Gillian Lynne CBE
| Gillian Lynne’s non-stop career is unique in its breadth of artistic achievement. Noel Coward adored her, as did Errol Flynn. She danced with Margot Fonteyn. She has choreographed Moira Shearer, Sammy Davis Jnr, Tommy Steele, Sophia Loren, Barbra Streisand, Harry Secombe – and Miss Piggy. Her award winning work in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has been seen worldwide while her choreography in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG has likewise wowed audiences in London, New York and currently on its International tour. Dancing the Swan Princess in Swan Lake Gillian was seen by Ninette de Valois and asked to enter Sadler's Wells Ballet rising through the ranks to become a leading soloist much admired for her dramatic roles. Her early move from classical ballet to dancing at the London Palladium propelled her towards direction and choreography when she and Dudley Moore introduced jazz dance to Britain in a ground-breaking collaboration, COLLAGES, seen by the legendary Producer David Merrick at the Edinburgh Festival. He immediately asked her to go to Broadway to work on his productions, and Gillian’s early Broadway shows include ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT, PICKWICK and HOW NOW DOW JONES. Back in the UK, her staging and directing credits in London include TOMFOOLERY, TONIGHT AT 8.30, JEEVES TAKES CHARGE, CABARET, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT”S DREAM (RSC), RICHARD WHITTINGTON and BLUEBEARD at Sadler’s Wells while her numerous choreographic credits include the Olivier Award-winning musicals SONGBOOK and THE COMEDY OF ERRORS; ONCE IN A LIFETIME and THE SECRET GARDEN for the RSC, MY FAIR LADY and ASPECTS OF LOVE. As well as her choreographic film credits, Gillian has directed extensively for television. MORTE D’ARTHUR won the American Samuel G Engel Award; Australian Ballet’s THE FOOL ON THE HILL won ABC-TV’s Best Musical and Best Production, and A SIMPLE MAN (BBC), Gillian’s wonderful ballet about the poet L.S. Lowry, won a BAFTA for her choreography and direction. CATS won Gillian an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement of the Year in a musical and the Silver Order of Merit in Austria while in 1999 Gillian was honoured by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (USA) with the Special Millennium Mr Abbot Award. In 2001, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award from the Royal Academy of Dance and in 1997 she was made CBE for her contribution to dance. |
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