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Pamela Blair, an actress and dancer best known for her roles in the original Broadway cast of “A Chorus Line” and in soap opera “All My Children,” has died. She was 73 years old.

Blair died Sunday in her home in Phoenix, per media reports. Her passing came after a “long battle” with an unnamed illness, her representative Dani Green said.

Blair, who made her major stage debut in 1968’s “Promises, Promises” and later starred in productions as varied as “Sugar and Seesaw,” “Of Mice and Men,” “King of Hearts,” “The Nerd” and “A Few Good Men” in addition to “A Chorus Line,” was celebrated online Monday and Tuesday by past costars and collaborators.

“A Chorus Line” costar Baayork Lee posted on Facebook Monday, calling Blair her “Sagittarian sister” nicknaming her “Walt Disney Pammie.”

“We always wrote to one another no matter where we were on that day. What a colorful character she was,...

Veteran actress Pamela Blair, best known for originating the role of Valerie Clark in Broadway’s hit musical A Chorus Line, has died. She was 73. Blair’s passing, which happened on Sunday (July 23) at her home in Phoenix, Arizona, after a long illness, was confirmed by her A Chorus Line co-star Baayork Lee. “I am very sad to say my Sagittarian sister Pam Blair has gone to play with her [A Chorus Line] colleagues among the clouds,” Lee wrote on Facebook. “Walt Disney Pammie and I shared the same birthday. We always wrote to one another no matter where we were on that day.” “What a colorful character she was as depicted in the Val monologue in the show,” Lee added. “She brought the house down every night as well as a woman standing at the edge of the orchestra shouting, ‘Wash your mouth out.’ You are free now Pammie so dance,...

Pamela Blair, who originated the role of the surgically enhanced Valerie Clark in the Broadway smash A Chorus Line, died Sunday at her home in Phoenix, Arizona, following a lengthy illness. She was 73.

Her death was reported by friends on social media, including her A Chorus Line co-star Baayork Lee. “I am very sad to say my Sagittarian sister Pam Blair has gone to play with her [A Chorus Line] colleagues among the clouds,” wrote Lee in a Facebook post. Sharing a Dec. 5 birthday, the two actors “always wrote to one another no matter where we were on that day,” Lee said, recalling how Blair ” brought the house down every night” with the showstopping performance of “Dance: Ten, Looks: Three.”

“You are free now Pammie so dance, dance, dance among the stars,” Lee wrote.

Blair’s signature song, a paean to the show-biz benefits of plastic surgery, is perhaps more commonly known as “T&a,...

JoAnn M. Hunter didn’t plan on becoming a choreographer. She built a successful life as a dancer with a dozen Broadway credits before ever having idea to make a career shift. She admits that a late career change is “so scary” but she soon fell in love with choreography because, as she simply states: “I love dancers.” The unique atmosphere of a rehearsal studio helped her find great satisfaction in this new line of work. “There’s a willingness to want to make the same thing, and create, and to trust. And I enjoyed that more than I ever anticipated,” she admits. As the choreographer for the new Broadway musical “Bad Cinderella,” Hunter has every ounce of her creativity, and love for dancers, on display. Watch the exclusive video interview above.

“Bad Cinderella” marks the latest in a string of collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, which includes the London...

When it was reported that swinging Sixties singer/songwriter Burt Bacharach had died on Feb. 8 at the age of 94, most people thought of his iconic cameo in Austin Powers, playing “What the World Needs Now” atop a bus as Mike Myers and Elizabeth Hurley slow-danced. But Bacharach’s impact on popular culture stems far beyond his appearance in the Austin Powers franchise. Consider, for instance, this 1969 Tony Awards performance of “Turkey Lurkey Time” from Promises, Promises — Bacharach’s musical adaptation of Neil Simon’s The Apartment, coauthored with Simon and his longtime collaborator Hal David.

PBS’s Wicked in Concert special next month will be co-hosted by the musical’s original Broadway stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, with performances by Mario Cantone, Gavin Creel, Ariana DeBose, Cynthia Erivo, Stephanie Hsu, Rita Moreno, Jennifer Nettles, Alex Newell, Isaac Powell, Amber Riley, Gabrielle Ruiz and Ali Stroker.

