REUNIONS AND PRE-UNIONS (& new unions)
West Side Story cast members have become acquainted or
re-acquainted under the following felicitous circumstances.
1954     Peter Pan opens on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater,
     helmed by Jerome Robbins.  Among the cast members are
     Bob Banas, David Bean, Linda Dangcil, Ronnie Lee and Ian Tucker.    
Bob Kole, Ronnie Lee and Sammy Smith are in the cast of
Plain and Fancy, w
hich features "Promising Personality" Barbara Cook.
. 1955
1955 . Chita Rivera appears as Fifi in Seventh Heaven.  Lee Becker dances in the
chorus and is Fifi's understudy.  Also in the cast is Bill Guske.  Jerome Robbins
is consulted without credit but is unable to rescue the short-lived show.
    Jerome Robbins provides the choreography for the film version     
of
The King and I.  Marni Nixon dubs the vocals for     
Deborah Kerr.  The cast includes Rita Moreno and Bob Banas.    
. 1955
1956 . Among the residents of Dogpatch in the cast of Li'l Abner are Carmen Alvarez,
Grover Dale, Robert Karl, and Tony Mordente.  Later both Ms Alvarez and
Mr. Karl join Bob Banas to appear in  the film version.
Jerome Robbins directs Judy Holliday in the hit Bells Are Ringing. 
Also in the cast are Peter Gennaro, Frank Green and Ben Vargas. 
. 1956
1957 . The Girl Most Likely, a musical re-make of 1940’s Tom, Dick and Harry,
features Robert Banas and Harvey Hohnecker.
   In the cast of Broadway's Shinbone Alley are Gene Gavin, Reri Grist,    
     Carmen Guitterez, Elizabeth Taylor, Myrna White and David Winters.    
Headliner Eartha Kitt is understudied by Chita Rivera.    
. 1957
1957 . Robert Banas, Harvey Hohnecker and Ken LeRoy (repeating his
stage assignment) are dancers in the film version of
The Pajama Game.
The following year, Robert Banas and Harvey Hohnecker
appear together again in the film version of
Damn Yankees
. 1958
1958 . Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins are re-united for the historic Gypsy.  Among the cast are veteran and future West Side Story performers Marilyn Cooper, Steve Curry, Marilyn D'Honau, Ian Tucker, and
David Winters.  Up and coming musicmaker John Kander collaborates with
Betty Walberg on the dance arrangements.
     After the first Broadway run of West Side Story closes to go on tour,    
Saratoga takes up residence at the Winter Garden Theater.    
Carol Lawrence stars opposite Howard Keel, leading a cast that includes    
Julius Fields, Gene Gavin and Frank Green.    
. 1959
1960 . Grover Dale, Ethelyne Dunfee and Ian Tucker
are featured in Frank Loesser's
Greenwillow.
    A Family Affair, music by John Kander, book  by Follies' author    
James Goldman and lyrics by brother William Goldman, opens    
at the Billy Rose Theater under the direction of Harold Prince.    
Broadway babies Larry Kert and Tommy Abbott are featured.    
. 1961
1961 . Subways Are for Sleeping is presented on Broadway starring Carol Lawrence     
and featuring stage Jet and film Shark Larry Roquemore.  Also in the cast,    
an unknown pre-"Rhoda" dancer named Valerie Harper.    
     Barbra Streisand makes her Broadway splash in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, directed by Arthur Laurents.  In addition to future hubby
Elliot Gould, other bulbs in  the chandelier include Marilyn Cooper,
Wilma Curley,Steve Curry, Don Grilley, Ken Le Roy, Luba Lisa,
Jack Murray, Eddie Verso and, later, Eliot Feld and Martin Wolfson.
. 1962
1962 .     On rival sides in West Side Story, Natalie Wood and Bert Michaels buddy up
     as performers in Mamma's vaudeville act in the film version of
Gypsy.    
   Anyone Can Whistle brings together a Sondheim score and a book written and directed by Arthur Laurents.  The cast of the off-beat story includes
Sterling Clark, Harvey Evans, Alan Johnson, Jack Murray,
Larry Roquemore and Tucker Smith.
. 1964
1964 . In Disney’s beloved Mary Poppins, Robert Banas and Harvey Hohnecker can be spotted through the soot as a couple of dancing chimney sweeps.  Heard but not seen is Marni Nixon in yet another uncredited dubbing assignment.
Among the dancers performing the choreography of Peter Gennaro
in the film version of
The Unsinkable Molly Brown are
Robert Banas, Grover Dale and Gus Trikonis..
. 1964
1964 . Fresh from their City Center success, Julia Migenes and Tom Abbott
are in the original company of
Fiddler on the Roof,
produced by Harold Prince and directed and choreographed
by Jerome Robbins.  Ken Le Roy later joins the cast as the Fiddler.
    Bajour opens at the Shubert Theater.  Chita Rivera    
heads a cast that includes Gus Trikonis and Carmen Morales.    
. 1964
1965 . Bob Banas appears in the motion picture Billie, dancing to the
choreography of David Winters. 
     West Side Story Irregulars come together in the Sherlock Holmes musical
     
Baker Street.  Directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Lee Becker
      Theodore, the usual suspects include Avind Harum, Teddy Green, Bert Michaels, Jay Norman, Sal Pernice, Mark Jude Sheil, Christopher Walken and Martin Wolfson.   Former Shark Tommy Tune is featured.  Later, Joe Bennett takes over the role of Wiggins. Other late starters include Marilyn D'Honau, Tina Faye, Daniel P. Hannafin, Alan Johnson, Eric Mason and Ian Tucker.
. 1965
1966 . Simon Oakland and Gus Trikonis are in the cast of the
motion picture
The Sand Pebbles, directed by Robert Wise.    
    The film version of  How to Succeed in Business
     without Really Trying
re-unites Scooter Teague and Tucker Smith.
     Sammy Smith repeats his stage dual-role performance.    
. 1967
1968 . Carol Lawrence stars with Robert Goulet in a television adaptation of     
Cole Porter's
Kiss Me, Kate.  Mickey Calin, by now known as Michael Callan,     
co-stars as Bill Calhoun.    
The original cast of The Rothschilds includes Hank Brunjes, Leila Martin and John Mineo.  Later in the run Robert LuPone joins the ensemble. . 1970
1971 .     Lincoln Center's (1968) Maria and Tony, Victoria Mallory and Kurt Peterson,
     are featured in the large cast of Stephen Sondheim's
Follies at the
     Winter Garden under the direction of Harold Prince.  Prominently
     cast as Peterson's buddy is Harvey Evans.
  
    Larry Kert and Harvey Evans tour as les boys in La Cage aux Folles.     . 1987
1990 . The founders of the film Jets, Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn,  are
re-united on the far-out but unforgettable cult television series "Twin Peaks."
    Broadway's original Maria and Snowboy, Carol Lawrence and     
     Grover Dale, show the world how it's done as Vincent and Vanessa     
     in the Los Angeles Reprise! presentation of
Follies.    
. 2002
2004 .     Caroline O'Connor and Edward Baker-Duly are    
     prominently featured in the Cole Porter biopic
De-Lovely.   
In October, Brett Barrett and Caroline O’Connor appear as Ben and Phyllis Stone in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies at Chicago’s Shakespeare Theater. . 2011
.
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