Page "Joseph Papp" Paragraph 7

A Chorus Line originated with a series of taped interviews of dancers ' reminiscences, down at the Public, overseen by director / choreographer Michael Bennett.

Papp had given Bennett the kind of entrepreneurial support for which he was known, trusting Bennett with the time and space to flesh out his dream.

Previously, Papp had not kept his producer's hands on the rights to Hair and did not gain from its Broadway transfer.

Not so with this one.

After this ground-breaking musical ( which theatricalized its performers ' true-life stories ) transferred to a highly lucrative Broadway run, the show's earnings became a continuous financial support for Papp's work.

The show received 12 Tony Award nominations and won nine of them, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

It ran for 6, 137 performances, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history up to that time.

Its Tony Award for the Best Musical of the Year 1975 went to Papp, its producer.

Its workshop system for developing musicals, which Bennett and Papp had pioneered, revolutionized the way Broadway musicals were created thereafter, and many of the precedents for workshops ' aesthetics and contract agreements were set by Papp, Bennett and " A Chorus Line.