Gillian Lynne
Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne
The New London Theatre, where the original West End production of Cats played, was officially renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre in 2018. This made Lynne the first non-royal woman to have a West End theatre named after her.
Early life and education
Gillian Barbara Pyrke was born in Bromley, Kent, and was a precocious dance talent from an early age, teaming with her childhood friend Beryl Grey while still at school, and dancing to blot out the tragedy of the violent death of her mother on 8 July 1939 in Coventry (as a result of a car crash along with Edward Turner's first wife), when Lynne was just 13 years old.[1][2]
Lynne's gift for dancing was discovered by a doctor. She had been underperforming at school, so her mother took her to the doctor and explained about her fidgeting and lack of focus. After hearing everything her mother said, the doctor told Lynne that he needed to talk to her mother privately for a moment. He turned on the radio and walked out. He then encouraged her mother to look at Lynne, who was dancing to the radio. The doctor noted that she was a dancer, and encouraged Lynne's mother to take her to dance school.[3]
Dancing career
Sadler's Wells Ballet
While dancing for Molly Lake's Company (the
West End, film and television
Leaving
Choreography and direction
In her long career as a choreographer and director, Lynne worked on many productions including those from the Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company and English National Opera as well as many West End and Broadway shows.[2] In 1970 she choreographed and directed the Nottingham Playhouse production of the musical, Love on the Dole. Originally a novel by Walter Greenwood, it was made into a musical starring Eric Flynn and Angela Richards. In 1975 she arrived in Australia to create The Australian Ballet's first work expressly commissioned for television, The Fool on the Hill.[7] She may be best known for her work on the Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals Cats (1981), The Phantom of the Opera (1986) and Aspects of Love (1990).
She was also a prolific television choreographer and director notably for
In 2002, Lynne choreographed the
In October 2011, Lynne choreographed the 25th Anniversary production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall. She was both choreographer and director for the musical Dear World, which played an engagement at The Charing Cross Theatre, London, in February and March 2013, and starred Betty Buckley.[9] Her production company[10] continues to produce television, film and stage productions.
Major stage credits
- Ballet Guild (1942–1944) – Soloist
- Sadler's Wells Ballet(1944–1951) – Leading Soloist
- London Palladium (1951–1954) – Star Dancer
- Can-Can (1954) – Claudine
- New Cranks (1960) – Cast
- Rose-Marie (1960) – Wanda
- England Our England (1960–61) – Stager
- Puss in Boots (1962) – Queen of Catland
- Collages (1963) – Conceived/Director/Choreographer/Performer
- Round Leicester Square (1963) – Director
- The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd(1965) – Choreographer
- Pickwick (1965) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- The Matchgirls (1966) – Director/Choreographer
- The Flying Dutchman(1966) – Choreographer
- Bluebeard (1966) – Director/Choreographer
- How Now Dow Jones(1967) – Choreographer
- The Midsummer Marriage (1968) – Choreographer
- The Trojans(1969) – Choreographer
- Phil The Fluter (1969) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Love on the Dole (1970) – Director/Choreographer
- Tonight at 8.30 (1970–71) – Director
- Ambassador (1971) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Lillywhite Lies (1971) – Director
- Liberty Ranch (1972) – Director/Choreographer
- Once Upon A Time (1972) – Director/Choreographer
- The Card (1973) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Hans Christian Andersen (1974) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- The Fool on the Hill (ballet) (1975) – Choreographer
- The Comedy of Errors (1976) – Musical Stager
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (1977) – Co-director
- As You Like It (1977) – Musical Stager
- The Way of the World (1978) – Choreographer
- My Fair Lady (1978) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Thuis Best (1978) – Director/Choreographer
- Parsifal (1979) – Choreographer
- Once in a Lifetime (1979) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Songbook(1979) – Musical Stager
- Jeeves Takes Charge (1980) – Director
- Tom Foolery(1980) – Director/Choreographer
- To Those Born Later (1981) – Director
- Cats (1981) – Associate Director/Choreographer
- La Ronde (1982) – Additional Director
- Alone Plus One (1982) – Director/Performer
- The Rehearsal (1983) – Director
- The Phantom of the Opera (1986) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Cabaret (1986) – Director/Choreographer
- Faust (1990) – Choreographer
- Aspects of Love (1990) – Choreographer
- Dance for Life Gala (1991) – Director/Producer
- Valentine's Day (1991) – Director/Choreographer
- Pickwick (1993) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- That's What Friends Are For! (1996) – Director
- Avow (1996) – Director
- What the World Needs Now (1998) – Director/Choreographer
- Gigi (1999) – Director/Choreographer
- Dick Wittington (1999) – Director/Choreographer (Sadler's Wells)[11]
- The Secret Garden (2000) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2002 & 2005) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
Film credits
- The Master of Ballantrae (1953) – Actress/Choreographer
- The Last Man to Hang?(1956) – Actress
- Make Mine a Million (1959) – Actress
- Wonderful Life (1963–64) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Every Day's a Holiday (1965) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Three Hats for Lisa (1964) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Half a Sixpence (1967) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Mister Ten Per Cent (1967) – Choreographer
- 200 Motels (1971) – Musical Stager
- Mr. Love (1972) – Stager/Choreographer
- Man of La Mancha (1972) – Choreographer
- Under Milk Wood (1972) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- The Old Curiosity Shop (1974) – Musical Stager
- Yentl (1982) – Musical Stager
- Alice in Wonderland (1985) – Choreographer
- European Vacation(1985) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
- Cats (1997) – Musical Stager/Choreographer
Personal life
Lynne married her second husband, actor/singer Peter Land in 1980.
