Theatre Register

Arthur Mitchell

Shows · Arthur Mitchell

ActorChoreographer 1934–2018 On stage 1952–1968

Arthur Mitchell (March 27, 1934 – September 19, 2018) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and founder and director of ballet companies. In 1955, he was the first African-American dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he was promoted to principal dancer the following year and danced in major roles until 1966. He then founded ballet companies in Spoleto, Washington, D.C., and Brazil. In 1969, he founded a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among other awards, Mitchell was recognized as a MacArthur Fellow, inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, and received…

On stage 3 productions, 16 years

1952 Four Saints in Three Acts Broadway Theatre · Revival · directed by Virgil Thomson 15 perf.
1954 House of Flowers Alvin Theatre · Original · directed by Peter Brook 165 perf.
1968 Noël Coward's Sweet Potato Ethel Barrymore Theatre · Original · directed by Lee Theodore 44 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once2 names

Rawn Spearman 2 productions
Louis Johnson 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking.

Also credited on1 work

Shinbone Alley

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature2 passages

  • Cast : David Atkinson (Fred Graham, Petruchio), Harrison Dowd (Harry Trevor, Baptista), Barbara Ruick (Lois Lane, Bianca), Vincent McMahon (Ralph), Kitty Carlisle (Lilli Vanessi, Katharine), Delores Martin (Hattie), Robert Reim (Stage Doorman), Bobby Short (Paul), Richard France (Bill Calhoun, Lucentio), Al Nesor (First Man), Tom Pedi (Se…ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • Direction : Production supervised by Sawyer Falk; Producer : Peter Lawrence; Choreography : Rod Alexander (“additional” choreography by Arthur Mitchell); Scenery : Eldon Elder; Costumes : Motley; Lighting : Tharon Musser; Musical Direction : Maurice Levineebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor, choreographer — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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