BENNETT, MICHAEL

original name Michael Bennett Difiglia born April 8, 1943, Buffalo, N.Y., U.S. died July 2, 1987, Tucson, Ariz. American dancer, choreographer, and stage musical director. Bennett studied many styles of dance and began his career as a dancer in productions of West Side Story and Subways Are for Sleeping. His major contribution to the dance scene was as a choreographer-director of Broadway musicals, notably in Promises, Promises (1968), Coco (1969), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Chorus Line (1975), and Dreamgirls (1981). His beginnings as a dancer were most strongly reflected in A Chorus Line, which was made for and about dancers. This musical was conceived, directed, choreographed, and coproduced by Bennett; it won nine Tony awards and the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for drama and became the longest-running musical in the history of the Broadway theatre. Bennett received eight Tony awards and several New York Drama Critic awards during his career.