Wayne Lamb

Last updated • 7 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Wayne Lamb
Wayne Lamb.jpg
Born
Michael Wayne Lamb

(1920-10-24)October 24, 1920
DiedJune 5, 2001(2001-06-05) (aged 80)
Occupations

Michael "Wayne" Lamb (October 24, 1920 – June 5, 2001) was a Broadway dancer, choreographer, theatre director and professor of dance.

Contents

Beginnings in Kansas

Lamb was born in Centerville, Kansas to Marno W. and Clara (Burdue) Lamb. [1] He attended the University of Wichita and the University of Kansas, where he studied dancing. [2]

Earl Carroll's Vanities

He left college to tour with Earl Carroll's Vanities, playing five shows a day on the movie circuit for three months. [2] "They said if I was interested in joining them, I had to be in Kansas City the next morning. So I quickly quit school and joined the show." The movie circuit consisted of performing between movie screenings at theatres across the country. [3]

Military service

His fledgling career was interrupted by the World War II draft. He spent the next three years in an Army uniform, chauffeuring officers and the occasional entertainer – such as Marlene Dietrich and Dinah Shore – around Europe. [3] He served in France, Belgium, Holland, England and Germany as a staff sergeant, and earned the Bronze Star. [1]

Study in New York

After his discharge and the GI bill, [4] he went to New York City, [5] where he immediately enrolled at the former Alviene School for the Dramatic Arts, [6] where Fred Astaire studied. [3] He was also a student at the American Theatre Wing from 1947–50, studying dance with Russian ballet teachers Helena Platova and Edward Caton, English ballet teachers Antony Tudor and Margaret Craske, Modern dance pioneers Martha Graham, Hanya Holm [7] and Doris Humphrey, Japanese modern teacher Yeichi Nimura, [8] and African-American modern dance innovator Katherine Dunham. [2]

Studying with Doris Humphrey

Jack Ragotzy recalls a story that Lamb told about choreographing a poem for Doris Humphrey: "After the piece was presented," he said, "she gave me the best advice of my life. 'Never work on anything unless you can add something of yourself to the work. If you can't add something of yourself, the work is already complete and there is no need for you to spend your time or energy on it.'" [7]

Professional beginnings

Lamb joined the national touring company of The Day Before Spring, which closed three days after its debut in Chicago during a crippling coal strike. [3] A month later, he would receive his Broadway debut.

Broadway

Lamb appeared in six Broadway musicals. [5] He first appeared as a solo dancer in the 1946 revival of the Franz Lehár operetta Yours is My Heart at the Shubert Theatre, lasting two months; [9] Bloomer Girl , [7] also at the Shubert Theatre starring Celeste Holm with choreography by Agnes Demille, [10] and the musical revue Make Mine Manhattan (1948–1949) at the Broadhurst Theatre with Sid Caesar, which ran for 429 performances. [11] Other Broadway shows included The Day Before Spring, which opened on November 22, 1945, at the National Theatre, where it ran for 167 performances, and the national company [7] of Call Me Mister, which included Bob Fosse, Carl Reiner and Buddy Hackett in the cast. Wayne was the ballet dancer and Bob Fosse the tap dancer in this production. [7] The show ran 15 months in venues all over the country. [5] [3] Lamb was in the Pre-Broadway tryout of Bonanza Bound, choreographed by Jack Cole and included Gwen Verdon in the chorus with Lamb. Writer/Director Joe Stockdale recalls Jack Ragotsy's first impression of Lamb in Call Me Mister in Chicago: "As a young dancer he had an animal grace that was electric in its force and energy." [7]

He also worked with actress Vivian Blaine, writer Mel Brooks, director George S. Kaufman and comedian Imogene Coca. [3]

Off-Broadway

Lamb is listed in the Broadway World Internet Database as the choreographer for two Off-Broadway productions of Shakespeare, including A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1956 at the Jan Hus Playhouse and Twelfth Night in 1957 at the Shakespearewrights Theatre. [12]

International tour

Lamb toured internationally from 1948 to 1950 as a concert dancer with the Elena Imaz International Dance Trio, presenting Spanish dances created by Imaz, who was originally from Argentina. They also appeared in the Carnegie Hall Summer Concerts. A picture of Lamb with the trio is featured in the January 10, 1951 edition of the Sarasota Herald Tribune. [13] [14]

Television

Lamb performed as a regular dancer on The Admiral Broadway Review which became Your Show of Shows in 1950, working with Buddy Hacket, Nancy Walker and Imogene Coca. From 1952 to 1955, other appearances included Toast of the Town (later called The Ed Sullivan Show), Stop the Music with Bert Parks, [15] The Tony Martin Show, The Ezio Pinza Show, the Bob Hope television specials , and The Colgate Comedy Hour . [12] [5] Wayne himself declared that he was the first one to wear a dance belt on television in an early version of The Burl Ives Show. Lamb elaborated for the Kalamazoo Gazette: "They wouldn't allow me to stand up straight for fear the American public would see my crotch!" [3]

