Let's Have a Look at... Rob Ashford, Broadway choreographer
Choreographer Rob Ashford has staged a wild terpsichorean moment in the new Broadway musical "The Wedding Singer." Perhaps he didn't even realize he would be taking the audience by surprise and eliciting shrieks of delight when Linda (played by dancer Felicia Finley) tosses off a somersault on a bed, her long blond wig thrown back as she ends in a split facing stage front. Her ex-boyfriend, played by Stephen Lynch, is unimpressed, but the moment remains in memory, as one of many in "The Wedding Singer," currently at home in the Al Hirschfeld Theatre with, wonder of wonders, a lot of dancing.
Audiences have had a look at Rob Ashford's choreography in "Thoroughly Modern Millie," for which he won the 2002 Tony award, in many Encores productions for City Center, in regional theater, and recently in the London revival of "Guys and Dolls." He is a prolific, busy, sought-after choreographer with an arm's length of credits on his resume and with future commitments like a brand-new "Evita," and the last Kander and Ebb show, "Curtains" which will star David Hyde Pierce.
"Singer" takes place in 1985, the beginning of the MTV culture. Suddenly just plain folks were being exposed to dance right in their living rooms. Movies like "Flashdance" and "Fame" were at the neighborhood cinema. Bands, combos, and orchestras, were playing at all sorts of family occasions. Everybody was dancing. Robbie (Lynch's character) is a nice guy/ guitarist who dreams of being a rock star, but can't see anything in his future except playing at weddings and bar mitzvahs in New Jersey. A lot of his travails in reaching 'happily ever after' are pushed along through Ashford's fresh and energized choreography. "I like to make dance part of the story," Ashford admitted. "I don't like to see dance that feels like filler or something extra tacked on, numbers that always get cut anyhow."
The opening sets the pace with one raucous over-the-top wedding celebration, brides and grooms, bridesmaids and best friends, legs flying, bodies twirling, and cart-wheeling - everyone dressed up in heavy duty wedding costumes. From the first note the audience is drawn into the show largely because it is a super-charged dance number.
"Not every director loves dance," Ashford said, "and it is a big plus for a choreographer when his director is open to trying movement ideas. John Rando, our director, is a try anything guy. He let me pitch ideas. The script for 'The Wedding Singer' had no inserts between the lines that said...a dance goes here, or a dream ballet should be there, or a chase is needed at the end. The script only had places for music and dialogue." Ashford's dance ideas were welcome, and he made the most of it.
The second act also opens with a rousing dance number called "All About the Green" as in "greenbacks." "Robbie, is making a life change from music to Wall Street and thinks he has landed in a typical office," Ashford explained. "However, I wanted it to be not what he sees, a bunch of gray-suited men and women behind desks, but rather an indication of what one sees is not always what one gets." As a result the number is a big, outrageous dance sequence with a leg thrust out, an airborne somersault, and lots of intricate partnering. All the little nuances are at work beneath the surface in a staid office setting. Ashford was prompted by the movie 'Eyes Wide Shut," where the protagonist goes to a Westchester party expecting an uneventful evening and instead sees a parade of sex objects, satanic rituals, and even a murder. "Well, we don't go that far," Ashford pointed out, "but that idea led me into choreographing the weird goings-on in this dance/office number."
Ashford had only six trained dancers. But the rest of the cast had to be able to move well enough to make his staging work. "The show needed a lot of characters. New Jersey folks are not always svelte, sophisticated New York types." he said, "We had a lot of roles to play, and the cast worked hard to rise up to the expectations. I think this is part of the charm of the show."
Ashford admitted that with invited calls, and Equity calls, it is not often possible to make a place for a brand new person. "But because new people bring new things to me, I like to try." He always attends open calls, although he did say with only six dancers for this show he tried to rely on some whom he knew. But because dancers are not always available four of the six were new faces. "I come to rehearsal very well prepared but not resolute...if the shoe does not fit...we have to change shoes right away. The last thing I want are my dancers to look bad up there. That doesn't do much for me either."
The first time a choreographer runs through his dances for the producers and director to see is a ticklish occasion. "I don't want them to grimace and say 'Is that what the show is about?'" Or they might say ' Umm...no, this is not what we have in mind." Either response is welcome early on, because then I know what I have to do, and we don't waste time. Back to the drawing board."
Shows have a long period of development. Once the cast goes into rehearsal things change and the leads begin to fit the part -- or not. The challenge comes when the producers and directors have chosen a leading actor and he can't dance. "When I was told Stephen Lynch was being seriously considered I knew he was a great comedian but not a dancer. Yet he was so right for the part that even if he could not put one foot in front of the other, I was going to make it work."
And work it did. The line between Lynch, a novice dancer and his effortless ease on the stage in the musical numbers seems to inspire the show and bring dance in an original musical to Broadway after a long hiatus.