By Andrew Chan, courtesy of Kent News
The Kent School Theatre presented Guys and Dolls as this year’s spring musical. Having picked this classic show, Kent Theatre director Mr. Stewart is thankful to have Mary Ann Lamb, a professional who has worked on Broadway for decades, as the choreographer of the performance. “She is just amazingly qualified,” Stewart commented. “We are incredibly lucky to have someone like her, with Broadway credits, working on our musical.”
Lamb, who also filled in with the dance activity while Katy Armstrong was maternity leave, currently works at FineLine Theatre Arts, a dance, music, and drama studio in New Milford. The studio was founded by Scott Wise and Elizabeth Parkinson, both leading Broadway dance stars and friends of Lamb. Since becoming a professional dancer in 1978, Lamb has contributed to and performed in more than ten Broadway shows. She is recognized worldwide for her dancing qualifications and professionalism.
Stewart asked Lamb to choreograph for the school production of Guys and Dolls because Lamb herself had experience producing this particular musical on Broadway in 1992. “This actually is the very first time that I need to choreograph more than twelve people ever,” said Lamb, “and I’m blown away about how talented the students are. I can’t believe how hard they have worked.”
Lamb brought along two dance students as her dance assistants. Both of them have just graduated from high school and are pursuing professional dancing careers. Since her career has been more focused towards dancing than choreography, Lamb believed that choreographing a high school musical should definitely be a valuable experience for herself and her students. She said, “The music department and choreography department is a marriage, and that’s what makes musical theatre so difficult. When you are doing a musical, so many people have to be on the same page.”
