 | This biography of a living person includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(February 2014) |
Tony Mordente | |
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| Born | Anthony C. Mordente December 3, 1935 New York City, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1961–2003 |
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| Children | 2 (Lisa Mordente) |
Tony Mordente (born December 3, 1935) is an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and television director.
Born in Brooklyn, the son of a beer truck driver, Mordente went to dance school at the age of thirteen. He attended the High School of Performing Arts and won a scholarship to the American Ballet Theater School. There he was discovered by the choreographer Michael Kidd, who cast him as Lonesome Polecat in the 1956 Broadway musical adaptation of the Al Capp comic strip Li'l Abner . [1]
Mordente was then featured in the Broadway (1957) and West End productions and film version of West Side Story , during which time he met his future wife Chita Rivera, who played Anita in the original Broadway cast. In the stage version Mordente played A-Rab, and in the film he played Action. "He wanted to play his original role in the movie and was very disappointed to be Action and I asked why they switched his role," Seth Rudetsky wrote in Playbill. "He said he never asked because sometimes you ask and you don’t like the answer. Regardless, he wound up being very featured in the movie."
Rudetsky said the actors told him that the Broadway cast had specific instructions that the Sharks and Jets were not allowed to fraternize. "Well, not only did [Rivera] fraternize with a Jet (Tony Mordente), they wound up having a daughter (Lisa Mordente)! Chita remembers seeing Tony in rehearsal and feeling like he literally flew." [2] [3]
Mordente was the voice of Oliver Cool on the 45 rpm single recording, "Oliver Cool" b/w "I Like Girls" by Oliver Cool (Roulette R-4292). The record did not chart nationally in the US but was a big hit in Australia in 1961.[ citation needed ]
He understudied the title role and served as assistant to Gower Champion in Bye Bye Birdie (1960) [4] He next teamed again with Kidd for Ben Franklin in Paris (1964) and the ill-fated Breakfast at Tiffany's (1966), which closed during previews. [5] He received his first credit as sole choreographer for Here's Where I Belong (1968), which never made it past opening night. [6]
As an actor, Mordente had guest appearances on the tv series Combat! and The Outer Limits . He began to choreograph for television variety shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour .[ citation needed ]
Mordente began to direct for television in the mid-1970s. His credits include twenty-nine episodes of Rhoda , ten episodes of Matlock , thirty-seven episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger , [7] five episodes of The A-Team , four episodes of The Love Boat , and thirty-three episodes of 7th Heaven , in addition to episodes of The Practice (1976), Busting Loose , Love, Sidney , Family Ties , Day by Day , M*A*S*H , and Burke's Law , among other television shows. [8] [7]
Mordente was married to Chita Rivera from 1957 to 1966. [9] They are the parents of actress Lisa Mordente. [10] [9]
He married Jean G. Fraser in 1978. They are the parents of screenwriter Adriana Mordente.[ citation needed ]
West Side Story is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Bye Bye Birdie is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart.
Charles Strouse is an American composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to such Broadway musicals as Bye Bye Birdie, Applause, and Annie.
Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero, known professionally as Chita Rivera, was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Rivera received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, and a Drama League Award. She was the first Latina and the first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. She won the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018.
William Mills Irwin is an American actor, choreographer, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He has made a number of appearances on film and television, and he won a Tony Award for his role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He also worked as a choreographer on Broadway and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Choreography in 1989 for Largely New York. He is also known as Mr. Noodle on the Sesame Street segment Elmo's World, and he appeared in the Sesame Street film short Does Air Move Things?. He has regularly appeared as Dr. Peter Lindstrom on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and had a recurring role as "The Dick & Jane Killer" on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. From 2017 to 2019, he appeared as Cary Loudermilk on the FX television series Legion.
Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.
Ann Reinking was an American dancer, actress, choreographer, and singer. She worked predominantly in musical theater, starring in Broadway productions such as Coco (1969), Over Here! (1974), Goodtime Charley (1975), Chicago (1977), Dancin' (1978), and Sweet Charity (1986).
Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life is a musical revue based on the life of Chita Rivera, with a book by Terrence McNally, original songs by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and additional songs from various other composers' catalogs. It earned Rivera her ninth Tony Award nomination.
Susan Watson is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in musical theatre.
Ramon Del Barrio is an American performer, choreographer, dancer and singer. He is sometimes credited as Raymond Del Barrio.
Lisa Mordente is an American actress, singer, and dancer.
West Side Story (Original Broadway Cast) is the 1957 recording of a Broadway production of the musical West Side Story. Recorded 3 days after the show opened at the Winter Garden Theatre, the recording was released in October 1957 in both mono and stereo formats. In 1962, the album reached #5 on Billboard's Pop Album chart. It certified gold by the RIAA on January 12, 1962. The album was reissued in 1973 and made its first appearance on CD in 1986. A 1997 remastered edition was released coupled with an orchestral suite, Symphonic Dances from West Side Story recomposed and conducted by its original composer Leonard Bernstein and performed by the New York Philharmonic recorded at the Manhattan Center on March 6, 1961.
West Side Story Suite is a ballet suite choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins conceived, directed and choreographed the 1957 musical West Side Story, then co-directed its 1961 film adaptation, before including parts of the choreography in the anthology Jerome Robbins' Broadway. Robbins developed the latter to the ballet West Side Story Suite for the New York City Ballet, which premiered on May 18, 1995, at the New York State Theater.
Lee (Becker) Theodore was a Broadway theater director, choreographer, performer and dance archivist.
Robert Longbottom is a New York City-based choreographer and director, primarily for theatre and opera.
Matthew Finnen Doyle is an American actor and singer known for his work in musical theater. He made his Broadway debut in 2007 in Spring Awakening as replacement for the role of Hanschen, and later had supporting roles in the Broadway productions of Bye Bye Birdie in 2009 and War Horse in 2011. He joined The Book of Mormon in 2012, replacing Nic Rouleau as Elder Price.
Sergio Trujillo is a theater director, choreographer, dancer and actor. Born in Colombia and raised in Toronto, Canada, he is now 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.
Ricky Ubeda is an American dancer and actor known for winning Season 11 of So You Think You Can Dance.
The Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography celebrate outstanding dance and choreography in theatre, both on Broadway and Off-Broadway and in film at an annual ceremony in New York City at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Now carrying the namesake of two-time Tony-winning dance icon Chita Rivera, The Rivera Awards will be presented under the auspices of American Dance Machine, an organization dedicated to the preservation of great musical-theater choreography.
Patti Karr, born Patsy Lou Karkalits, was an American actress, dancer, and singer in Broadway musicals, and in film and television.
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