Peter Gennaro

Peter Gennaro was born in Metairie, Louisiana on November 23, 1919. He made his Broadway debut in the ensemble of Make Mine Manhattan (starring Sid Caesar) in 1948 (this is somewhat in dispute as some biographies claim he debuted in 1950's Arms and the Girl), and Guys and Dolls (1950). He first drew notice from theatergoers as a member of the trio that danced the Bob Fosse number "Steam Heat" in The Pajama Game (1954), and continued to hold their attention with the "Mu Cha Cha" number with Judy Holliday in Bells Are Ringing (1956), which ran for 924 performances. A year later, he broke out of the chorus line and into choreography when he collaborated with Jerome Robbins on West Side Story, notably choreographing (uncredited) a majority of the "America" and "Mambo" dance sequences. In addition to his theatrical chores, Gennaro worked steadily in television, appearing in and/or choreographing such shows as Your Hit Parade, The Polly Bergen Show, Judy Garland's CBS variety program, and the Kraft Music Hall. With his dance troupe he was a guest on Ed Sullivan's long-running CBS Sunday night variety show dozens of times, and he was a member of the regular repertory company on the short-lived CBS 1964-65 variety show The Entertainers, one of the stars having been Jon Davidson. Gennaro also served for many years as choreographer for Radio City Music Hall, staging routines for the Rockettes. He died at age 80 on Sept. 28, 2000 in New York City. He was posthumously inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2002