The starry line-up was announced today by Nouveau Productions Executive Producer Robert Pullen. As previously announced, the concert special will air on Sunday, August 29 at 9 p.m. Et on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App.

The concert, directed by Baayork Lee, is designed as a celebration of the return of Broadway following the 16-month Covid pandemic shutdown. This special will feature reimagined, never-before-heard Wicked musical arrangements created by music director and conductor Luke Frazier just for this broadcast, with performances filmed in multiple locations including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and New York City.

Since opening on Broadway in 2003, Wicked,...

Baayork Lee is having a whirlwind week and BroadwayWorld is always happy to report on the legend, who just keeps adding feathers to her already overflowing hat of accomplishments. The big news, recently, is that Laduca, the legendary maker of shoes for dancers, released The One, created for Ms. Lee in honor of the iconic musical, A Chorus Line, and her part in keeping alive the legend of Michael Bennett and the extraordinary choreography and staging of the historic Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning musical.

In 1968, Promises, Promises, a musical based on the 1960 film The Apartment,premiered on Broadway. FeaturingmusicbyBurt Bacharach, lyrics byHal David, and a book byNeil Simon, the show features enduring classics like 'Say a Little Prayer,' 'A House IsNot a Home' and 'I'll Never Fall in Love Again,' but none left such a legacy especially at this time of year as 'Turkey Lurkey Time.' Featuring the unforgettable choreography of Michael Bennett, and danced originally by Donna McKechnie, Baayork Lee andJulane Stites, the song has undoubtedly become a beloved classic of the musical theatre holidaycannon...but which holiday...

The road to success for Sutton Foster was not always an easy journey, but it was a trip she looks back on with laughter.

“Auditions are terrible. They really are,” the “Younger” star told Variety at New York City Center’s 75th anniversary gala, which included a performance of the Broadway audition musical “A Chorus Line.”

“I was auditioning for the revival of ‘Annie’ back in 1996,” Foster recalled. “I came in and the only sheet music I had was ‘Oklahoma.’ I had on horrible Velcro sandals because it was the ’90s. The director said, ‘I want you to come back. I want you to sing a different song. And, I want you to wear different shoes. And, please bring a picture and resume,’ since I didn’t have one.”

The singular moment on the stage didn’t scare her, but rather galvanized her to kick her career in motion. “I...

The cast of Gettin' The Band Back Together have had many guests from the Broadway community throughout its run. Among those were Lori Tan Chinn, Baayork Lee, Paul Shaffer, Andre De Shields, Denise Burse, Tracie Thoms, Jose Llana, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Marsha Mason, Alex Newell, Daniel K. Isaac, the kids from School Of Rock, Eric William Morris and his cast members from King Kong.

As we approach Tony Awards weekend, we thought we'd catch up with Broadway veteran Baayork Lee, who last week proudly brought her National Asian Artists Project Naap Chorus to the Lillian Booth Actors Home of The Actors Fund, in Engelwood, NJ, on Thursday, May 31. The revered Fund's Home takes care of our own in the industry, whether actor, stagehand, usher, company manager, producer, etc. The Chorus loves going there. This was their second year and, next year, they hope to go twice a year, as it's such a satisfying exchange on both sides. Among the many residents of interest are Fran Liebergall, former assistant to Marvin Hamlisch and Billy Porter's Mom, Cloerinda Ford.

What does it take to get red carpet ready for the Tony Awards Isabelle Stevenson Award winner Baayork Lee is chatting about her glamorous look for the big day with designerMalan Breton. Check it out below...

Last night all eyes were on New York City and the 71st Tony Awards, but in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma at the Kristin Chenoweth Theater at Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center the hometown girl hosted a Tony viewing party to launch her Broadway Bootcamp this week. In attendance were 45 students who will participate in a series of classes and performance led by industry professionals who flew in and are arriving for the week's activities. They include, fresh from her Isabelle Stevenson Award win, Broadway's Baayork Lee, Tony winner, Faith Prince, Tony nominees, John Tartaglia and Lara Teeter, director, Richard Jay-Alexander, music directors, Michael Orland and Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Broadway photographer, Bruce Glikas, and even Craig Burns from Telsey Casting who will be participating via satellite.

