Alum makes Hollywood directorial debut

Director Susan Stroman at work on the set of ‘The Producers.’ Photo by Andrew Schwartz, courtesy of Universal Studios

1:04 p.m., Dec. 28, 2005--Even before it opened Dec. 16, The Producers, directed by Susan Stroman ‘76AS, was in the running for some of filmdom’s top awards.

The new film version of the popular Broadway musical received four Golden Globe nominations, including best picture for a musical or comedy, best actor in a musical or comedy for Nathan Lane, best supporting actor for Will Ferrell and best new song for “There’s Nothing Like a Show on Broadway.”

The movie wasn’t the first medium through which Stroman has guided Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom’s journey from “Springtime for Hitler” to ruin. She directed the Broadway musical, for which she won Tonys as best director and best choreographer. The show won 12 Tonys in all.

Stroman has never directed a motion picture before, and when she visited UD to receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree on Oct. 29, she told a group of Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP) students that directing a film before the cameras begin to roll is much the same as directing on Broadway.

“Collaborating with departments like costumes, set design, makeup and lighting is similar to mounting a stage play, but once the camera begins to roll, well, that’s something very different. The camera almost acted like a dancer to me, so, once I began treating it like a dance partner, it took on a more natural form,” she said.

When Nicole Kidman, who was to play the part of Ulla, the Swedish secretary, had to drop out and Uma Thurman was brought in, Stroman said she was concerned that Thurman had never appeared in a musical, but Stroman soon discovered the 6-foot blonde beauty was fearless.

“It’s wonderful to work with actors who aren’t afraid to take chances. Uma had no fear of singing or of being lifted off a desk and slid across a room even though she had never sung or danced before,” Stroman said.

One of the best things about directing the movie The Producers, Stroman said, was that she was able to keep the production in New York City, creating hundreds of jobs. “I was able to hire 300 New York dancers and a 75-person crew,” she said.

Stroman said Mel Brooks, who produced the movie, gave her free reign to direct the movie how and where she chose. That freedom, she said, has been the hallmark of her entire career. “I’ve been lucky. No one’s tried to tell me what I can and can not do,” she said.

While she said she is interested in directing another movie, Stroman told PTTP students that she missed the intimacy of live theater when an ensemble works together every night to put on a performance. “Film is a more technical medium,” she said. “Once the shooting is over, everyone is gone, but in the theatre, you invest in relationships, in the team. It’s so heartfelt.”

Even so, she told students that she has been approached to possibly direct a movie version of Contact, the Broadway musical she coauthored, choreographed and directed.

Article by Barbara Garrison

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