Michael Kantor: Robert Preston Was Robert Presten very experienced in Broadway stuff when he came to do music man. Tell me about that
Onna White: Well, he had never done a musical before, so they gave him to me three weeks ahead of rehearsal to find out how much I could get out of him. Well, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. He was incredible and a very nice man, very nice men.
Michael Kantor: When you heard the music and thought about doing Music Man, was there a particular style or era or type of dance that you wanted to fill the musical with?
Onna White: Well, depending mostly on what he could do for me. Now, the main number that I was interested in was 76 trombones. Very easy. But the library number is what got me the job. My idea for the library numbers. In other words, have the music man go in there and start lossing everything up. And so, that’s what got the job 76 trombones was an easy number to do because it just was full of life and vigor and most people like to do that kind of movement.
Michael Kantor: In general, what makes for a great choreographer on Broadway? What is it that they need to do to be the best at, you know…
Onna White: I have no idea what you’re talking about, it’s an individual thing and also the property, what property and whether they’re suited to do that particular musical or whatever.
Michael Kantor: So when you came to a musical, tell us how you’d try and fit the style of dance to the musical, like with, say, either Music Man or Bye Bye Birdie or…
Onna White: Well, it depends on, I listen to the score a lot. And what my body does respond to the score is what I eat.
Michael Kantor: That’s great, great. Tell us, let’s go back to guys and dolls. Tell us how you were a hotbox girl and tell us about and take back your mink, what you were dancing on, what the costume requirements were. It wasn’t easy, was it?
Onna White: No, the high heels were there.
Michael Kantor: In Guys and Dolls, I was…
Onna White: In Guys and Dolls. I was one of the hot box girls. I also did a Cuban number. But the hotbox girls had to wear high heels. And Michael Kidd came up to me one day and he said, Anna, I’d like to try the movements in the heels. So I said, anybody got size, such and such? So he put them on and by God, if he didn’t do it. He said, okay, don’t want to hear another word. So they put their heels back on and they did their movements.
Michael Kantor: Tell me how when you auditioned people, you’d put them through ballet moves, and how important ballet was to your work and to Broadway choreography.
Onna White: Well, I think it’s basically very important. You know, you can add extra movements to the basic steps, but I think if they have a ballet training, that it’s easier to do. That for me, anyway, that’s… Well, at auditions, I would have a combination ready dancers to do balletic things because basically that’s what I would start doing is balletic movements and then I would add little things to those things you know. It’s hard to explain because it all happens sometimes it happens just naturally and normally and you’re in like Flynn.
Michael Kantor: Right, right, I know. What about Meredith Wilson? He wasn’t really a Broadway, you know, show king like Rodgers or Frank Lesser or whatever, but with Music Man, what did he, what was the special sort of musical thing that he brought? It was his own hometown.
Onna White: It was up.
Michael Kantor: Who was meredith wilson
Onna White: He was…
Michael Kantor: Country boy.
Onna White: Meredith Wilson was a country boy, but he had a wife who was more than country boy. And I don’t think she was terribly fond of me. I think she had something else in mind, someone else in line. But the producer of the show wanted me. When I gave them Meredith, my idea for the library number. He fell madly in love with it. And he said, that’s the way it’s gonna be done. And I don’t think his wife liked that very much. Because you notice that she never uses me out. When they did it on Broadway, they did a thing on Broadway. And she didn’t even ask me.
Michael Kantor: Was Meredith involved in the day-to-day creation of the show? Was he around sort of at rehearsal? Oh, I’ll-
Onna White: Oh always, always. Very nice gentleman.
Michael Kantor: And who directed the original production, you remember?
Onna White: Oh, Martin DaCosta.
Michael Kantor: Tell me about that, Morton DeCosta directed both Broadway and the movie, and you worked with him on both. Just give us that factual information.
Onna White: Well, the director of the movie and the director of the stage musical were the same person, Martin DeCosta. Wonderful to work with, listened to ideas. He was very, very good and that’s I think how we got through it so quickly. Michael kids? Oh gosh, he had a lot, a lot of influence and he had lot of talent. And he hired me. No, I’m kidding. But anyway, I enjoyed working for him. And he’s the one who said, I think you can do this on your own. So I did. But I took a musical that I had been in. When I first came to New York, I auditioned for Finian’s Rainbow. And I got the job. And I was replacing the captain of the group. So that may be. Automatically Michael Kidd’s assistant. And so that was the musical that I said I’d try to do by myself. And I think I told you this, my leading man was Merv Griffin. Gorgeous, talented Merv, very slender. And he had a 15 minute television show where he’d sit at the piano and sing. I used to watch that. And so he was very easy to work with and very talented and very good looking.
