Video: Meet the Tony-Nominated Choreographers of 2023

How excited to you

A big Tony nomination, a big day for your show. This is a wonderful day for the show

We got nine nominations, and I am very honored to be here

It never gets old. I am so, so happy to be here. You got a Tony pin

Another one. I've got my Tony pin. I know. I'm so excited

And this is my 15th nomination. Congratulations. Thank you very much. That's a great number for New York

New York. What's made this show so special for you with working on this

Well, working with John Canders, everything and the collaboration with him. You know, the music just pours out of his fingers

And also watching him collaborate with Lynn Maddenwell, you know, because they started out as friends

And now they're collaborating on this. It's just it fills my heart when I see them working together

And I think working on a show called New York, New York, about the resilience of the city

about the people who inhabit it. and what it takes to live in New York

You know, we have a song that John Kander wrote called Music, Money, Love

and it's about getting that major chord, which is music, money, and love

and watching our characters try to achieve that because all New Yorkers try to achieve that Audiences love your show They too What it must be like for you to sit in the St James or stand in the back and watch how much joy your show is bringing to audience members

Well, I have to say to be in the back of the house and hear the audience roar, there's nothing like it

I think for anyone who creates for the theater, in the end, you want that recognition from the audience

And being at the St. James every night, you get it. So it fills your heart

It really does. Take me back to the young, young, young, young Susan. I know you started out as a dancer

What was the first show like in school or something that you did? And what would the older Susan tell the younger Susan

Oh, my gosh. Well, oh, well, you know, I think one of the very first shows I danced in as a young girl at Longwood Gardens was Dream Lorry in Oklahoma

And so who would have thought at that time, young Susan, I would have said, someday you're going to do Oklahoma with Trevor

and Hugh Jackman and that's amazing you know these things that you do when you're a child

and then you realize when when you grow up they happen in and a big just big experience and

you know so all of it um I feel very lucky I feel very fortunate because I do love what I do I love it so much It is Tony Day You got two Tony Pins It a very exciting day

Okay, it's got to be so surreal for you. You dream about things. You dream. Maybe I'll come to Broadway

Maybe I can bring a show to Broadway. You brought two incredible shows to Broadway this season. And you're a double Tony nominee

It is a total dream come true. It is blowing my mind. I don't even have words for it. But I am very very

very grateful. They're so different, and Juliet and K-pop. But, I mean, it must be so great for you

to have worked with all these creative artists and to bring such joy to the theater

Yeah, I mean, that's my favorite thing about working in the theater is the collaboration with so many brilliant people

and just getting to, like, riff off everyone, and then getting to bring in our last collaborator

the audience, and feeling that energy and the way they respond to the dance

especially in these two shows where dance is such a massive part of the storytelling and like the way the audience responds to that movement and the way they take it home and like start doing it themselves like it just makes me feel so so much joy were you doing double duty at the same time I sure was like running from K circle the square to end Juliet at Pissontime absolutely they opened in the same week so our techs overlap it was crazy but I have amazing associates and I so grateful for them and my dance captains you know it takes a village to make a show and it it like when you assemble a great team it just you don have to worry you know because

you know people got your back. What would older Jen say to Younger Jen now

Oh, gosh, I mean, older Jen would say to Younger Jen, do not give up. It's going to work out

Audiences have fallen in love with your show. It feels like it. They smile. They smile

onto Schubert Alley what that means to you. Oh, it's the best. You walk into the theater

and you just hear all that laughter and you hear the music and it's just

the audience is having a fantastic time. And for me, it's super special because

I made my Broadway debut there and crazy for you as a dancer. And then Spamlaught was

my first job as a choreographer and that was at the Schubert and now it's this

And it's just like, it feels fantastic. And you got to a pier again at the Schubert

Theater. And I was in it. Yes, I was in it for a week. Which was totally surreal

and amazing. And it was fun to be with the It really was so fun to be backstage with them

and get a different perspective. And also, it was something I shouldn't expect in my lifetime

I was always like, Papa's done. I'm not doing that again. And there I was. And there you are. Wait, don't bother me

I need to remember my rhymes