Rob Ashford is a stage director and choreographer. He is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner. As a dancer, he made his Broadway debut in the 1987 Lincoln Center revival of Anything Goes starring Patti LuPone. Productions of The Most Happy Fella, Crazy for You, My Favorite Year, Victor/Victoria, and Parade followed. He won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Choreography for the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. Additional Broadway choreography credits include the Roundabout Theatre production of The Boys from Syracuse, The Wedding Singer, Curtains, Cry-Baby, and Evita. Off-Broadway credits include Pardon My English, Bloomer Girl, A Connecticut Yankee, and Time and Again. For television, Ashford has choreographed tributes to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Barbra Streisand, Jerry Hermann, Meryl Streep, Barbara Cook, Shirley MacLaine, and Tom Hanks for The Kennedy Center Honors. He was stage director and choreographer of NBC's live television presentation, The Sound of Music Live!, and Peter Pan Live!
His resume is so diverse it reads like the resumes of five different guys, from all over the world.
And I got that one guy to talk to us about . . .
- How he started dancing when he was 20. That’s right. Not 2 . . .20!
- Why it’s a natural progression for Choreographers to become Directors.
- The difference with working with stars and how he makes them look great . . . even if they’ve never worked on stage before!
- How he creates steps for a character . . .and how that has nothing to do with dancing.
- Why it’s good to be afraid.
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