Joe Layton (May 3, 1931 – May 5, 1994) was an American director and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

known primarily for his work on

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 ...

.Dunning, Jennifer. (9 May 1994). Page B7.
'Joe Layton, Choreographer And Director, Is Dead at 64'
Obituary.

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

. (USA)

Biography

Born Joseph Lichtman in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Layton began his career as a dancer in ''

Wonderful Town ''Wonderful Town'' is a 1953 musical with book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Leonard Bernstein. The musical tells the story of two sisters who aspire to be a writer and act ...

'' (1953), and he appeared

uncredited In general, the term credit in the artistic or intellectual sense refers to an acknowledgment of those who contributed to a work, whether through ideas or in a more direct sense. Credit in the arts In the creative arts, credits are an acknowledg ...

in the ensemble of the original live TV production of

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popular ...

's ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'' (1957) starring

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy F ...

. (Book has page numbers) However, from the start, his primary interest was in musical staging. In addition to his many legitimate theatre credits, he conceived and directed Broadway concerts for

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;'' Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden ...

(1975),

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups ...

(1976),

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

(1979), and Harry Connick Jr. (1990). He choreographed the Broadway version of The Sound of Music with Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel. Joe Layton won the Tony Award for Best Choreography for ''

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 ...

'' (1962), starring

Diahann Carroll Diahann Carroll (; born Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer, model, and activist. She rose to prominence in some of the earliest major film studio, major studio films to feature black cas ...

, and for '' George M!'' (1968), starring Joel Grey. In 1965, Layton won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for his work on ''

My Name Is Barbra ''My Name Is Barbra'' is the first of two studio album tie-ins to Barbra Streisand's Emmy award-winning CBS-TV debut special '' My Name Is Barbra'', which aired on April 28, 1965, and was choreographed by Joe Layton. The album was certified gol ...

'', the

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 advertising, ...

special that introduced the public to the more sophisticated side of

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 ...

. It was his first of four collaborations with the star; the others were ''

Color Me Barbra ''Color Me Barbra'' is the seventh studio album by singer Barbra Streisand released on Columbia Records in 1966. It reached number 3 in the US albums chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA. It was also the title of Streisand's second CBS TV sp ...

'' (1966), ''The Belle of 14th Street'' (1967) and ''Barbra Streisand ... And Other Musical Instruments'' (1973). He also directed and/or produced specials for

Paul Lynde Paul Edward Lynde (; June 13, 1926January 10, 1982) was an American comedian, actor and game show panelist. A character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona that often poked fun at his barely closeted homosexuality, Lynde was we ...

Hal Linden Hal Linden (born Harold Lipshitz, March 20, 1931) is an American stage and screen actor, television director and musician. Linden began his career as a big band musician and singer in the 1950s. After a stint in the United States Army, he began ...

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

, and

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one s ...

. Layton broke into films as the dance director for ''

Thoroughly Modern Millie ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' is a 1967 American musical- romantic comedy film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay, by Richard Morris based on the 1956 British musical ''Chrysanthemum'', follows a naïve yo ...

'' in 1967. He executive produced the first film version of '' Annie'' (1982) and reunited with Midler to choreograph ''

For the Boys ''For the Boys'' is a 1991 American musical comedy-drama film that traces the life of Dixie Leonard, a 1940s actress/singer who teams up with Eddie Sparks, a famous performer, to entertain American troops. The film was adapted by Marshall Brickm ...

'' (1991). Layton directed the 1972 West End and 1973

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

productions of '' Scarlett'', the musical stage adaptation of '' Gone with the Wind'', and the 1985 world première of the

Jule Styne Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also becam ...

musical ''

Pieces of Eight The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...

'' in Edmonton. In 1976, Layton collaborated with

for her one-woman international concert tour,

An Evening with Diana Ross ''An Evening with Diana Ross'' is a 1977 live double album released by American singer Diana Ross on the Motown label. It was recorded live at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in December 1976 during the international tour of Ross' one-woman s ...

