Remembering Director & Choreographer Bob Avian

Bob Avian, the dancer who played an integral role in Broadway musicals as a choreographer, dancer and producer, has died at the age of 83. His work played an important part in such Broadway musicals as A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls, Company, Follies and Miss Saigon. 

Born in New York City and a graduate of Boston University College of Fine Arts, Avian’s life also saw him study at  Boston Ballet School. He began his professional career as a dancer in more than a dozen Broadway musicals. Amongst them include the original ensembles of West Side Story (playing Indio), Funny Girl (opposite Barbra Streisand) and Henry, Sweet Henry. 

1968 was an important year in Avian’s career when he began collaborating with choreographer Michael Bennett. They launched a creative partnership that would go on to last for 20 years. It was this collaboration that helped deliver Bob Avian’s Tony Award for his work as co-choreographer on A Chorus Line. Avian and Bennett went on to repeat history when two years later, their work on Ballroom gave them another Tony. Ballroom was a musical that Bob Avian also produced. 

In 1981, Avian led production with a musical which would become one of the decade’s most acclaimed, popular and influential shows in Broadway: Dreamgirls. 

Not only did Bob Avian do some great work on Broadway, but also in London’s West End. He worked on major productions of Follies, The Witches of Eastwick and Sunset Boulevard. 

Tributes from the theatre community have been pouring in through social media since the news broke including Cameron Mackintosh who paid tribute to Bob Avian by saying: “Every little step he took taught me more about the art of staging a modern musical than virtually anyone else I’ve met.”

Bob Avian will be sadly missed by the entire theatre community. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.