Graciela Daniele: Underated Director/Choreographer?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/7/09 at 7:09pm

What is everyone's view on the talents (or lack thereof) of Graciela Daniele? I was recently reading and thinking about the great era of the director/choreographers on Broadway (especially Robbins, Fosse, Bennett, but also Champion, etc) and what, if anything, of that legacy has remained. And despite the notoriety of Stroman, both Marshall siblings, etc, it seems to me that Daniele--who trained extensively with both Bennett and Fosse may be the most innovative of the current director/choreographers--she just hasn't had many really big hits. The one exception (at least as both director choreographer, not just choreographer) is her revival of Annie Get Your Gun, which is hardly beloved by most out there... Yet I think many of her more experimental works, from what I've seen live and on, ahem, video have been spectacular often in large part due to her work--Once on this Island, Tango Apasianado (which got amazing press at the time but seems to have been forgotten), etc...

I'm a big LaChiusa fan but I agmit that often he seems to need a strong director or collaborator to add shape to his stuff--and besides Wolfe's brilliant production of WIld Party I think hsi best stuff has been his collaborations with Daniele--Little Fish, and especially Hello Again, Marie Christine and Bernarda Alab which were all stunningly realized productions.

Yet often with her Braodway work as just choreographer she seems to have been stuck in shows that don't show her off at her best (though I liked some of her work on Ragtime liek the human assembly line for Ford, and the Sarah Brown Eyes dream dance) or is set to flop... So what do people here think--and I'd be curious to hear from people who DON'T like her work as well...

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 9/7/09 at 10:53pm

Underrated? "Stunningly realized?" For somebody's who has been around for how many years, she has no distinguishing style as a choreographer and no gift for text/narrative as a director. How many shows with her at the helm have been commercially successful or found an audience? Perhaps this explains her
'preference' for working in the not-for-profits.
Updated On: 9/7/09 at 10:53 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 9/7/09 at 11:12pm

Once On This Island was a hit.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 9/7/09 at 11:20pm

"Not Guilty!"

I personally admire her, as a great dancer, and someone who has worked continually in very different styles and venues.
I have seen Great work from her and mediocre work also, but she works.
The right project could come along and mesh her talents.

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 12:14am

She all too rarely makes my adrenaline rush or my belly laugh. She plays into the darkness of whatever she does. Once on This Island and Hello Again are my faves but they were a long time ago. I think she muffled the impact of Marie Christine and McDonald's performance. I hope LaChiusa finds someone else to bring him the success he deserves.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 1:44am

I am SHOCKD that EnchantedHunter hates her work

I do agree that she delves too deeply perhaps (wallows could even be the word) in the darkness--maybe one reason Once on this Island was such a welcome difference.

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 10:15am

Like Patricia Birch, her talent is limited to recreating a dance style, rather than creating a new vision. Both of them have done some terrific work, but never anything really new.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 11:37am

She's very hit or miss...there's certainly worse out there.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 12:43pm

I loved her choreography and musical staging for "Ragtime." Everything flowed together beautifully, and some of it was very imaginative. She's great a painting pictures with her dancers. I also liked her choreography for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Very exciting and appropriately rowdy.

While I don't think she has nailed a "signature" style, she is much better than most (including Pat Birch). She knows how to serve the song, the story, and the mood. There are a few choreographers now who have recognizable moves, but they often create disconnected choreography that has nothing to do with the show or story.

I think Graciela is one of the better theatre choreographers out there today. I look forward to seeing her future work.

Updated On: 9/8/09 at 12:43 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 1:04pm

Isn't she BrodyFosse's mother?

[sparrman]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 1:08pm

Once on this Island, Hello Again, and her Falsettos at Hartford Stage were all brilliantly done.

Why SHOULD she have a signature style? Some actors are always themselves in a role, some actors disappear into the character. Maybe she's more like the latter.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 1:59pm

She was a Michael Bennett dancer and confidante--wasn't she his assistant choreographer on Follies?

But she never became the kind of meta-choreographer she aspired to be--and her contributions to the recent Pal Joey revival were badly conceived and poorly executed.

That said...Once on this Island was entrancingly staged, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood and The Pirates of Penzance moved marvelously, and there was a wonderful Tango thing she did a long time ago off Broadway.

Not everyone can be Michael Bennett and Bob Fosse, not even the Marshall kids.