Barn Theatre

In 1955, Lamb's interest in choreography led him to The Barn Theatre, a summer stock theatre in Augusta, Michigan, where he began directing musicals and plays alongside his companion, Angelo Mango, who was also an actor. His first assignment for the Barn was choreography for Jack Ragotzy's South Pacific. [5] The Holland, Michigan Evening Sentinel from June 1971 states that Lamb's first show for the 1971 summer season was Hello Dolly , which opened June 29, 1971 with Jack Ragotzy as producer and Lamb as Associate Producer. [16] The cast included Angelo Mango. A 1978 Barn Theatre program bio states that Lamb had been with the Barn for 23 years and shares "top artistic and managerial decisions with Jack Ragotzy" (artistic director). Lamb was Associate Producer at that time. [5] [17]

Professional teaching

Lamb was instructor of ballet classes for the New Dance Group in New York City and director of the ballet department for seven years, from 1950–57, 'teaching whenever I was in town.' In 1958, he was Director of the School of Dance and Fine Arts in Hastings, Michigan. In 1967, he taught dance classes for Diamond Head Theatre in Hawaii. [18]

University teaching

Lamb taught dance for Eureka College (Illinois) in 1959, Williams College in 1962 and the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1964 to 1966.[ citation needed ]

Purdue University

His teaching relationship with Purdue University began in 1960 and lasted until 1986. [19] [18] He was promoted to assistant professor in 1971, and is listed as an associate professor in a 1978 Barn Theatre program bio. [5] He taught ballet, broadwayjazz dance, allroom] and tap dance, his specialty. [5]

Choreography

He provided choreography for Annie Get Your Gun , The Boy Friend , Damn Yankees , Kiss Me Kate , West Side Story , My Fair Lady , Gypsy , The Me Nobody Knows , A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum , Once Upon a Mattress , A Midsummer Night's Dream (twice), Bury the Dead and Guys and Dolls .[ citation needed ]

Direction and choreography

He provided direction and choreography for Irma la Douce , Oliver! , Marat/Sade , Leave It to Jane , The Owl and the Pussycat , Man of La Mancha , The Killing of Sister George , Light Up the Sky, A Flea in Her Ear , George M , The Amorous Flea , Fiddler on the Roof , Our Town , Tobacco Road , The Music Man and Carousel , all with musical direction by longtime theatre colleague Dorothy Runk Mennen.[ citation needed ]

USO Show

For Purdue, Lamb directed a 1974 USO Show touring the United States Pacific Command, playing 52 shows to approximately 10,678 troops in Alaska, Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii. [19]

Affiliations

Lamb was a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Actors' Equity Association, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the American Association of Community Theatre. [19]

Honors

He received the title of Professor Emeritus of Theatre in 1987. [18]

At the new Pao Hall for the Performing Arts on the Purdue University campus, the Wayne Lamb Lobby was dedicated soon after the center's opening.[ citation needed ]

He was honored posthumously at Purdue University Theatre's October 2010 Legacy weekend. Purdue University Theatre's website explains: (This is an honor) 'recognizing and honoring professionals and professors who have had a profound impact upon Purdue Theatre and the professional theatre.' It was also a way for our current and future students – and the faculty and staff of Purdue Theatre – to know of our history, know about the careers of these individuals and the ways in which their contributions have shaped the lives and careers of so many others.' [13] In an evening of memories, former students Dr. Anne Fliotsos and Rev. Donald Stikeleather offered dance steps and memories of Wayne. A plaque with his name was placed adjacent to a theater on campus.[ citation needed ]

Death

After his retirement from Purdue, Lamb and partner Angelo Mango continued to live part time in Augusta and New York City, until his death on June 5, 2001, in Augusta, Michigan. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes de Mille</span> American dancer and choreographer (1905–1993)

Agnes George de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Kidd</span> American choreographer

Michael Kidd was an American film and stage choreographer, dancer and actor, whose career spanned five decades, and who staged some of the leading Broadway and film musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Kidd, strongly influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Léonide Massine, was an innovator in what came to be known as the "integrated musical", in which dance movements are integral to the plot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerome Robbins</span> American choreographer & director (1918–1998)

Jerome Robbins was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Stroman</span> American theatre director and choreographer

Susan P. Stroman is an American theatre director, choreographer, and performer. Her notable theater productions include Oklahoma!, The Music Man, Crazy for You, Contact, The Producers, The Frogs, The Scottsboro Boys, Bullets Over Broadway, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, and New York, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dream ballet</span>

A dream ballet, in musical theater, is an all-dance, no-singing production number that reflects the themes of the production. The plot, themes, and characters are typically the same—although the people playing the characters may be different, as the roles of the dream ballet are usually filled by well-trained dancers rather than actual actors.

Gawain Garth Fagan, CD is a Jamaican modern dance choreographer. He is the founder and artistic director of Garth Fagan Dance, a modern dance company based in Rochester, New York.

<i>Fosse</i> (musical) Musical by Various

Fosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. The musical was conceived by Richard Maltby Jr., Chet Walker, and Ann Reinking.

