your show off-Broadway?” Go
up to someone you admire and ask, “Can I observe you when you
work?” The worst that happens is someone says no. But you should
always try to ask the question of people you admire or something
you want to do because some people are too afraid to even ask.
(xiv.) Future
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