Walter Bobbie

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Walter Bobbie : biography

18 November 1945 –

Walter Bobbie (born November 18, 1945) is an American theatre director, choreographer, and occasional actor and dancer. Bobbie has directed both musicals and plays on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and was the Artistic Director of the New York City Center Encores! concert series. He directed the long-running revival of the musical Chicago.

Biography

Early life

Bobbie was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Scranton and did graduate work at The Catholic University of America. donshewey.com (Interviewed for The Advocate, 1998), accessed January 8, 2011

Bobbie explains what inspired him to work in theater: "My first Broadway show was How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, maybe in 1964. I came in to New York from college in Pennsylvania for the World’s Fair…I remember sitting there — I practically had to be held down in my seat — and I had never seen anything like it. That day it was clear to me that I wanted to come back to New York, and theater was what I wanted to do. It was transforming the time of life and will one day grow up to become a famous director of Chicago ."Piepenburg, Erik. New York Times, June 1, 2008

Career

As a performer, Bobbie created the role of "Roger" in the original Broadway production of Grease in 1972. He was featured in the 1976 Broadway revival of Going Up and he also starred on Broadway as "Nicely-Nicely Johnson" in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.

He eventually turned his attention to directing, and in 1993 he wrote the book for, and directed, the Roundabout Theatre production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue A Grand Night for Singing, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical. The New York Times reviewer wrote of Bobbie’s direction that he "has given its Broadway elaboration an impressive fluidity that whisks the performers through various groupings with a minimum of stiffness and posturing. In Mr. Bobbie’s hands, the songs flow together in a sequence that treats them as lighthearted extensions of one another."Holden, Steven. New York Times, November 18, 1993

He then directed the 1996 Broadway revival of Chicago with Ann Reinking and Bebe Neuwirth. Bobbie’s 1996 revival of Chicago was inspired by his own staged concert production at City Center Encores!. The concert was a hit, and the musical moved directly to Broadway with its original Encores! cast. Ben Brantley, in reviewing the Encores! concert, noted "As directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Ann Reinking, who also stars, ‘Chicago’ still stings like cheap whisky, but it also bubbles like vintage Champagne."Brantley, Ben. New York Times, May 4, 1996 He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for Chicago.Lefkowitz, David. playbill.com, June 1, 1997

Bobbie next directed the Broadway productions of the stage musical Footloose in 1998, (he also co-wrote the book),Brantley, Ben. New York Times, October 23, 1998 the Roundabout Theater production of Twentieth Century with Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche,Brantley, Ben. New York Times, March 26, 2004 the 2005 Sweet Charity revival with Christina Applegate,Brantley, Ben. New York Times, May 5, 2005 and High Fidelity in 2006. The musical White Christmas which he directed had limited engagements on Broadway in November 2008 through January 2009 and again in November 2009 through January 2010. Bobbie received the 2009 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Musical.Gans, Andrew. playbill.com, April 27, 2009

He co-wrote and directed a new musical, The Road to Hollywood, which was performed at the Goodspeed Opera House in 2002.Croteau, Genevieve. Hartford Courant, August 8, 2002 Bobbie directed the 2005 benefit concert for Carnegie Hall of South Pacific, starring Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell.Brantley, Ben. New York Times, June 11, 2005

Bobbie directed the New York premiere of The Savannah Disputations by Evan Smith at the Off-Broadway Playwrights Horizons in 2009, with Marylouise Burke, Dana Ivey, Kellie Overby and Reed Birney.Isherwood, Christopher. New York Times, March 4, 2009 In regional theatre, he directed the new Terrence McNally play Golden Age at the Kennedy Center in 2010.Hetrick, Adam. playbill.com, March 29, 2010

Bobbie was the artistic director of the New York City Center Encores! concert series in 1995 and 1996, and also directed the staged concerts of Fiorello! (1994), Tenderloin (2000), and Golden Boy (2002). For Du Barry Was a Lady (1996) he co-adapted the book. New York City Center, accessed January 8, 2011 He directed the production of No, No, Nanette in 2008.Brantley, Ben. New York Times, May 10, 2008 He appeared in Face the Music in 2007 with the New York Times reviewer writing: "A last, affectionate word for Mr. Bobbie, whose career took off in another direction when his staging of ‘Chicago’ for the Encores! series became a Broadway smash. As the harried Hal Reisman…he breathes fresh comic life into even some of the hoariest routines."Isherwood, Christopher. New York Times, March 31, 2007