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SUMMER 2016
PATERSON, from p.22
GayCityNews.nyc | August 18 - 31, 2016
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he had with Michael Bennett and Susan Stroman. She is one of the high priestesses of Broadway, and she had done a workshop of ‘Kiss’ at Purchase just before Broadway and he called me and said, ‘She wasn’t really able to do it,’ and I thought, ‘Wow,’ and then I found out he had said the same thing about Michael Bennett, so I felt I was in good company [laughs]. That was pretty much it. I didn’t have a hard time, although I tended to work a little differently. He was a little shocked that I worked as fast as I did. In LA, you work very fast as opposed to Broadway where you have a week to put a number together. We have an afternoon or a day and it’s like working at a different pace anyway, but I’m grateful to have that opportunity.” Paterson has now conquered the operatic world, as well. “It really is another set of challenges, but when you deal with amazing people like Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, this is the new world of opera. Prior to them coming onto the scene, people stood in place and didn’t move and sing. But having this kind of talent at your disposal, these people can run around and sing at the top of their lungs, and it’s just mind-boggling coming from the world I come from where any time anybody moves it’s prerecorded and lip-synched. But in opera, Anna can stand on her head just about and still hit every single note. She’s mind-boggling, a tremendous talent. I knew very little about opera before I met her, but hearing her voice there was something about her that hooked into the rock-pop world, somehow, and was also beautifully operatic. That’s what connected me with her and opera. This was a voice I could really love. “She touched me when she said, growing up, all she would listen to was MTV, my music, although she would never sing that music. It’s crazy when you think what inspires some people. She loves to move onstage and that’s very exciting.” Paterson has had history as well with Diana Ross: “I did several things with Diana, the video ‘Pieces of Ice,’ was really fun because I got to partner her. She was someone I had had a crush since I was a kid — the Supremes! Ohmigod, she was the most beautiful and sexy
Vince Paterson at work with Michael Jackson on the video “Smooth Criminal.”
woman on the earth for years. I was supposed to do her concert in Central Park but I got sick at the last minute and a friend filled in for me. “I was going to direct a tour for her, and I had worked out the whole thing together while she was out of town. All her people around were very excited because this would have resuscitated her career and shown her in a new way and positioned herself in the stratosphere in real competition with some of the younger female stars. But she changed her mind at the last minute and decided she was just going to go back and do her old show, which was a shame because it would have been nice to see her stretch and do something new. “You are right, David, it’s a comfort zone thing, and that’s why, when you work with certain people at an early stage in their career like Madonna or Michael Jackson or Anna or Rolando, or even a little later on, like Bjork, these are people who are brave and want a challenge to show something that’s never been done before. For me, that’s the most inspirational collaborator, because God knows, by my work you can tell I don’t like to do things that have been seen before, so I was really lucky that way.” Major inspirations for Paterson include modern choreographers like William Forsythe and — always — the movie “Cabaret” because, although he was not as steeped in Bob Fosse as a New York kid would have been, he responds to the sheer beauty of his dance presentation.
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PATERSON, continued on p.28
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