The stage of the 5th Avenue Theatre is filled with glitz and glitter as a huge chorus of dancers/singers surround the leading lady in "Mame."It wasn't always so. Back in January, Capitol Hill choreographer Dannul Dailey was surrounded by the same group of dancers in their worn T-shirts, cut-offs and ripped leotards. In a rehearsal space less than half the size of 5th's stage, he went through the motions of a ragtime dance, a Lindy Hop and a dozen other styles of the early-20th century. As the dancers followed along, Dailey's wife Tinka Gutrick-Dailey observed the group as a whole, admonishing the girls to "lose the jazz hands" and then checking with her husband about where he wants a certain dancer positioned."I look at the big picture and she picks up on the little details," Dailey said. The longtime dance partners and teachers began working with the 5th Avenue on a regular basis more than year ago when artistic director David Armstrong asked them to teach a class in American theater dancing. The Capitol Hill couple had taught similar classes at Cornish and Spectrum."There is a lot of dance taught in Seattle, whether ballet at Pacific Northwest Ballet or other styles elsewhere, but nobody was really concentrating on what we think of as Broadway-style dancing," explained Dailey. "David had the idea that we needed to bolster up and strengthen that community of dancers working in musical theater."As a principal/soloist in "The American Dancemachine," Dailey performed in reconstructed classic dances from the great American musicals in theaters throughout the country. "The great thing about "The American Dancemachine" was that every dancer in the company learned all the vernacular of musical-theater dancing," he said. That experience translated well into choreographing the 5th Avenue's production of "Mame."Dailey looked at the story that stretches from the jazz heyday of the 1920s to the beginning of the beatnik 1950s. "The neat thing about the show is that it can go through so many styles of dance, from Charleston and tango to Lindy Hop and jitterbug," said Dailey. There's only one number where Dailey stuck close to the original choreography of the Broadway show, and that was the title tune. "If anyone remembers anything from the original, they remember that number. So that's our homage to the original show," he said. In the musical, the wacky and often wild Mame adopts her nephew Patrick, dragging the staid schoolboy through series of odd encounters. Along the way, Mame often goes bust, only to burst into high society again with another wonderful scheme or romance. Whether she's being a showgirl or a Southern belle, Mame keeps everyone around her on their toes. Like aging flapper Mame herself, the musical marked the end of an era. It was the last in a long run of a certain style of Broadway show that started with "Oklahoma" and progressed through "Hello, Dolly." By the time that "Mame" opened in 1966 with Angela Lansbury, the enormous production numbers and elaborate costumes echoed an earlier esthetic."'Mame' is the last of the really big musicals of that time," he said.In its new production, the 5th has kept the flavor of that era with a cast of 39 and literally hundreds of costumes, including designer outfits for Mame herself.The challenge for Dailey, as the choreographer, was to make the dance numbers equally big and keep the dance styles integral to the period of the story. "I wanted to bring a certain authenticity of the movement, so it really reflects that particular moment in time. The social dancing of an era always has informed the musical theater style of the same time," said Dailey.Other, more technical requirements have to be worked out in the choreography. "Things like keeping the chorus downstage at certain points so they can sing and be heard, doing a movement in a way that they can hold a note as well as a pose," Dailey said. The rehearsals, besides making the dancers sweat and run for their water bottles during every break, also helped build up the stamina of the chorus. What many people don't realize is how hard musical-theater dance can be on a body, Dailey said. It is tough physical work, made tougher by the number of times that a dancer has to perform during the week. "You have to remember that they are going to have to dance this full out five or seven times in a week, and so you have to choreograph it in a way that keeps it physically safe for the chorus," Dailey said.Still Dailey wanted all the dancers to have a true musical theater experience. "Every show that I was in, you always had one number where you had to dance all out and then sing all out and then dance again. Then everyone ran off stage and threw up into the buckets back there. We called those numbers pukers," he recalled. "Those are the numbers that you never forget.""Mame" continues at the 5th Avenue through March 2. Dailey will next be seen at the 5th Avenue Theater in "Cabaret," where he both dances in the show as the character Max and helps to maintain the original choreography. "I'm flying down to San Jose to join the cast there and will stay with the show from California to Seattle to Minneapolis," Dailey said. Rosemary Jones writes about arts and entertainment for the Capitol Hill Times. She can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com or 461-1308.[[In-content Ad]]