[Jon]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 2:16pm

I only remember two things about the DROOD choreography:

1. The repeated use of "let's have the women stick their bustles way out because big butts are funny"

and

2. The character of "Deputy" doing BREAK DANCING moves - yes, "popping & locking" and spinning on the floor... in the late 19th Century.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 2:36pm

I'm sorry--Drood was magical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fE2VW1rYZ0

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 4:06pm

"Why SHOULD she have a signature style? Some actors are always themselves in a role, some actors disappear into the character. Maybe she's more like the latter."

sparrman---I completely agree. A "signature style" in choreography usually means a repeated step or pose from show to show. Sure, that can be fun, but it's also predictable.

Bennett had a few. Fosse had a LOT. So did Robbins. They were geniuses of musical staging as well. That was Bennett's forte. To blend everything together into one visual experience. He knew how to build a number dramatically, too. Fosse's genius was in the overall concept and attitude/mood. Those became the springboards for the "signature steps."

I think Graciela isn't a strong conceptualizer or dramatic stager. The closest she has come would be Once on This Island. But she knows how to make a musical sequence flow beautifully. And she knows how to build a number well, too. And she doesn't repeat her steps that often. Her style of dance is determined by the show, the characters in it, the director's concept (if there is a stylized one), and the story. In a way she "disappears" into the creative fabric of the whole experience.

... as opposed to the opposite where the show is defined primarily by the style of dance. And, yeah, that's not unlike the casting of Cary Grant as Cole Porter, or Clark Gable as Rhett Butler. You're getting the STAR, not so much an authentically appropriate portrayal.

The reason I like Graciela is that she's very good at what she does. Without being a "star choreographer."

[Pgenre]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 4:22pm

Her staging of BERNARDA ALBA was truly exquisite and the only thing besides Mantello's ASSASSINS that I've seen in the last few years with a true directorial stamp.

I will agree that her other shows tend to lack such a stamp, but that may be a good thing. I always feel like her shows lack a big centerpiece number and were they to have one there would be a more cohesive nature to her work. Maybe that's the fault of the scores as well, but she CAN do big numbers ("Another Op'nin..." was pretty fabulous) but seems to shy away from them.

Maybe she IS too dark. Strangely enough, I think that worked wonderfully for BERNARDA ALBA but less so for MARIE CHRISTINE which became almost too dark for its own good (excuse the pun).

P

[willrogers2008]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 10:47pm

The opening number of RAGTIME remains (in my modest opinion) her masterpiece and one of the most memorable moments of musical staging in a Broadway Theatre. And kids: I've saw OKLAHOMA,CAROUSEL,WEST SIDE STORY and all Bennett and Robbins work.She is wonderful !

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 11:48pm

best12bars, I think you put it best, and I agree (I think Pat Brich has done some strong work--i love her brief dances in the original Pacific Overtures, but I do think Daniele is in a different league even if she's not upa t the top).

PalJoey said:
"She was a Michael Bennett dancer and confidante--wasn't she his assistant choreographer on Follies?

That said...Once on this Island was entrancingly staged, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood and The Pirates of Penzance moved marvelously, and there was a wonderful Tango thing she did a long time ago off Broadway.

Not everyone can be Michael Bennett and Bob Fosse, not even the Marshall kids. "

Thank god we don't have more people like the Marshall kids...

She was Bennett's dance captain on Follies (Avian was his actual assistant) and of course danced the female part of the young couple in Bolero D'amour. To be fair, she said she fell into directing by accident when her staging of Tango Apasianado (which got stunnind reviews but seems ot have faded into complete oblivion), which she created and directed only cuz no one else would, was so well received. I assume that's the Tango piece you mean, which was an adaptation of several works by Borge. As for never havign her own style--neither did Bennett particularly (except for his choreography's roots being in very 1950s jazz) although by no means am I putting her in the same category.


I do agree that Daniele probably isn't strong enough to pull together material that isn't solid--it sounds liek her staging of Glorious Ones was nothing great but I have a lot of problems with that show otherwise. That said I knwo people on here disagree but her stagins of MC and Bernarda Alba, and what I've seen of Hello Again to me--as a huge fan of the score and shows anyway--I think are ideal to the material.

But she does come more from the Bennett and Robbins scool of director/choreographer (as Bar said, yoru style is dictated by the material) than the Fosse school (your style is imposed and shapes the material--and don't get me wrong I'm a massive Fosse fan) I also admit I liek that she seems to lack an ego--maybe that's been one reason she hasn't had more success or isn't better known but...

(as Willrogers. said even in a not super "dancey" piece of movement like Ragtime's opening her strength shows)

Oh and pgenre maybe one reason you felt her darkness was better for Bernarda than Marie C also has to do with the shows--BA is under 90 mins, and pretty intimate, MC is epic and much longer and may be harder to handle so much darkness because of. (not sure though)

[Brick]

Posted: 9/9/09 at 1:15pm

The Opening of RAGTIME is perfect.