On The Record…
With "Passing Strange" Headed to Broadway Karole Armitage adds Another Credit to her Burgeoning Resume
Karole Armitage is going to Broadway as choreographer (or movement coordinator as she is listed) for the new Broadway musical “Passing Strange,” opening at the Belasco Theatre at the end of February. After a critically acclaimed successful run at the downtown Public Theatre last season the show is making the move to Times Square. Armitage has taken on a new and exhilarating challenge. It is no secret that in her years as a choreographer, she has withstood both critical barbs and glowing raves in a career that can be characterized as multi-layered. But projects continue to roll in and, like the energizer bunny; she goes onward maintaining a positive attitude about all of it. Armitage sat back in her chair, ran her fingers through her cropped blonde hair and smiled. “I had no idea this show would be asked to move, and I don’t know if it will be successful on Broadway, but I do know it is terrific, witty, and original theater, and I am so happy to be associated with it. If truth be told, I have been involved with “Passing Strange” for a couple of years so there is not a lot for me to do from scratch,” she said. “Of course in a bigger, proscenium arch theater there will be changes, but the cast is a family now, used to each other, and eager. I am glad we are all making the trip together.”
In “Passing Strange” Armitage will be essentially working with non-dancers which is a new twist for her. Despite any criticisms she may have absorbed about her work over the years, she has never been taken down for using sub standard dancers. In her own career, as a performer she was an alluring stage figure, exquisitely trained legs and feet, and a seductive movement quality, and in her choices of dancers she has always understood the importance of having performers who could show the work at its best. However, with “Passing Strange,” it was a somewhat different experience. “This show needed performers who could move well while singing and developing a character,” she said. “I have worked with dancers all my life. But in this situation it has been a challenge for me to work with non-dancers who are so gifted and so musical,” she said. “I am listed as the choreographer which means I am solely responsible for moving the characters from one stage spot to another, and making them feel willing and comfortable while doing it.”
The cast of the Broadway-bound musical "Passing Strange"
Photo: Michal Daniel
Lest someone think Armitage is slacking off by working only on the Broadway project, she began to recite her other projects due before summer. As she proceeds to relate all the work that will follow her Broadway debut I am exhausted listening to her, but I do note she is especially calm, confident, and straightforward about the road ahead. She has her own company, “Armitage Gone! Dance,” that presented a winter season in January at the Joyce Theatre, and an opera that took up residence at the Gotham Opera House, a compact theater in the Henry Street Settlement, then off to Europe to stage more opera, this time in grand classical opera houses. “My head is swirling,” she admitted, though her affable manner belied any such thing. She is dismayed that her schedule leaves very little time for rejuvenation in Colorado, her home in early childhood where she still delights (“when I can get there”) in communing with nature by being on top of the highest mountain she can scale, in high altitude overlooking the cities below. “Just to let my mind roam,” she said. “I struggle daily with living in big cities and need to renew my strength and spirit in the wilderness. I miss it.”
At one time reigning as the queen of the New York downtown punk world, seen for years on the arm of world-famous painter David Salle, and a familiar face at heady artistic events, Armitage would seem an unlikely candidate for a hike up the mountain. Her father was a biologist and did his research in Colorado. Armitage and family stayed together until a local ballet teacher discovered her ability and suggested she think about more intensive training in New York. At 13 she entered the School of American Ballet, living with family friends, but soon became intrigued by modern dance and went on to perform with Merce Cunningham’s company for many years, then struck out on her own. Her choreography continues to reflect the merging of both schools of training: strong ballet legwork, and the free inventive use of the upper body.
And here she is, about to embark on a killer spring schedule having polished “Passing Strange” and adding a new credit to her resume. The Times writing about the show after the Public Theatre opening used the words “fresh, exuberant, and bitingly funny’ not words used lightly by the venerable gray lady. “Soulful and entertaining” are quotes from Associated Press, and New York Magazine topped it off by labeling it “amazing!” At this printing the Broadway reviews are not in (opening night is February 28) but it looks like another success story for Armitage, for Stew, who conceived the score (a driving rock musical feast) with his longtime partner Heidi Rodewald, under the direction of Annie Dorsen who has shepherded the entire company to this point. Armitage has her suitcase packed as immediately after opening night, she is off to the next “thing” on her list. Oddly enough, one of the points listed in the press material for this show described at its heart the question how to live a meaningful life? It would seem Armitage has more than answered that question.