, for which the singer won a Special Event Tony Award for the concert's performance at The Palace Theater. Joe Layton also choreographed a ballet for the Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, London titled "Grand Tour" which received critical acclaim as well as a warm reception from the audiences around the UK. In 1984, Layton was one of the three choreographers credited with staging the dances for the Opening (the "How the West Was Won" sequence) and Closing (the break-dances in "All Night Long") ceremonies of the 23rd Summer Olympiad of Los Angeles. He was also the Director of Paul Green's symphonic outdoor drama, "The Lost Colony" from 1964-1984. In 1985, Layton directed and choreographed a

Michael Edgley Edgley International is a theatre and concert promotions company from Australia, first started in the 1930s and run by several generations. It has also been known as Edgley & Dawe Attractions, Edgley Ventures, and Michael Edgley Internationa ...

revival production of ''Aloha: A Musical of the Islands'' by Eaton "Bob" Magoon and

Sir Robert Helpmann Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE ( Helpman, 9 April 1909 – 28 September 1986) was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director, and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet (n ...

at His Majesty's Theatre, Auckland, Auckland (New Zealand), starring Derek Metzger from the

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

world première production, with Hollywood actress

Patricia Morison Eileen Patricia Augusta Fraser Morison (March 19, 1915 – May 20, 2018) was an American stage, television and film actress of the Golden Age of Hollywood and mezzo-soprano singer. She made her feature film debut in 1939 after several years on ...

. Derek Williams was the orchestrator and musical director for both productions. Despite being well reviewed however, houses for the Aloha revival didn't measure up to those for the première production and it finished early, destined for Honolulu, Hawaii with Layton again as Director, playing at the purpose built Aloha Showroom until the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

destroyed its tourist patronage. From 1989, in preparation for the ''Aloha'' production, Layton had moved to live with Magoon in Honolulu where he also directed a revival production of Magoon's ''

13 Daughters ''13 Daughters'' was a short-lived Broadway musical with book, music and lyrics by Eaton Magoon, Jr, starring Don Ameche. It played for 28 performances in 1961. The story was influenced by the life of Magoon's great-grandparents Chun Afong and his ...

'' at the Hawaii Theatre. During this period, Layton was suffering from AIDS, from which he eventually died in 1994 at his home Key West, Florida, aged 64.

Personal life

He was married to actress Evelyn Russell in 1959; she predeceased him in February 1976.Evelyn Russell
IMDb They had a son, Jeb James Layton.

Selected credits

Stage

*''

Once Upon a Mattress ''Once Upon a Mattress'' is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway. The play was writte ...

'' (1959) *''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...

'' (1959) *'' Tenderloin'' (1960) *'' Greenwillow'' (1960) *'' Sail Away'' (1961) *''

'' (1962) *''

The Girl Who Came to Supper ''The Girl Who Came to Supper'' is a musical with a book by Harry Kurnitz and music and lyrics by Noël Coward, based on Terence Rattigan's 1953 play '' The Sleeping Prince''. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1963. Plot The story is set in ...

'' (1963) *''

Drat! The Cat! ''Drat! The Cat!'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Ira Levin and music by Milton Schafer. Originally called ''Cat and Mouse'', this spoof of late- Victorian melodrama has at its core Alice Van Guilder, who wants to be a career girl at a ti ...

'' (1965) *'' Sherry!'' (1967) *'' George M!'' (1968) *''

Dear World ''Dear World'' is a musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. With its opening, Herman became the first composer-lyricist in history to have three productions running simultaneously on Broa ...

'' (1969) *'' Two by Two'' (1970) *'' An Evening with Diana Ross (stage show)'' (1975-1977) *''

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

'' (1978) *''

Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He wa ...

'' (1980) *'' Bring Back Birdie'' (1981) *''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...

'' (1984) *''Aloha: A Musical of the Islands'' (1985 and 1991) *''

'' (1989)

Television

*''

'' (1964) *''

'' (1965) *''

'' (1966) *''The Belle of 14th Street'' (1967) *''Androcles and the Lion'' (1967) *''The Littlest Angel'' (1969) *''A Special Olivia Newton-John'' (1976) *''

'' (1977) *'' The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour'' (1978) *''Paul Lynde at the Movies'' (1979) *''The Hal Linden Special'' (1979)

Film

*''

'' (1967) *'' Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip'' (1982) *'' Annie'' (1982) *''

'' (1991)

Awards and nominations

;Awards *1962

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

for Best Choreography – ''

'' *1965

for Conception, Choreography and Staging - ''

'' (TV) *1969 Tony Award for Best Choreography – '' George M!'' ;Nominations *1960 Tony Award for Best Choreography – '' Greenwillow'' *1962 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – ''No Strings'' *1966 Emmy Award - Musical Program - ''

'' (TV) *1973 Emmy Award - Special - Comedy-Variety, Variety or Music - ''Barbra Streisand ... And Other Musical Instruments'' (TV)Kaplan, p. 161 *1980 Tony Award for Best Choreography – ''

'' *1980 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – ''Barnum'' *1980

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. F ...

for Outstanding Choreography – ''Barnum'' *1980 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical – ''Barnum''

References

External links

* * *
Joe Layton papers, 1931-1992
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Layton, Joe 1931 births 1994 deaths American theatre directors American television directors American choreographers Tony Award winners Primetime Emmy Award winners