While Hamilton dominated Broadway theater in 2016, this year's Tony nominations are more evenly distributed.

The 71st annual Tony Awards nominations were unveiled on Tuesday morning live from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Announced by Jane Krakowski and Hamilton alum Christopher Jackson, the honorees were led by Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 with 12 nominations, including Best Musical and Best Leading Actor for Josh Groban's role in the War and Peace-inspired story.

Related: Kristen Bell Shares Dax Shepard's Hilarious Review of 'Hamilton' After Seeing the Musical for the First Time

Dear Evan Hansen landed nine nominations, two of which were for Best Musical and Best Leading Actor (Ben Platt of Pitch Perfect). The stage adaptation of Groundhog Day and the 9/11 musical, Come From Away, rounded out the Best Musical noms.

Bette Midler also scored a Best Leading Actress nomination for her performance in Hello, Dolly! -- her...

Engaging, well-paced, aurally pleasing, and exceedingly entertaining from start to finish, the Hollywood Bowl's A Chorus Line is an exceptional presentation of this iconic show which celebrates those hard-working, ultra-talented, under-paid men and women who willingly choose a volatile career in which they sing and dance their hearts out in the background of a musical. It is set in the far out mid-70's, hence, the show is a retro-tastic trip down memory lane as it showcases a day of auditions for eight chorus member positions in a brand new musical opening on Broadway. For this Bowl version of A Chorus Line, producers enlisted TV hostactor Mario Lopez and then filling the rest of the large 17-member cast with a diverse group of proven triple-threat stage professionals. The resulting show is, hands down, one of the most well-performed musical productions that I have seen at the Bowl. From the execution...

To any A Chorus Line aficionado, the mere mention of Baayork Lee will conjure up vivid memories of the original Connie Wong - the youthful-looking, 4'10' Asian-American, perky dynamo who repeatedly evaded revealing her biological age to Zach, the interviewing choreographer. Now in 2016, Baayork will be choreographing and directing her most recent production of A Chorus Line at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

National Asian Artists Project celebrated its 5th Anniversary of 'showcasing the work of Asian-American theatre artists through performance, outreach and educational programming' just last week at Nyu Skirball Center for the Performing Arts 56 Laguardia Place with Past, Present amp Future, a one-night-only Gala Benefit evening featuring a line-up of show-stopping wall-to-wall musical numbers from Broadway shows, highlights from past Naap productions and current material, as well as what Baayork Lee hopes to stage in the future.BroadwayWorld is taking you inside the after party below...

National Asian Artists Project celebrated its 5th Anniversary of 'showcasing the work of Asian-American theatre artists through performance, outreach and educational programming' on October 5th at 8pm at Nyu Skirball Center for the Performing Arts 56 Laguardia Place with Past, Present amp Future, a one-night-only Gala Benefit evening featuring a line-up of show-stopping wall-to-wall musical numbers from Broadway shows, highlights from past Naap productions and current material, as well as what Baayork Lee hopes to stage in the future. BroadwayWorld has photos from the after-party atHop Kee Restuarant below...

National Asian Artists Project Baayork Lee, Executive Artistic Director, will celebrate its 5th Anniversary of 'showcasing the work of Asian-American theatre artists through performance, outreach and educational programming' on Monday, October 5th at 8pm at Nyu Skirball Center for the Performing Arts 566 Laguardia Place with Past, Present amp Future, a one-night- only Gala Benefit evening featuring a line-up of show-stopping wall-to-wall musical numbers from Broadway shows, highlights from past Naap productions and current material, as well as what Ms. Lee hopes to stage in the future.

