Ron Field Appreciation

Posted: 4/12/07 at 4:03am

I admit while I pay a lot of attention to Broadway choreographers, I knew very little abotu ROn Field except that he worked on Hal Prince's two early concept musicals with K&E--Cabare tnad Zorba. Recently I had an opportunity to see a number of Ron's routines for the original Cabaret--Telephoen Song in particular and they're absolutely *phenomenal*--albeit perhaps not as appropriate as Fosse's stuff (but of course the movie was a very different animal from the original Prince Cabaret).

Did he get credit for being a great choreographer--or was this just a fluke? Wasn't he hired for Merrily We Roll Along and then dumped for Larry FUller (whose work I know mainly from Evita--where part sof it liek the soldiers bits to the dums I really enjoy as well)
Updated On: 4/12/07 at 04:03 AM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 9:17am

A dear, long-time friend was his protege.

It is interesting to me that he doesn't have anywhere near the "name value" that Robbins, Bennett, Fosse, etc., have. Most people don't seem to know who he was, and that's sad.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 10:33am

Not being a stickler ****here, but it's Ron FIELD, singular -- no "s".

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 10:34am

Oh see, I'm so used to misplaced apostrophes, I didn't even notice the "s".

[philcrosby]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 11:38am

I can't remember why Field never got the career he deserved ...
his work on APPLAUSE with Bacall was wonderful. She credits him with helping her deliver that performance, and even threatened to walk when the show was experiencing trouble out of town and the producers wanted to bring in a new director.
Updated On: 4/12/07 at 11:38 AM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 11:52am

I have posted on 'that site', the complete "But Alive" sequence from the 1973 TV version of APPLAUSE, which he also choreographed. Lauren Bacall, Harvey Evans and Penny Fuller at their finest.

[nmartin]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 12:01pm

If I'm not mistaken, Ron Field had a great deal to do with the success of the Sandy Duncan Peter Pan. I believe he went in and "fixed" that production.

Edited so BrodyFosse would have time to change his Tampax. Updated On: 4/12/07 at 12:01 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 12:05pm

Again...it is Ron FIELD -- not Ron FIELDS!

No "s" people! At least get the man's name correct.



See his name at the bottom of this cover art?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 12:07pm

Most famously, Ron Field was fired from the original MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG midway through previews. His flashy choreography was apparently pulling the show in the wrong direction, although it was far more entertaining than the uninspired replacement routines by Larry Fuller. Sadly, not long after that Ron Field was diagnosed with AIDS and passed away.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 1:20pm

He had what a lot of people in the industry who don't have the career that they deserve had, bad luck picking projects.

After "Applause," he did the Bernadette Peters revival of "On The Town" (which got trashed by the critics who compared it unfavorably with the Jerome Robbins version, even though a lot of them had never seen the Robbins version).

Then he did "King of Hearts." 'Nuff said.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 1:43pm

Donna McKechnie was also in that 1971 revival of ON THE TOWN. She speaks about it in her autobiography TIME STEPS. After Opening Night, they replaced 2 male leads in the show. Just like that. Bernadette Peters played taxi driver Hildy. Ron Field also never fixed Donna's choreography, even when everyone kept asking him to. He didn't showcase her at all -- her numbers had her basically blending into the background, they never built up to anything. Seems only Michael Bennett knew how to showcase her and her dancing.

Donna left COMPANY to do this revival, then quickly went back to COMPANY afterwards.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 2:08pm

He was a dear sweet talented man, and we lost him waaaaaaay too soon, like so many, many dear sweet talented men of that generation.

But, no, his talent was not on a par with Bennett, Fosse, Robbins, Kidd or Champion.

He was more like a male Onna White, only with rotten luck.

Posted: 4/12/07 at 5:57pm

Yeah, I'm not actually much of a fan of Applause as many on here know and forgot he directed it *blush* though I admit from what I've seen the most entertaining part was the dance numbers.

I wouldn't put him in the same sentence as Bennett, Fosse, Robbins etc. But he does seem to be a bit forgotten--and like I said the dances for Cabaret I saw were magnificent (I'd love to see his work for Zorba but dsadly the TOny clip and Ed Sullivan clips for Zorba show little dancing or staging) and striking in a way I can't think of much Onna White (grin) choreography being though I do like the work in the film Music Man

I've read alot about that On the Town revival--it seems it just didn't work though it couldn't have been worse than the late 90s revival (that seems to be one of those great shows that just never is done right in revival...)

And Mark yeah I mentioned the Merrily thing in my first post--after seeing his Telephone Song dance in Cabaret I can picture some quite clever stuff he coulda done for Merrily--the Bobby and Jackie and Jack routine, Rich and Happy, etc--but Larry Fuller prob suited the newer less flashy direction Hal wanted to go to (his "movement" for shows liek Sweeney Todd, On the 20th Century, etc being quite seamless)


IBDB doesn't give a death date for him---was it late 80s? His last credit (besides recreating his Cabaret for the 1987 revival) was for Rags in 86--and not to make this too morbid but Larry FUller similarly has no birth or death date on Ibdb tho he disappears after choreographing Dolls Life in 1982
Updated On: 4/12/07 at 05:57 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 10:47pm

Ron Field died on February 6, 1989 of complications from brain surgery.

He was 55 years old.