Post by Susanelizabeth28 on Apr 16, 2004 23:44:32 GMT -5
Here is an article about Doriana Sanchez. It is also listed on Gab's site (Cherstyle) and was posted to the Yahoo group. The Article is from the Washington Times.
Susan:)
Choreographer lured by 'Discretion'
By Jayne Blanchard
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
From " Dirty Dancing " to Cher and now Frank Loesser, choreographer Doriana Sanchez's career could never fit neatly into a box step. She's a little bit mariachi, she's a little bit rock and roll.
Miss Sanchez had been doing mostly "big rock shows and circuses" before receiving a call from Charles Randolph-Wright, the director of "Senor Discretion Himself," a "found" musical by renowned Broadway composer Frank Loesser now at Arena Stage.
"He said 'You have to come back to the theater,' " recalls Miss Sanchez, who possesses the same supple dancer's figure she displayed in " Dirty Dancing " (1987). "I agreed."
"I used to direct her in music videos in the '80s — we did stuff for Oingo Boingo and the video for Rockwell's song 'Somebody's Watching Me' — and it seems like I've been trying to get her back into the theater ever since" interjects Mr. Randolph-Wright, who manages to be upbeat and ebullient despite a grueling rehearsal schedule for "Senor Discretion."
The show, a 1967 Frank Loesser treasure, was thought to be lost to the ages, until the composer's widow, Jo Sullivan Loesser, gave the mammoth, unfinished 300-page script to Mr. Randolph-Wright after seeing his production of her husband's masterpiece, "Guys and Dolls," at Arena in 2000.
Miss Sanchez had to leave Cher on her farewell tour in order to work on "Senor Discretion," but she will rejoin the bewigged diva in late April for shows in Europe and Russia. "It's the farewell tour that has gone on for five years," Miss Sanchez says of Cher's "Living Proof" show, which earned the choreographer an Emmy.
The California-born choreographer and director has worked with Jane's Addiction, Peter Gabriel, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle, but she retains a soft spot in her spangled heart for Cher. "My nieces have known Cher since they were babies, and they want to be just like her, have Bob Mackie do their costumes," she says.
The glitter and arena crowds of 20,000 have been briefly abandoned for the tiny hamlet of Tepancingo, Mexico, the setting for "Senor Discretion." The musical, about love and redemption, spiritual and otherwise in a small Mexican town of the late 1950s, is based on a short story by Budd Schulberg that appeared in Playboy magazine in 1966. Mr. Loesser reportedly wore a sombrero, swilled tequila and listened exhaustively to mariachi bands while writing the piece, which contained nearly 20 songs and an incomplete libretto at the time of his death in 1969.
With all due deference to Mr. Loesser's genius, Mr. Randolph-Wright and his team are striving for a bit more authenticity, starting with the Chicano/Latino performance trio Culture Clash, adapting the script. "They are a perfect fit because of their energy and their spirit — they're like the Latino Marx Brothers," says Mr. Randolph-Wright. "They say that their style for this piece is somewhere between Speedy Gonzales and Gabriel Garcia Marquez."
Still, much of the subversive material in the show is vintage Frank Loesser. "It is quite outrageous, the stuff with the priests and the Catholic religion is all Frank, but everyone thinks its Culture Clash because the collaboration is that seamless," Mr. Randolph-Wright says. He adds that while the 17-song score has been updated by music director Brian Cimmet and orchestrator Larry Hochman, the integrity of Mr. Loesser's compositions has been left intact.
Part of the reason Miss Sanchez was brought in was to make sure "Senor Discretion" was not the Taco Bell of musicals. She enlisted her father Frank, a 75-year-old master ballroom dancer of Mexican heritage. "He helped me with the accurate footwork and the traditional folk movement for the 'Day of the Dead' dance," Miss Sanchez says. "He was a real resource and inspiration to the cast."
Miss Sanchez, who grew up in Atascadero, Calif., says her home was filled with dance. "My father taught us to dance when we were little, but we didn't want to do the folklorica dance, we wanted to do jazz and go fast," she says. "And I wanted to do ballet. But he knows every form, every Latin rhythm, and he can tell you in 1943 or '53 or '63 how people were moving, what they danced to."
Originally, there was very little movement in "Senor Discretion," something Miss Sanchez wanted to remedy. "I knew there was a way to bring the musical into focus, to do justice to the songs, which are so Frank Loesser in that once you hear them, you can never get them out of your head," she says. "I wanted the dancing to be magical, like storytelling, not just set dance pieces."
Miss Sanchez will have to pull her desired style from a cast of actors with scant dance training. "The dancers I work with on the rock shows, like Cher's, are highly trained and at the peak of their performance ability — they are athletic, they tumble, and they can fly," she explains. "With this group, they are actors and singers, but I have to say they are picking up the dance vocabulary very quickly."
As for Mr. Randolph-Wright, he has been looking to the independent film "Frida," about the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, for inspiration. "I am obsessed with that film," he says. "It's so authentic but contemporary in the feel and the color. That is what I want to achieve with 'Senor Discretion' — it is a period piece and something of a revival, even though no one has ever heard the songs before. But I want it to seem fresh and new."