Dancers Over 40 celebrates diversity in dance with Can't Stop the Music Can't Stop the Dance Diversity All Around Us - featuring DO40 Advisory Board member Jerry Mitchell's new musical comedy, Gotta Dance - the incredible true story of ten determined dreamers who have three things in common they love to dance, they have something to prove and they are all over 60. They battle pain, prejudice, self-doubt and each other for a chance to bust a move at center court in front of 20,000 screaming fans at a national basketball team's half time show. That panel will be moderated by BroadwayWorld's Richie Ridge. Also featured, a celebration of African-American, Hispanic and Asian artists including DO40 member Gus Solomon jr's dance company Paradigm, and members of his company, Carmen de Lavallade, Sarita Allen, Hope Clarke and Karen Brown Dance Theater of Harlem, Complexions, Ailey, Dunham Companies, as well as Dr. Mel A.

The new documentary Marvin Hamlisch What He Did For Love is the American Masters series' Season 27 finale, premiering nationally Friday, December 27, 2013, 9-1030 p.m. on PBS check local listings and available on DVD January 14, 2014 via PBS Distribution. The film had its New York City premiere last night, and attendees included Quincy Jones, David Zippel, Annaleigh Ashford, Baayork Lee amp more. BroadwayWorld was there for the special night and you can check out photos below...

Luminaries will be attending the premiere of the PBS Marvin Hamlisch documentary at Paley Center in New York. The "American Masters" documentary "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love" premieres Dec. 27 on PBS. Watch an exclusive trailer featuring musician-composer Hamlisch, Barbra Streisand, and others. For more, go to WSJ.com/Speakeasy (Photo/Video: PBS) Tonight, Quincy Jones, Melissa Manchester, Tonya Pinkins, Rupert Holmes, David Zippel, Annaleigh Ashford, Klea Blackhurst, Baayork Lee and more will attend the VIP New York premiere of Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love First Film Biography of Composer-Conductor Produced by Dramatic Forces and Thirteen's American Masters Series at The Paley Center for Media, 25 West 52nd St. (between 5th & 6th Ave.) The new...

As Thanksgiving dinner looms, allow me to take you back into the Broadway vault with the legend of “Turkey Lurkey Time,” an unassuming dance number from a late ’60s musical that has reached iconic status in the musical theater world. Quite frankly, I can’t think of another song in the Broadway lexicon that co-exists with “Turkey Lurkey” in that unique space between wondrous and Wtf.

The song is from a 1968 show called Promises, Promises – a musical adaptation of the 1960 classic The Apartment – which featured music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, and a book by Neil Simon. The...

Fresh from her choreographing stint at the first London revival of Marvin Hamlisch's 'A Chorus Line,' Baayork Lee, 'A Chorus Line' veteran herself, and a co-founder of the National Asian Artists Project, a non-profit organization that promotes Asian performing artists, presents a fully-staged, fully-costumed adaptation of Jerry Herman's hit Broadway musical 'Hello, Dolly,' featuring an all-Asian cast led by Rosetta Lenoire Award-winning actress Christine Toy Johnson as Dolly Gallagher Levi, a widowed matchmaker a role originated by Carol Channing in the 1964 Broadway production.

Open Auditions For A Chorus Line To Commence On 1 October At The London Palladium

Open auditions for the first London revival of the legendary Broadway production of A Chorus Line will commence on Monday 1 October at 10am – 6pm at the London Palladium (main entrance on Argyll Street) with registration from 9am – 12noon.

The producers are looking for superb male and female dancers/singers aged 18 to 35 to appear in the revival of this multi-award winning musical directed and staged by the original creative team Bob Avian and Baayork Lee.

The production rehearses from 2 January 2013 with first preview on 2 February and press night on 19 February. Equity contract.

Michael Bennett’s production of A Chorus Line won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama when it opened on Broadway in 1975 and went on to become the then longest running musical on Broadway achieving an astonishing 6137 performances. It features some of musical...