Michael Kantor: Dick Van Dyke, tell me who was Dick Van dyke and what talent did he have and what was he like to work with? Start with his name.
Onna White: Dick Van Dyke I fell madly in love with, and I’m just saying that, you know, as a person not as a lover because he was so funny and when the first day of rehearsal he came to me and he said you know Miss White, I can’t dance. I said I’ve seen you dance, I’ve see you move, now stop it, so we’ll do your number first so we can find out how much you can’t Well, he did the whole thing, no trouble at all. He was wonderful to work with.
Michael Kantor: So tell me, when you came into Bye Bye Barry, how did it feel? Was it, did it feel different like rock and roll or was it just an upgrade?
Onna White: No, it was just an upbeat thing that I enjoyed doing the steps, you know. Kids, I don’t know what to tell these kids today, and he was wonderful, too. The cast was just terrific.
Michael Kantor: Thinking about, you got ballet, you’ve got jazz dance, you got all these different dance styles. What do you think a dancer on Broadway does that is done nowhere else? What’s the difference? Is it hot kicking differently, higher energy? Is there a way to put your finger on what happens on Broadway?
Onna White: I think that the Broadway’s, they’re more talented. They have more to offer in all categories, you know, steps, energy, and, you know, they just are terrific. Take ready.
Michael Kantor: You said the score means a lot to the choreographer. Let’s hear what you think about that a little bit.
Onna White: Well, let’s see.
Michael Kantor: Start with that phrase, when you have the score…
Onna White: The score is very important to the choreographer, you know, and to find out which score, which part of the score that they’re responsible for, you now, and it means a lot. A lot. The score it very important. Well, to everybody it’s important.
Michael Kantor: But it dictates movement maybe more than.
Onna White: Yes. There’s a certain rhythm in the score that influences the choreographer. The rhythms, you know, the different rhythms. And, you can get bored with one rhythm, so how can you change to do another rhythm for another reason? The Broadway dancers are so wonderful. They give their all. They’re happy to be in the show, and they really are disciplined and can adjust to changes. They’re terrific at that. Most Broadway dancers are the best. They’re the best
Michael Kantor: And where we were talking about earlier, they often draw their discipline from ballet training, right? Help me understand that.
Onna White: Yes, well, anyone with a ballet training, a ballet foundation, can adjust very much easier to choreography than somebody, say, who just does or just took jazz lessons. You know, they’re limited. But if they had, the jazz dancers had ballet training. They can adjust. Seconds. Combine the two. Angela Lansbury in Mame. I had her turn her back to the audience and everybody thought I was bonkers. So I went to the director and I told him about it. And he said, well, I’m not gonna tell her to do that. You have to tell her too. So I want to Auntie and I said, I have the most wonderful idea, Angela. I mean, just sensational idea. I think if you stand with your back. To the audience in this number, and they’re coming at you and exclaiming how wonderful you are, you know, and she said, where do you want me to stand? That was it. She was smart. I was born in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, went to school in Powell River, British Columbia.
Michael Kantor: But what do you think makes the Broadway musical so American? Everyone says it’s an American art form. It’s not British, it’s not French. The Broadway musical.
Onna White: I think because of most of the, except for me, most of choreographers, the stages are American.
Michael Kantor: But what is it about the energy that’s different? The different kind of energy, different kind
Onna White: I don’t know. You can’t tell about that because, see, I left Canada and joined the ballet company, San Francisco Ballet Company, and I was in there for seven years. I started out in the chorus and I ended up being a ballerina. And then I got sick and tired of putting the toe shoes on. So I said, I quit. So, I went to New York. Somebody said, Go to New York. Michael Kidd’s having auditions for Finian’s Rainbow. So I went, got on a plane, went to New York, called a friend of mine there, Sandra Lee, and… I auditioned, I got the job. That’s how I got with Michael Kidd. Well, let me tell you something. I was so, I was called in, you know, I didn’t start it. Called in by Peter and the director, and he said, Anna, I need help, 70, 76. Now, when I was going to school in Canada, we had a big history. Thing on American politics and 1776 was one of my favorite subjects so I just was thrilled to death to get have anything to do with it and and I and I went in and I so I said Peter can I do what I want can I anything you want on it you can do. So I went right through it like a dose of salt, and that’s the way it is now. And I remembered what I learned about 1776 in the Canadian school, Powell River.