It was love at first sight: they met when he got a part in a production of My Fair Lady that she co-directed in 1978. "He was standing there at the bar, and he was drop-dead gorgeous. We just looked at each other..."
The first volume of her autobiography, A Dancer in Wartime[12] was published on 3 November 2011 in the UK by Chatto & Windus.
Lynne died on 1 July 2018 at a London hospital from pneumonia, aged 92.[13][14]
Awards, honours and nominations
She has won, and been nominated for, numerous awards for her work. She has received the Silver Order of Merit, Golden Rose of Montreux Award, BAFTA, Molière Award and The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award by the
She was appointed
Lynne was nominated for the
In 2018, The New London Theatre was renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre, making it the first theatre in the West End of London to be named after a non-royal woman.[20]
References
- ^ Recounted by Dame Beryl Grey in The Independent, 10 March 2002; accessed 22 March 2014.
- ^ a b c Moorhead, Joanna. "'Mummy's still looking after me'" The Guardian, 25 November 2011; accessed 17 March 2014.
- ^ Recounted by Sir Ken Robinson in his TED talk, Do schools kill creativity? (starting at 14:50 minutes)
- ^ Watts, Graham. "Interview. Gllian Lynne, the Sadler's Wells Ballet years" Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, ballet.co.uk, October 2009; accessed 17 March 2014.
- ^ "'The Master of Ballantrae' Listing" tcm.com, accessed 2 January 2014.
- ^ "Lynne filmography", The New York Times, accessed 2 January 2014.
- ^ "Australian Ballet Story" ausballetstory.com.au, accessed 2 January 2014
- ^ The Secret Garden Listing Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine albemarle-london.com, accessed 1 January 2014
- ^ Gans, Andrew. "'Dear World', Starring Tony Winner Betty Buckley, Will End London Run March 16" Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, 13 March 2013.
- ^ Lean Two Productions, gillianlynne.com; accessed 17 March 2014.
- ^ Dick Whittington Listing, 1999 Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine albemarle-london.com, accessed 1 January 2014
- ISBN 978-0701185992.
- ^ Wild, Stephanie. "Director and Choreographer Dame Gillian Lynne Passes Away at 92". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
- ^ "Gillian Lynne, Choreographer of 'Cats', Is Dead at 92". The New York Times. 6 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ^ Shenton, Mark. "Gillian Lynne and Michael Frayn to Receive Special Awards at Olivier Awards" Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, 24 March 2013.
- ^ Gillian Lynne named DBE Archived 30 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine; 19 January 2014; accessed 22 March 2014.
- ^ Shenton, Mark. "Angela Lansbury Becomes a Dame in Queen's New Year's Honors; Other Honorees Include Gillian Lynne, Michael Crawford and More" Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, 31 December 2013; accessed 22 March 2014.
- ^ "Gillian Lynne – Broadway Cast & Staff". IBDb.com. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
- ^ "Oivier Winners 1981" Archived 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, olivierawards.com; accessed 1 January 2014.
- ^ "West End theatre renamed after Cats choreographer Gillian Lynne – BBC News". BBC News. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
External links
- London Gazette notice of damehood; london-gazette.co.uk; accessed 22 March 2014.
- Official website
- Gillian Lynne profile, imdb.com; accessed 17 March 2014.
- Gillian Lynne at the Internet Broadway Database
- Gillian Lynne and Dance on YouTube