The Theatre Development Fund (TDF) announced the winners of their 20th Annual TDF Astaire Awards at a benefit luncheon May 18 at the Hudson Theatre in midtown Manhattan. The Awards program that celebrates the “best dance on Broadway" was directed and choreographed by Scott Wise and hosted by Tony Award winning dancer Karen Ziemba (Contact).
Susan Stroman, Kate Levering and Michael Arnold took home this year's honor as Best Choreographer, Best Female Dancer and Best Male Dancer. Another highlight included the presentation of the "Lifetime Achievement" Award to choreographer Donald Saddler. Saddler, who appears in Roundabout’s Follies, has earned two Tony Awards for his choreography of Wonderful Town and No, No, Nanette. and was recently inducted to the Theatre Hall of Fame.
The 20th Annual TDF Astaire nominees (winners in *bold) included:
Best Choreographer
Jerry Mitchell (The Full Monty)
Randy Skinner (42nd Street)
*Susan Stroman (The Producers) Best Female Dancer
Carol Bentley (Follies)
Cady Huffman (The Producers)
*Kate Levering (42nd Street)
Best Male Dancer
*Michael Arnold (42nd Street)
Andre De Shields (The Full Monty)
David Elder (42nd Street)
Nominees for the 2001 TDF Astaire Awards were selected from this season's Broadway shows that “include dance". With such musicals as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Blast!, Follies, Bells Are Ringing, A Class Act, 42nd Street, The Full Monty, The Producers, The Rocky Horror Show and Seussical reaching Broadway this season, there was strong competition.
The awards committee for the Astaire Awards includes Douglas Watt, The New Yorker, chairman; Clive Barnes, New York Post; Howard Kissel, New York Daily News; Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press; Donald McDonagh, managing editor of Ballet Review; Richard Philp, Dance Magazine; Charles L. Reinhart, director of the American Dance Festival and Linda Winer, Newsday.
*
The winners of last year's Astaires were Susan Stroman for Best Choreographer (Contact and The Music Man), Deborah Yates for Best Female Dancer (Contact) and Clyde Alves for Best Male Dancer (The Music Man).
Theatre Development Fund (TDF), is the largest non-profit performing arts service organization in the United States. TDF has been supporting plays of merit and building new audiences for theatre since 1968. TDF is world famous for its TKTS discount ticket centers in Times Square and Two World Trade Center. For more information on TDF, visit their website at www.tdf.org.