The importance of musical theatre education in schools was highlighted today at the kick-off for “Musicals in Our Schools” at noon in Duffy Square. Sponsored by NBC’s “Smash” and administrated by New York’s iTheatrics and Atlanta’s Theater of the Stars’ nonprofit Junior Theater Project, the event boasts more than 100 student musical theatre troupes scheduling free public performances nationwide. These performances will take place from March 19 to March 26 to honor both Stephen Sondheim’s and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s birthdays on March 22. Producer Neil Meron (“Smash”), actor Sebastian Thomas (“Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), Music Theater International Chairman and CEO Freddie Gershon, the 2012 recipient of Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, and choreographer and performer Baayork Lee (“The Kind and I”) attended the event.The Sacred Heart Early Childhood School’s pre-k through kindergarten grade students performed “Tomorrow” from “Annie.” Students from Ps 124 sang “Getting to Know You...

NBCs Smash actors Christian Borle, Brian dArcy James and Jaime Cepero Smash executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron A Chorus Lines Baayork Lee, Bonnie and Clydes Jeff Calhoun and Annie creators Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin were some of the celebrities who traveled to Atlanta to applaud the 3,000 students and teachers representing 65 schools in 19 states staging musical theater productions in their communities at the 2012 Junior Theater Festival, January 13 - 15, 2012 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta. Presented by New Yorks iTheatrics and Atlantas Theater of the Stars and sponsored by leading theatrical licensor Music Theatre International Mti, Disney Musicals and NBC, the Junior Theater Festival is the worlds largest musical theater festival dedicated to groups working with elementary, middle and high school students.

NBCs Smash actors Christian Borle, Brian dArcy James and Jaime Cepero Smash executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron A Chorus Lines Baayork Lee, Bonnie and Clydes Jeff Calhoun and Annie creators Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin were some of the celebrities who traveled to Atlanta to applaud the 3,000 students and teachers representing 65 schools in 19 states staging musical theater productions in their communities at the 2012 Junior Theater Festival, January 13 - 15, 2012 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta. Presented by New Yorks iTheatrics and Atlantas Theater of the Stars and sponsored by leading theatrical licensor Music Theatre International Mti, Disney Musicals and NBC, the Junior Theater Festival is the worlds largest musical theater festival dedicated to groups working with elementary, middle and high school students.

Edward Miskie doesn't believe in rejection. He thinks everything is part of the process and will lead to something beneficial—if not an acting job, maybe a contact, a recommendation, a bit of advice—and he's patient. This conviction was confirmed when his first appearance at a combined audition set off a chain of events that resulted, almost a year later, in his landing a role in the musical "Rooms: A Rock Romance" at the Spirit of Broadway Theater in Norwich, Conn.In March 2009, the Pennsylvania native registered for New York's annual StrawHat auditions after seeing a notice in Back Stage. At StrawHat, performers each get about 90 seconds in front of 20 or more representatives from an array of regional theaters. Miskie didn't get any parts that day, and he let himself consider his disappointment briefly, then "chalked the whole thing up to experience," he says.About nine months later, he...

The Center for the Asian Arts and Media at Columbia College in Chicago has announced that Baayork Lee will direct and choreograph their new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song next August. The production, which will begin as a concert in Washington D.C. in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in collaboration with the U.S.-Asia Institute in May of 2010, will run for one month in Chicago. The show will ultimately make a transfer to Shanghai in the late fall of 2010.

The production features top Asian American talents from Broadway and Hollywood, led by Tony-Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), who adapted the musical book for the recent Broadway revival, and veteran Broadway director/choreographer Baayork Lee (A Chorus Line). 

Casting has yet to be announced.

Lee made her big stage debut in 1973 when she appeared in Bennett's Seesaw and was featured opposite Tommy Tune.

For the diminutive Baayork Lee and Yuka Takara, performing in A Chorus Line, was more than just another feather-in-the-cap for a working singer-actor-dancer who gets to star in a Broadway show. That's the summit for a performer--to be on Broadway, not only as a working actor making a decent living, but in a show that clearly demonstrates that all those years of hard work, sweat, and toil has a payoff with rewards beyond the cheers of the nightly audiences. Being in A Chorus Line--a show that is not only a conceptual benchmark for Broadway musicals but the fourth longest running show of all time--is any singer/dancer/actor's dream job. But for a few performers--who were there when the late choreographer/writer/directorMichael Bennett used the audio-recorded interviews with a batch of dancers that formed the basis of the show which became A Chorus Line--it...