Jerome Robbins has always wanted to introduce ballet into official Broadway musicals. After several years of hard work, he has become a major artist in the musical theater circle. He designed "On the town", "High button shoes", "Miss Liberty", "Call me madam", "King and I" and I) and "Billion Dollar Baby" (Billion Dollar Baby) dance, etc. His most famous dance work is "West Side Story".

Love of dance

Although Robbins majored in chemistry when he was a student at New York University, this did not hinder his love and exploration of dance. He used his spare time in college to carry out professional dance training and laid a solid foundation. At the same time, he made full use of all opportunities in college and actively participated in dance-related extracurricular activities. During his studies, he participated in some small music concerts several times. He rehearsed and performed in the play and served as a group dancer in the play, which enabled him to accumulate rich professional experience for future choreography and dance guidance. From the beginning, Robbins had a clear and persistent understanding of his future. In this way, when he graduated from college, he did not become a chemist, but relied on his own strength to enter the American Ballet Theater. He was only 22 years old at the time.

Become a solo dancer

Robbins quickly established a foothold in the ballet theater and was quickly promoted from a group dancer to a solo dancer. Many senior dancers thought that this young man The future is limitless. But Robbins is not satisfied with just being an excellent dancer. He also hopes that through his own understanding of music and works, through his own conception and guidance, his ideas can be displayed on the stage. It was this strong desire to create that pushed Rogers into musical theater step by step. It can be said that the beginning of Robbins' Broadway career was very smooth and lucky. His debut as a choreographer in 1944's "On the Town" received favorable reviews. The production was directed by George Abbott and had music composed by the young Bernstein. It is based on the ballet "Fancy Free" that Bernstein and Robbins collaborated on for the American Ballet Theater the previous year. With the last cooperation experience, the two people worked together very well. This work was carefully created by two imaginative young people and the experienced Abbott, and it became a typical Broadway production: both the legendary It has hilarious plots that make people laugh out loud, as well as lyrical, romantic and delicate emotional descriptions; Bernstein's catchy melody complements Robbins's fiery tap dance scenes, and the show successfully ran for 463 performances after its premiere.

Getting involved in musicals

To achieve such ideal results for the first time in musicals is a great encouragement to Robbins. In the field of musical theater choreography, he feels that he can better utilize his strengths and become more comfortable here. "Spring in the City" was a turning point in Robbins' career. From then on, he focused more on choreography for musicals.

In the next nearly 15 years, Robbins basically collaborated with Abbott, providing many of his works such as "High Button Shoes" (High Button Shoes), "Call Me Lady" ( Call Me Madam) and others designed and directed the dance, and achieved very good results. For example, "Heels" premiered on Broadway in 1947 and ran for 727 performances. In terms of creation, Abbott gave this young man enough power and wanted to cultivate this rising star to inherit his legacy. This can be seen from the following little story: The composer for "High Heels" was Jule Styne. Compared with the young Robbins, Styne was already famous. After completing the framework of the entire play and some major songwriting, Stine handed over some dance compositions that he considered unimportant to the pianist. But after Robbins found out, he insisted that Stine complete the dance music alone, because he believed that the dance music was also an important part of the entire work, and consistency and coherence could only be maintained if it was completed by the composer himself.

Forcing others to create dance music

Stein did not pay much attention to this young man at first. He just said, if you want dance music, then go to Bernstein. !Unexpectedly, Robbins didn't buy his account at all, but coldly told Stine the type and quantity of dance music he wanted. And told the composer that if he really couldn't write it, he would have to lock him in a workshop until he could write it. Faced with such a stubborn choreographer, Stein had no choice but to give in and complete the dance composition of this work himself, which was rare in the creative world at the time, because more often it was done directly by the pianist. But it was precisely because of Robbins' persistence that Stine wrote the famous ballet "Keystone Kops Ballet." Since then, Robbins has repeatedly used this method to "squeeze" many beautiful tunes from Stine, such as his later songs in "Gypsy", "Funny Girl" and "Bell Bell". Many of the outstanding dance music in "Bells Are Ringing" were "forced" by Robbins. [Quoted from Broadway Musicals, Martin Gottfried/New York Press, 1980 edition, p102. ]

In terms of art, Robbins has always been very demanding. He is a perfectionist and will constantly ask for rehearsing if he thinks an actor's performance is not up to his standards. His harsh words often made some actors cry secretly, and therefore he became an "unpopular" person in the troupe. However, this was more limited to the pursuit and understanding of art, and few people regarded him as such for this reason. for the enemy.

