Bob Avian The Broadway Choreography Legend Dies Aged 83

Bob Avian, the Tony award-winning choreographer of numerous Broadway hits has died aged 83, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after a cardiac arrest.

Avian, born in New York, was a renowned choreographer, with over 40 years on Broadway also as a director, had credits like ‘Ballroom’, ‘A Chorus Line’, and winning six Tony awards in 1982 as lead producer on the original and national tour productions of ‘Dreamgirls’.

He also created the musical staging, for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard, both in London and on Broadway, and in 1997, won the Olivier Award for his direction of Martin Guerre, reported Broadway Buzz.

Trained as a dancer, a Broadway stage debut in the original West Side Story stage production must have been quite a way to start his phenomenal career, he went on to star alongside Barbra Streisand in ‘Funny Girl’ in 1964.

Shortly after, Avian linked up with choreographer and director, Michael Bennett, the man who would become his longtime creative partner for a string of shows including ‘Coco’, ‘Follies’, ‘Twigs’ ‘ Promises’, Company, ‘God’s Favorite’, and ‘Seesaw’, and the two of them won several Tonys for their work on ‘A Chorus Line’ and ‘Ballroom’, for which Avian also served as a producer.