Reverence
Michael Kidd, Choreographer
Michael Kidd, the award-winning choreographer of may Broadway shows, like “Finian’s Rainbow” and “Guys and Dolls” and Hollywood musicals including “The Band Wagon” and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” died recently at his home in Los Angeles. The cause was cancer.
On Broadway, Mr. Kidd won five Tony Awards: for “Finian’s Rainbow” in 1947, “Guys and Dolls” in 1951, “Can-Can” in 1954, “Li’l Abner” in 1957, and “Destry Rides Again” in 1960. In Hollywood, he received a special 1997 Academy Award “in recognition of his services to the art of dance in the art of the screen.”
Kidd studied dancing with Anatole Vilzak, Ludmila Shollar, and Muriel Stuart. He made his stage debut in "The Eternal Road" (1937), and in the same year became a member of American Ballet, and then Ballet Caravan, where he remained until 1940 (These companies were forerunners of the New York City Ballet). Among his roles was the title role in Eugene Loring's "Billy the Kid." Kidd danced with Ballet Caravan at the 1939 World's Fair (Railroad on Parade), and also at Radio City Music Hall in 1940. He was soloist and assistant director with Dance Players (1941-1942), where he repeated the role of Billy in "Billy the Kid," and also danced in "Man from Midian," "City Portrait," and "Harlequin for the President."
In 1942 Kidd joined Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre) as a soloist. Besides "Billy the Kid," he danced in Mikhail Fokine's "Petrouchka" and "Bluebeard," Antony Tudor's "Undertow" and "Pillar of Fire," Agnes de Mille's "Three Virgins and a Devil," Jerome Robbins' "Fancy Free" and "Interplay," David Lichine's "Helen of Troy," and "Aurora's Wedding" (the third act of Sleeping Beauty). For Ballet Theatre he choreographed "On Stage" in 1945 in which he created the leading role of the Handyman.
For the movies Kidd choreographed "Where's Charley" (1949), "The Band Wagon" (1953), "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954), and "Hello Dolly" (1969). Kidd also acted and danced in movies: "Movie Movie" and "Skin Deep." Gene Kelly invited him to dance with him and Dan Daily in "It's Always Fair Weather." The image of Kelly, Kidd and Daily boisterously dancing along a New York City street with garbage-can lids attached to their shoes is one of the happiest in musical comedy history.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Mr. Kidd choreographed and directed television specials. He also acted in a few films during those decades, most memorably as a faded director and choreographer trying to rescue a beauty pageant in the 1975 cult film “Smile.” In more recent years he directed scenes for Janet Jackson in the music videos “When I Think of You” and “Alright.”