Creating alone

In order to enable Robbins to create alone in the future, Abbott arranged for Robbins to be a character in "The Pajama Game" in 1954. Executive Director. But Robbins had long ago proven that he was more than a simple choreographer. During the rehearsal of "Call Me Madam" in 1950, one of the counterpoint duets "You're Just In Love" required stage design. Everyone discussed how to arrange the scene and put forward many different ideas. opinion. At this time, Robbins approached director Irving Berlin. He believed that his grasp of the song was very accurate, and there was no need to design complicated props and scenery for it as most people insisted. The lighting, costumes and even the accompanying dancers are all sufficient as long as the actors sing attentively on stage. [Ibid. ] Berlin was stunned by the suggestion, but Robbins still insisted on his opinion that nothing else could interfere with the song's performance. Simplicity is beauty. Berlin withstood the pressure and accepted this bizarre idea. Practice proved how correct this approach was: during the performance, the audience's applause repeatedly interrupted the performance, and the young man's confident and stubborn image was deeply rooted in his heart. Remaining in the minds of Berlin and others, Robbins had proven from this point on that he could direct a production on his own.

Independent choreography

Robbins also tried directing and independently choreographed "Peter Pan" in 1954. There are several versions of this play, but Robbins's collaboration with Julie Stine lasted only 152 performances before being canceled. But this setback did not deter Robbins. In 1956, Robbins directed his first independent play "Jingle Bells" in a truly independent sense. This is a more traditional work, and Robbins still arranges the plot, songs, and dances in the same way he learned from Abbott. In order to avoid becoming a dance-oriented director, he discussed the physical performance on stage with the dancers, and discussed the arrangement of the songs and soundtrack with the vocal actors alone. In this work, he collaborated with another famous choreographer, Bob Firth, to make bold reforms and innovations in the form and content of dance, thus showing himself to the audience and peers. With his talent, "Jingle Bells" was performed for 924 consecutive performances, which was already a very good result for Robbins, a first-time director. His choreography with Bob Firth particularly attracted professional attention. The attention of people has changed their understanding of the role of dance in musicals.

As an affirmation of Robbins' work, he and Bob Firth were nominated for the 11th Tony Award for Best Choreography. Although they did not win the award in the end, this was a great encouragement and encouragement to Robbins. Honor, and his attempt in this work also laid the foundation for his next successful work "West Side Story".

The premiere of "West Side Story"

"West Side Story" premiered on September 26, 1957. Although it had a run of 732 performances when it was first staged, it is not only what we are watching now. Although it was very ordinary at the time, today this work has become a universally recognized masterpiece, and Robbins's choreography in this work is regarded as a classic of musical stage art. Robbins' status It was also established with this work.

In "West Side Story", Robbins has unprecedentedly combined the titles of "writer, choreographer and director". The plot of this play, which runs through liberalism, is very natural. Although its music is only half the length of traditional works and is slightly insufficient in explaining the background, the dance designed by Robbins for the play has become the biggest highlight of the play and has become the most talked about by future generations and theater critics. of. It is no exaggeration to say that Robbins set a new standard for dance on the musical stage through "West Side Story", and the play also became a milestone in the development of Broadway musicals.

The reason why the dance in "West Side Story" has received such high praise is not just because of the grand and exciting dance scenes, but because of the many dances under Robbins' ingenious arrangement. Seems so reasonable and organized. From the passionate Mambos of black Cubans to the solemn and noble ballet, to the tap dance of street teenagers rubbing their fingers, every dance move made by each character looks just right, and this must be attributed to The genius of Robbins. Through the connection of dance, this work will not be a simple combination of music and singing and dancing, but will be complete and smooth from beginning to end, making it a musical in the true sense.

Although another Broadway masterpiece of the year, "The Music Man," stole the spotlight from "West Side Story" to a certain extent, Robbins' extraordinary performance in this play was still fully recognized. The most powerful proof is that he overcame other nominees and won the Tony Award for Best Choreography that year.

In the history of Broadway musicals, "West Side Story" is a classic work. Among them, the dance choreography is the most beautiful scenery, and it has long been regarded as one of the highest examples of musical theater dance choreography. With this work, Robbins has undoubtedly become the leader in the Broadway dance world.

"Dance with the Rose"

But Robbins' next release of "The Dance with the Rose" surprised everyone, although it is also an extremely successful classic production. But it appears to bear little connection to Robbins' last masterpiece. This is a musical in the traditional sense. Music and script account for a large part of the scene, and there is nothing amazing about the dance. In fact, the creative team of the play has basically not changed much compared to "West Side Story". The increasingly mature Sondheim continues to write drama poems, while Lawrence is responsible for the script, but Stine replaces the versatile Bernstein. Composing music, but now Stein is no longer what he used to be. He is like a veteran with rich creative experience. So, why is this work so different from the previous one?

In fact, this work does not meet Robbins' original intention at all. After the work premiered on May 21, 1959, he said to Lawrence: "This is your work, this is a scripted musical." At the beginning of the creation, Robbins wanted to rehearse it like a variety show (Vaudeville) in the early stages of musicals. Express your own dance ideas through the use of tricks, acrobatic moves, and even exaggerated dance forms that imitate animal movements. However, his idea was unanimously opposed by the creative team. They believed that although it was very creative, it was not practical. At the same time, they had to take into account the market response after the work was released. Under pressure from all sides, Robbins gave in and turned a work that might have been redefined as a variety show into a ballet musical. Therefore, although "The Rose Dance" was ultimately successful and even became another representative work of Robbins together with "West Side Story", for Robbins himself and the development of musicals, it is still called It's a pity.

