Michael Bennett was a Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright, choreographer, and dancer. He dropped out of high school to tour with Westside Story and established himself on Broadway. He directed and choreographed A Chorus Line, which won 12 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. He also directed Dreamgirls. He struggled with substance abuse and died of lymphoma related to AIDS. His legacy includes a substantial donation to AIDS research.
Michael Bennett is an American playwright, choreographer and dancer. He was born in New York in 1943 and died in 1987 at the age of 44. He has won numerous Tony Awards, Drama Desk Awards and a Pulitzer Prize throughout his career.
Michael Bennett studied dance from a young age and performed throughout his early childhood. He eventually dropped out of high school to tour with Westside Story as BaJohn, and received enough critical acclaim to establish himself on Broadway when he returned from the street. During the early 1960s he danced on Broadway, starting with Subways Are For Sleeping. Beginning in the second half of the 1960s he began choreographing dance routines for various shows, and although his first two attempts failed, he eventually found success with Promises, Promises.
In the mid-1970s Michael Bennett became involved in the Chorus Line project. Chorus Line used hours of interviews with Broadway dancers to construct the most believable and realistic expression of the Broadway dance scene ever produced at the time. It follows the exploits of seventeen different dancers as they audition to be part of a chorus, with each character explaining their reasons for getting involved on Broadway in the first place. He has resonated profoundly with audiences since his first production, where he played more than six thousand performances. In 2006, it underwent a Broadway revival, and then toured the United States.
Michael Bennett was originally brought in to simply observe the production of A Chorus Line, but as time progressed he began to play a larger role in the choreography, eventually taking over the direction entirely. Later, Michael Bennett would claim that A Chorus Line was actually his idea, a claim that led to a number of lawsuits, as well as ostracism by numerous groups within Broadway.
A Chorus Line won 12 Tony Awards, of which it won 9, including Michael Bennett for Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical. The musical also won a Pulitzer Prize, one of only seven musicals to receive that honor, and Michael Bennett was one of five Pulitzer recipients. He also won two Drama Desk Awards for A Chorus Line.
Michael Bennett went on to choreograph and direct a number of other popular Broadway musicals. His most notable after A Chorus Line was the musical Dreamgirls, for which he won multiple Tony Awards and Drama Desk Awards, including Best Director of a Musical and Best Choreography.
During the 1980s, Michael Bennett struggled with various substance abuse problems, eventually breaking down the relationships he had on Broadway. At the same time, he was battling AIDS and the combination of drugs and wasting disease led to a severe reduction in his work. He eventually died in the mid-1980s of lymphoma, related to the AIDS virus. Michael Bennett is remembered as one of Broadway’s greatest choreographers and part of his legacy has been the donation of a substantial portion of his estate to help fund AIDS research.
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