Larry Fuller is an American choreographer,

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, dancer, and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. Fuller began his career as a dancer/actor, performing in the '' Carousel'' revival at

New York City Center New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and t ...

in 1957, and going on to appear in the original

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

productions of "

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

" (as a Jet swing), ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments ...

'', ''

Redhead Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and ...

'', '' Kean'', ''

Bravo Giovanni ''Bravo Giovanni'' is a musical with a book by A. J. Russell, lyrics by Ronny Graham, and music by Milton Schafer. It is based upon Howard Shaw's 1959 novel, ''The Crime of Giovanni Venturi''. The musical was conceived as a vehicle for opera sta ...

'', '' Donnybrook'', ''

No Strings ''No Strings'' is a musical drama with book by Samuel A. Taylor and words and music by Richard Rodgers. ''No Strings'' is the only Broadway score for which Rodgers wrote both lyrics and music, and the first musical he composed after the death of ...

,'' and '' Funny Girl,'' with

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

. He would go on to recreate the original

Carol Haney Carol Haney (born Carolyn Haney; December 24, 1924 – May 10, 1964) was an American dancer and actress. After assisting Gene Kelly in choreographing films, Haney won a Tony Award for her role in Broadway's ''The Pajama Game'', while later wo ...

choreography for the American touring and London West End productions of '' Funny Girl.'' Additional touring productions Fuller has directed and choreographed include "((The Music Man))", ''

I Do! I Do! ''I Do! I Do!'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt which is based on the Jan de Hartog play ''The Fourposter''. The two-character story spans 50 years, from 1895 to 1945, as it focuses on the ups and down ...

'', '' Kismet'', and ''

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever ''On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' is a musical with music by Burton Lane and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner based loosely on ''Berkeley Square'', written in 1926 by John L. Balderston. It concerns a woman who has ESP and has been re ...

''. In

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, Fuller has directed and choreographed productions of ''

'' in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, created ''Jazz and the Dancing Americans'' for the Opera House Ballet in

Graz, Austria Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...

and the Theatre an der Wien in ((Vienna)) and directed the European premieres of Leonard Bernstein's '' Candide'' and '' On the Town'' and

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

's ''

Girl Crazy ''Girl Crazy'' is a 1930 musical by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book by Guy Bolton and John McGowan. Ethel Merman made her stage debut in the first production and co-lead Ginger Rogers became an overnight star. Rich in song, ...

''. He also directed and choreographed on London's West End the mid-1980s hit multi-media musical "((Time))" and "((Marilyn, the Musical))" , European tour of '' Jesus Christ Superstar'' (1992). In 1997 he directed and choreographed '' JFK: A Musical Drama'' in Dublin, Ireland.

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

audiences have seen Fuller's choreography on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...

'', and he has staged and choreographed both the

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

and Emmy Awards telecasts twice. Fuller's Broadway credits as a choreographer include ''

On the Twentieth Century ''On the Twentieth Century'' is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Based partly on the 1932 play ''Twentieth Century'' and its 1934 film adaptation, the musical is part operetta, part farce an ...

'', '' Merrily We Roll Along'', and '' A Doll's Life''. He has been nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography twice, for his work in ''

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Stre ...

'' and '' Evita'', which also garnered him a Tony nod. He won two NY Drama Desk Awards for "((Sweeney Todd))" and "((Evita))"and the L.A. drama desk award for his choreography in "((Evita))". He choreographed the original West End production and directed and choreographed the 2004 US national tour as well. Fuller had a romantic relationship with fellow choreographer/director Michael Bennett for many years.glbtq >> arts >> Bennett, Michael
The 1996 documentary ''On Your Toes . . . The Making Of - Director/Choreographer Larry Fuller'' documents the making of the musical production "On Your Toes" with the Stuttgart Ballet Company in 1990.

References

External links

*
Back Stage West "The Charms of "Evita" - Director/choreographer Larry Fuller is seduced into revisiting one of his triumphs-but she's only first on the list."
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Larry American choreographers American theatre directors American male dancers Swing pianists American male stage actors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people LGBT choreographers 21st-century pianists