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![Michael Bennett on the ascent, 1966 [Photo by Jack Mitchell]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMM-Portraits-1960s.webp&w=828&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
![Michael Bennett DiFiglia, born for this, circa 1945 [From the personal collection of Frank DiFilia]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMM-Portraits-1940s.webp&w=640&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
![Before Broadway: Mickey DiFiglia in the '50s [From the personal collection of Frank DiFilia]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMM-Portraits-1950s.webp&w=640&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
![Michael Bennett on the ascent, 1966 [Photo by Jack Mitchell]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMM-Portraits-1960s.webp&w=640&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
![Michael Bennett in full flight, June 1975 [Photo by Martha Swope, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMM-Portraits-1970s.webp&w=640&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
![Michael Bennett in his office at 890 Broadway, his creative hub, September 1983 [Photo by Martha Swope, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMirror-Portraits_1980s.webp&w=640&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
Street-smart. Uncanny instincts. Impossible to ignore. A hard-hoofin' chorus kid from Buffalo with a quicksilver mind and incandescent talent who held a mirror up to the Great White Way and reflected it back entirely new. Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning director-choreographer.
![Michael Bennett DiFiglia, born for this, circa 1945 [From the personal collection of Frank DiFilia]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMM-Portraits-1940s.webp&w=1920&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
![Before Broadway: Mickey DiFiglia in the '50s [From the personal collection of Frank DiFilia]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMM-Portraits-1950s.webp&w=1920&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
![Michael Bennett on the ascent, 1966 [Photo by Jack Mitchell]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMM-Portraits-1960s.webp&w=1920&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
![Michael Bennett in full flight, June 1975 [Photo by Martha Swope, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMM-Portraits-1970s.webp&w=1920&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
![Michael Bennett in his office at 890 Broadway, his creative hub, September 1983 [Photo by Martha Swope, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library]](/_next/image?url=%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fabout%2Fframes%2FMirror-Portraits_1980s.webp&w=1920&q=75&dpl=dpl_B8UZ5bQ3wCbZdYZSDqSEuZa5qRQy)
Michael Bennett died of AIDS-related complications on July 2, 1987, at the age of 44. In the years before his death, he had scored another landmark hit with "Dreamgirls" in 1981, celebrated "A Chorus Line" surpassing "Grease" as the longest-running show in Broadway history in September 1983, and thrown himself into developing bold new work at 890 Broadway. The shows taking shape at 890 never made it to the stage. The work, the dancers he championed, the radical new ways he brought stories to life on stage—all of it reverberates still.
Follow along as we celebrate one of the most singular talents Broadway has ever known through the reflections of those whose creativity he shaped.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter“The ability to get the best out of people, to inspire people, to work with them, and create an atmosphere that's not a snake pit. To create trust on both sides. You don't always do it but you sure as hell try. The best work comes out of a room full of trust and love.
— Michael Bennett
Told to Svetlana McLee Grody, New York City, Spring 1979
[Published in Conversations with Choreographers, Heinemann Drama, June 3, 1996]
Jerome Robbins's ambitious heir apparent. Bob Fosse's precocious professional rival. Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim's sure-footed collaborator. Our eternal influence.
Divinely gifted, charming, sensual, wry, and maniacally driven. With every production, Michael Bennett pushed further, demanded more, and delivered something entirely fresh. Show by show, he gave us new things to see.
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