WHAT: "Senor Discretion Himself" by Frank Loesser, book by Culture Clash
WHEN: Now through May 23 WHERE: Fichandler Theatre, Arena Stage
TICKETS: $52 to $66
PHONE: #202/488-3300
Susan:)
Choreographer lured by 'Discretion'
By Jayne Blanchard
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
From " Dirty Dancing " to Cher and now Frank Loesser, choreographer Doriana Sanchez's career could never fit neatly into a box step. She's a little bit mariachi, she's a little bit rock and roll.
Miss Sanchez had been doing mostly "big rock shows and circuses" before receiving a call from Charles Randolph-Wright, the director of "Senor Discretion Himself," a "found" musical by renowned Broadway composer Frank Loesser now at Arena Stage.
"He said 'You have to come back to the theater,' " recalls Miss Sanchez, who possesses the same supple dancer's figure she displayed in " Dirty Dancing " (1987). "I agreed."
"I used to direct her in music videos in the '80s — we did stuff for Oingo Boingo and the video for Rockwell's song 'Somebody's Watching Me' — and it seems like I've been trying to get her back into the theater ever since" interjects Mr. Randolph-Wright, who manages to be upbeat and ebullient despite a grueling rehearsal schedule for "Senor Discretion."
The show, a 1967 Frank Loesser treasure, was thought to be lost to the ages, until the composer's widow, Jo Sullivan Loesser, gave the mammoth, unfinished 300-page script to Mr. Randolph-Wright after seeing his production of her husband's masterpiece, "Guys and Dolls," at Arena in 2000.
Miss Sanchez had to leave Cher on her farewell tour in order to work on "Senor Discretion," but she will rejoin the bewigged diva in late April for shows in Europe and Russia. "It's the farewell tour that has gone on for five years," Miss Sanchez says of Cher's "Living Proof" show, which earned the choreographer an Emmy.
The California-born choreographer and director has worked with Jane's Addiction, Peter Gabriel, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle, but she retains a soft spot in her spangled heart for Cher. "My nieces have known Cher since they were babies, and they want to be just like her, have Bob Mackie do their costumes," she says.
The glitter and arena crowds of 20,000 have been briefly abandoned for the tiny hamlet of Tepancingo, Mexico, the setting for "Senor Discretion." The musical, about love and redemption, spiritual and otherwise in a small Mexican town of the late 1950s, is based on a short story by Budd Schulberg that appeared in Playboy magazine in 1966. Mr. Loesser reportedly wore a sombrero, swilled tequila and listened exhaustively to mariachi bands while writing the piece, which contained nearly 20 songs and an incomplete libretto at the time of his death in 1969.
With all due deference to Mr. Loesser's genius, Mr. Randolph-Wright and his team are striving for a bit more authenticity, starting with the Chicano/Latino performance trio Culture Clash, adapting the script. "They are a perfect fit because of their energy and their spirit — they're like the Latino Marx Brothers," says Mr. Randolph-Wright. "They say that their style for this piece is somewhere between Speedy Gonzales and Gabriel Garcia Marquez."
Still, much of the subversive material in the show is vintage Frank Loesser. "It is quite outrageous, the stuff with the priests and the Catholic religion is all Frank, but everyone thinks its Culture Clash because the collaboration is that seamless," Mr. Randolph-Wright says. He adds that while the 17-song score has been updated by music director Brian Cimmet and orchestrator Larry Hochman, the integrity of Mr. Loesser's compositions has been left intact.
Part of the reason Miss Sanchez was brought in was to make sure "Senor Discretion" was not the Taco Bell of musicals. She enlisted her father Frank, a 75-year-old master ballroom dancer of Mexican heritage. "He helped me with the accurate footwork and the traditional folk movement for the 'Day of the Dead' dance," Miss Sanchez says. "He was a real resource and inspiration to the cast."
Miss Sanchez, who grew up in Atascadero, Calif., says her home was filled with dance. "My father taught us to dance when we were little, but we didn't want to do the folklorica dance, we wanted to do jazz and go fast," she says. "And I wanted to do ballet. But he knows every form, every Latin rhythm, and he can tell you in 1943 or '53 or '63 how people were moving, what they danced to."
Originally, there was very little movement in "Senor Discretion," something Miss Sanchez wanted to remedy. "I knew there was a way to bring the musical into focus, to do justice to the songs, which are so Frank Loesser in that once you hear them, you can never get them out of your head," she says. "I wanted the dancing to be magical, like storytelling, not just set dance pieces."
Miss Sanchez will have to pull her desired style from a cast of actors with scant dance training. "The dancers I work with on the rock shows, like Cher's, are highly trained and at the peak of their performance ability — they are athletic, they tumble, and they can fly," she explains. "With this group, they are actors and singers, but I have to say they are picking up the dance vocabulary very quickly."
As for Mr. Randolph-Wright, he has been looking to the independent film "Frida," about the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, for inspiration. "I am obsessed with that film," he says. "It's so authentic but contemporary in the feel and the color. That is what I want to achieve with 'Senor Discretion' — it is a period piece and something of a revival, even though no one has ever heard the songs before. But I want it to seem fresh and new."
WHAT: "Senor Discretion Himself" by Frank Loesser, book by Culture Clash
WHEN: Now through May 23 WHERE: Fichandler Theatre, Arena Stage
TICKETS: $52 to $66
PHONE: #202/488-3300
