Tony Nominated Director/Choreographer Camille A Brown stops by Behind the Awards to discuss Gypsy, Hells Kitchen, For Colored Girls and her journey to Broadway.  

Also in this episode - Bebe Neuwirth 1997 Tony win for her portrayal of Velma Kelly in Chicago and a review of Purpose

Four Time Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown, currently nominated for her choreography in Hells Kitchen on Broadway, is a prolific Black female choreographer who in 2022, made her Broadway directorial debut for the Broadway revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, making her the first Black woman to direct and choreograph a Broadway play since Katherine Dunham in 1955. The production received seven Tony Award nominations including Best Direction of a Play and Best Choreography for Brown. The New York Times proclaimed the production “triumphant.” The same season, at The Metropolitan Opera, Camille became the first Black artist to direct a mainstage production, co-directing alongside James Robinson on Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2021), which she also choreographed. Fire was triumphantly brought back to the MET again this 2024 spring season. Camille also choreographed Porgy & Bess in 2020 and Terence Blanchard’s Champion, which premiered April 2023, both at The MET Opera. Camille made her Broadway choreography debut with the critically acclaimed revival of Once on This Island, followed by Choir Boy for MTC. She continues to be the artistic director and choreographer for her own company, Camille A Brown and Dancers and this summer will premiere a new piece, the highly anticipated “I AM” at Jacobs Pillow. Most recently, Brown won the Chita Rivera Award for outstanding  choreography and earned a Drama Desk nomination and her fourth Tony Award nomination for her choreography of the Broadway hit, Hell’s Kitchen, the new Alicia Keys musical which has garnered 13 Tony Award nominations.

Make sure to check out Eila's book, "The Tony Awards", and all her other amazing books: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/43WMu5Y⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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