Chroniclers of the musical theater have been around for years, collecting pictorial surveys, librettos and scores, and recording the careers of various theatrical celebrities. Nothing in the American musical theater has been more inaccessible, however, than the record of its dance traditions, and there are many to recount.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Sleep</span> British ballet dancer (born 1948)

Wayne Philip Colin Sleep is a British dancer, director, choreographer, and actor who appeared on the BBC series The Real Marigold on Tour and ITV's The Real Full Monty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Cole (choreographer)</span> American choreographer

Jack Cole was an American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director known as "the Father of Theatrical Jazz Dance" for his role in codifying African-American jazz dance styles, as influenced by the dance traditions of other cultures, for Broadway and Hollywood. Asked to describe his style he described it as "urban folk dance".

Michael Smuin was an American ballet dancer, choreographer and theatre director. He was co-founder and director of his own dance company, the Smuin Ballet in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Lynne</span> English dancer, choreographer (1926–2018)

Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne was an English ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-running shows in Broadway history, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. At age 87, she was made a DBE in the 2014 New Year Honours List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Layton</span>

Joe Layton was an American director and choreographer known primarily for his work on Broadway.

Wayne Louis Cilento is an American director, choreographer, actor and dancer. He is best known for originating the role of Mike in the Broadway show A Chorus Line, and later becoming one of Broadway's most prolific choreographers.

<i>Dancin</i> 1978 musical by Bob Fosse

Dancin' is a musical revue created, directed, and choreographed by Bob Fosse and originally produced on Broadway in 1978. The plotless, dance-driven revue is a tribute to the art of dance, and the music is a collection of mostly American songs, many with a dance theme, from a wide variety of styles, from operetta to jazz to classical to marches to pop. The original production received seven 1978 Tony Award nominations, with Fosse winning for best choreography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Alton</span> American dancer and choreographer

Robert Alton was an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in dance choreography of Broadway and Hollywood musicals from the 1930s through to the early 1950s. He is principally remembered today as the discoverer of Gene Kelly, for his collaborations with Fred Astaire, and for choreographic sequences he designed for Hollywood musicals such as The Harvey Girls (1946), Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), Show Boat (1951), and White Christmas (1954).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne McGregor</span> British choreographer and director (born 1970)

Sir Wayne McGregor, CBE is a British choreographer and director who has won multiple awards. He is the Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor and Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. McGregor was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 2011 for Services to Dance.

Sergio Trujillo is a Colombian theater director, choreographer, dancer, and actor. Born in Colombia and raised in Toronto, Canada, he is an American citizen and resides in New York City. Trujillo was the recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Ain't Too Proud and the 2015 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for Memphis. He is the first ever Hispanic recipient of the Tony Award for Best Choreography.

James Starbuck was an American choreographer, ballet dancer, musical theatre actor, and stage and television director.

The Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan, Kalamazoo County, United States is one of the oldest summer stock theatres in the United States and the oldest one in Michigan. It also houses The Barn Theatre School.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Barn Theatre's Wayne Lamb dies". Battle Creek Enquirer . Battle Creek, Michigan. June 7, 2001. p. 4A.
  2. 1 2 3 "Wayne Lamb". The Legacy Project. Purdue University. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Doug Pullen, "Wayne Lamb: still hoofing after all these years," Arts & Entertainment, Kalamazoo Gazette, August 11, 1985.
  4. Donald Stikeleather, interview with Wayne Lamb, 1983.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Barn Theatre Archives, 1978 Barn Theatre program bio.
  6. "Blogger". Accounts.google.com. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stockdale, Joe (2002). Man in the Spangled Pants: Jack Ragotzy and the First Fifty years of the Barn Theatre. Priscilla Press. p. 213. ISBN   978-1886167179.
  8. "Danza Ballet – La danza y el ballet". Danza Ballet. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  9. Doug Pullen, "Wayne Lamb: still hoofing after all these years," Arts & Entertainment, Kalamazoo Gazette, August 11, 1985. This article names the musical as 'Yours is My Heart Alone.'
  10. "Bloomer Girl – Broadway Musical – Original". IBdb.com. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  11. Make Mine Manhattan at the Internet Broadway Database
  12. 1 2 Stowe, Beulah (February 16, 1958). "Music and Art With a Local Angle". Battle Creek Enquirer. Battle Creek, Michigan. p. 7.
  13. 1 2 Upcoming Productions News Purdue University[ dead link ]
  14. "Sarasota Herald-Tribune – Google News Archive Search". News.google.com. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  15. "Television". The New York Times . Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  16. [ dead link ]
  17. "Theatre History Archives". Barntheatre.com. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  18. 1 2 3 "Board of Trustees minutes, 1987 Mar. 27 :: Board of Trustees Minutes". E-archives.lib.purdue.edu. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  19. 1 2 3 Lamb, Wayne (December 16, 1974). "Personal Resume of Wayne Lamb". Purdue University Theatre Archive. pp. 1–9.