Bob Avian, the dancer who became a choreographer who played a key role in major Broadway musicals like A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls, Company, Follies and Miss saigon, died of cardiac arrest yesterday at a hospital in Fort. Lauderdale, Florida. He was 83 years old.
His death, which was not related to Covid, was announced by spokesman Matt Polk.
Born in New York City and graduated from Boston University College of Fine Arts, Avian also studied at Boston Ballet School and would start his professional career as a dancer in more than a dozen Broadway musicals. Among them were the 1960 seminal productions of West Side Story and Funny girl.
In 1968, Avian began a collaboration that would prove fundamental to his legacy and Broadway history: On Promises, promises he served as assistant choreographer to choreographer Michael Bennett, launching a creative partnership that would last 20 years. Avian was an associate choreographer and assistant director in productions such as Coconuts (1969), Company (1970), Madness (1971), Branches (1971), Seesaw (1973) and God’s favorite (1974).
Related Story
Showbiz and media figures we lost in 2021 – Photo gallery
Avian received his first Tony award for his upcoming collaboration with Bennett: The 1976 historical musical A chorus line, which the duo co-choreographed. Avian and Bennett repeated Tony’s feat two years later with Ballroom, with Avian also acting as a producer. (Bennett died at the age of 44 in 1987 from AIDS-related lymphoma.)
Bob Deutsch
In 1981, Avian was the lead producer for what was to be one of the most acclaimed, popular and influential Broadway musicals of the decade: Dreamgirls, winner of six Tonys, including a Best Actress Award for Jennifer Holliday’s career launch performance. Avian would also produce national tour companies.
Then Avian choreographed the London debut of Stephen Sondheim Madness, then creating the musical staging for another Cameron Macintosh production, Miss saigon. He then created the musical staging for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard to London and Broadway, receiving his sixth Tony nomination.
Subsequent credits include the Olivier Award choreography for the Boublil-Schonberg musical Martin Guerre. Back in New York, he choreographed the hit musical in the style of Sondheim magazine Putting the pieces together starring Julie Andrews at the Manhattan Theater Club Off Broadway. The production debuted on Broadway in 1999 with Carol Burnett taking on the role of Andrews.
Avian choreographed the West End production of The Witches of Eastwick starring Ian McShane. He would direct revivals of A chorus line on Broadway (2006), London (2013) and in 2018 at the Hollywood Bowl and New York’s City Center. He participated in the 2008 documentary Every little step, a chronicle of the audition process for the 2006 Broadway revival.
Avian Memories Dancing Man: A Broadway Choreographer’s Journey, co-written with Tom Santopietro, it was published in 2020 by the University Press of Mississippi.
Avian leaves her husband, director / producer Peter Pileski, and sister Laura Nabedian, five nieces and nephews, a great-nephew and a great-niece.