Another shining point of "The Queen" is Robbins' bold casting of young Athol Morman. Although Moorman had already made a name for himself at that time, he was still a junior in the star-studded Broadway world. Robbins saw her potential and talent, appointed her as the heroine of the play, and tailored and arranged many tracks for her, many of which became later classics. Moorman also lived up to Robbins' trust and conquered the audience with her excellent singing and extraordinary stage charm. She became popular on Broadway after "The Rose Dance".

Towards Glory

Five years later, in 1964, Robbins ushered in the most glorious climax of his artistic career and life. Another of his masterpieces, "Fiddle on the Roof," premiered on Broadway in New York on September 22 of that year. Although he still did not completely solve the problems faced by Broadway musicals-the script is more suitable as a drama rather than the entire musical, he after all raised the status of music and dance to a new level in this work. . This kind of innovation can be said to be a huge challenge to traditional script musicals (Book Musical). It can be said that without "Fiddler on the Roof", there would not have been popular conceptual musicals such as "Hotel", "Partners", "The Show" and "On the Line".

"Fiddler on the Roof" has embarked on an amazing journey of success since it was staged. It has set a record of 3,242 performances on Broadway! Robbins also won the title of "Fiddler on the Roof" with his performance in this work. For his outstanding performance, he once again won the Best Director Award and Best Dance Choreography Award at the 19th Tony Awards.

"Fiddler on the Roof" can be said to be a comprehensive interpretation and display of musicals. It proves that on the stage of musicals, popularity and artistry can be perfectly combined to achieve true success. Refined and popular. Although the creative team of this work is a completely new combination, no one can challenge Robbins' authority. He can arrange the entire work according to his own ideas.

In this work, Robbins unfolds the story against the background of the persecution of Jews in Tsarist Russia. The peaceful rhythm of life in Anatevka village is broken, and the old Tevye family is eventually destroyed. Forced to leave home. This arrangement makes the play another stage masterpiece that profoundly reflects social reality after "West Side Story". It shows the fate and misfortune of the Jews in a light and humorous tone, and makes a powerful complaint against the unfair social situation.

Robbins demonstrates his deep understanding and grasp of Jewish culture in this work, making this work an ode to Jewish history and spirit. In order to better reflect the original culture of the Jewish nation, Robbins went deep into Jewish neighborhoods in the United States many times and even went to Russia to experience life. Before the rehearsal even started, he was already familiar with the customs and habits of the Russian and Jewish peoples. In this way, he will be able to do it with ease during rehearsals.

Robbins fully retained the customs and etiquette of Hasidic Judaism in his dance. His plot arrangements, stage settings, and even wedding ceremonies, religious sacrifices and actors' costumes were all strictly followed. In the play, Robbins fully integrates the folk dance materials and vocabulary of these two ethnic groups. The dance scenes in the play are full of strong ethnic customs, such as the lively and hilarious Russian folk dance and the full-flavored Jewish wedding bottle dance, which left a deep impression on people. Of course, Robbins did not simply copy. He closely combined the contemporary characteristics of national culture, making the dance segments in the play have a distinctive flavor of the times, which is refreshing.

Creating the Musical Theater Laboratory

Although Robbins later helped revise Funny Girl and directed two other unsuccessful productions - — "Mother Courage" and "The Office," but "Fiddler on the Roof" is generally regarded as his swan song on Broadway. After the triumphant success of "House", Robbins left the Broadway musical stage and first accepted a $300,000 donation from the National Endowment Center to create his American Musical Theater Laboratory. But after more than two years, his laboratory has produced nothing new except an adaptation of "The Exception and the Rule."

After that, Robbins returned to the world of classical ballet and returned to the New York Ballet as a choreographer, partnering with the famous dance master George Balanchine to engage in ballet. creation. In this way, Robbins, who grew up in classical dance, returned to this familiar stage after becoming famous.

Just as Robbins inherited Abbott's mantle, after Robbins retired from Broadway, Prince and Bob Firth stirred up the big trend of realism and conceptual drama. flag, and pushed musical theater into the era of directors.

It can be said that Robbins' creative experience has greatly enriched the content of musicals and effectively promoted the development of musicals. Many later generations interpret Robbins with reverence. It is precisely because of his existence that the relationship between dance and musicals has become so close. Dance plays an indispensable role in musicals and has become an important part and means of expression of musicals.

Integration of classic works

With people's appeal and support, a party integrating the highlights of Robbins's creative works over more than 20 years - "Jerome Robbins' "Jerome Robbins's Broadway" was performed in New York on February 26, 1989. This work reproduces the art of musical dance from the 20th century by connecting famous dance clips and dance scenes from the musicals created by Robbins. The development process from the 1940s to the 1960s was undoubtedly a great encouragement and affirmation for Robbins, and it brought a successful conclusion to his Broadway career.