Question: What's the key to giving a great performance in a musical?

Answer: The key to any great performance is a great rehearsal period, and pray you have a great director. Do your homework, learn who it is your are playing. Never let the singing interrupt the scene, it is just a continuation of the scene. A natural flow.

Question: How and when did you learn to sing and dance?

Answer: Never did have voice lessons, just sang along with the radio. If you have a great, good, very good, voice lessons help if not, good luck I was what we call a gang singer. I sounded fine with the group. Sang on pitch and added volume to the group. I started dancing when I was 12 years old, thanks to Mom. Started with tap and went on to ballet. I had a lot of energy and she put it to better use.

Started performing while attending the High School of Performing Arts in NYC. It was part of our training. We performed at other schools and at the YWCA in Manahattan. Never got nervous at auditions, I was very confident of my ability as a dancer. Really only had one audition, for the Broadway show "Lil Abner". Was one of the lucky ones to be asked if I wanted the job from then on.

Question: What's the key to being good on camera?

Answer: Being on camera is different than stage. Onstage you need to get past the footlights, bigger gestures if you will. you don't need that on camera. The camera picks up everything. Work with the director; ask if you are keeping it real. A good director will tell you if you are doing too much or not enough. If you are able, ask if you can see the dailies, you can judge then, especially if you have a director who does not communicate well with you.

Question: How do you decide which role to take?

Answer: Not really ever having been an actor, West Side Story being the only challenge I had, not sure I can answer that from a lot of experience. I would take a role that you have an affinity with. One you feel you understand why that character behaves that way. How you can make that person come alive.

Question: How did you get started as a performer and how did you handle audition anxiety?

Answer: I would say upon taking the path to performing, be prepared for rejection. there will be many who want the same thing. In a business where the rewards are great, the competition will be great. Prepare for rejection but never be dejected. the one business where you cannot set a timetable, you have to give and go all the way.

Question:   I finally saw the Walker Texas Ranger El Coyote episode (personally I am sorry you didn't do more acting, you do dominate the camera with your talent and your presence).  Anyway, I am just wondering what was it like to direct yourself? 

Answer:  The scene I was  in was written by me and a writer.  We wrote it  right before we shot,  so i did not give myself any problems, I would have fired me if I did!!!

Question: Who were your dance partners during the Dance at the Gym?

Answer: I danced with Caroke D"Andrea first; then a girl whose first name was Leona, can't remember her secnod name. And another girl was Pat Treble. who danced in a lot of films at that time.

Question: Was that real spit that hit your neck during the playground fight scene?

Answer: It was all his own spit and he did spit a full wad, but not at me. Nothing was really thrown at me in the next cut.

Question: In the same scene, how did you master that high dive onto Jaime Rogers?

Answer: We did the whole section, I think, about 10 times. Jerry (Robbins) was not happy at first with the dive. He wanted me not to dive so high, which still prefer the look of on screen, but he was the boss and I dove much lower. We rehearsed me diving over a chair on him but then he changed his mind when filming.

Answer: Yes I was a pretty good ball player. Just wasn't big enough for AAA baseball. Was a pretty hot SS. I was always a Yankee fan. I am still a devout fan of my beloved Yankees.

Question: Apart from David was there anyone else you were particularly close too from the cast Jet or shark?

Answer: Jay Norman was a very close buddy. I know he was a Shark......but a great guy and excellent dancer.

Question: How did you like performing WSS in London?

Answer: The London audiences were wonderful. We got many more cutain calls then we ever did in New York. Openning night there were 18 curtain calls. She show was a true smash hit There were always crowds at the stage door after the show. Poeple in the streets knew everyone in the show. I always got a "hello" when walking on the street. I did like living in London. So much so, that when asked to go back with "Birdie" I jumped at the chance. I made many great friends in London.

Question: You staged West Side Story in Japan. What was that experience like?:

Answer: Well, I loved Japan. Tokyo is an action kind of city. We got the show ready in 3 weeks. We started the rehearsals in New York. Then about 3 days in Japan. The audience loved the show. The movie, as you know, was a smash in Japan. The audience had the use of headsets to translate into Japanese, but 90% of them did not want the use of the headsets. There were lots of fans at the backstage door after all the performances while I was there. We received tons of gifts from fans. Especially we who were in the movie. I had cramps from signing autographs. Tucker Smith (Ice in movie, who was playing Riff in Japan) told me that they grew as the show went on. Jerry came for opening night and thought the company was outstanding.

Question: Just wondering in the opening sequence to Matlock the Witness, was it Nancy Stafford (who played Michelle Thomas) or was it guest star, Caitlin Clarke, who was the woman that changed from her lawyer clothes into the black leather skirt and a red top?

Answer: It was Caitlin Clarke, in one of my favorite episodes. It seemed like such a departure for that show, and Caitlin is a really fine actress.

Question: What was the audience reaction to West Side Story when it opened on
Broadway? Was it an instant hit or did it take time to sink in?

Answer: The show did so well with all the out of town previews that by the time we opened on Broadway, the show was already a legend. And the opening night was fantastic. All of us in the show recognized we were in something quite revolutionary.

Question:  How old were you when you are started dancing and what was the first professional show that you saw?

Answer:  I was thirteen when I started dancing and I remember seeing Pajamna Game.  When I entered the theatre, I was lifted to another dimension.

Question: Who were your first dance inspirations?

Answer: Well, before studying Ballet....when just starting tap class, Gene Kelly was my favorite, but I also liked Fred Astaire. My favorite ballets dancers were Igor Youskevitch and Yuri Soloviev. They were the Ballet Gods to me.

Question: Over the past year, on the WSS messageboards, there have been a few debates over who says calls Snowboy on his goofy “It hoits, it hoits” behavior during Dance at the Gym, Riff or Officer Krupke.

Answer: I think if was Riff. And that line, “It hoits, it hoits”  was a line I came up with during the original Broadway rehearsals.  .  It was an ad-lib that I did and then it was written into the script.  It is a very popular line and is assigned to different characters in different companies.

Question:  On the same messageboards, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the character of Ice and why he did not participate in Gee, Officer Krupke or whether or not he could have prevented the taunting of Anita by the Jets in Doc’s Candy Store.

Answer:  He is Ice.  He was supposed to be too cool for that sarcasm in Gee, Officer Krupke

As far as the taunting, I not sure he could have had control of the Jets when she shows up....everyone way too angry with what has gone on.  Who knows.....he might have gone with the flow and maybe not.  But there was a reason they got him out of there.  To avoid that.  So there would be no question and to keep his character on course.  And also, at the end, it is Action, the hothead, who  is the one who offers to help Maria.....so for dramatic reasons it works better, because the expectation is that it would be Ice.

Question:  You were one of four Dance Assistants for the movie West Side Story.  How were you selected and did you each specialize in specific tasks, scenes, rehearsals, etc.

Answer: The three of us, Tommy Abbott, Howard Jeffrey and myself,  were selected for having worked with Jerry before. Jerry remembered Maggie Banks from the American Ballet Theatre and knew she had experience working on films, such as Can Can and State Fair. We did not work on specific sections until Jerry left the film. I did most of the mounting of the Dancehall scene then. We knew dancers and brought them in and also held auditions and took the best there was. I had to re-stage the dance sequences with Riff to fit Russ's strengths, tumbling and such. Gina Trikonis could do anything!  She was great!  I also had myself dance with Carole D’Andrea.  We did that section together on Broadway originally, so I wanted to do that again. That sequence was supposed to be with Tucker (Ice), but he didn't mind. I also needed to re-stage for camera angles for Mr. Wise. And I did work a lot with Natalie Wood, which was really a pleasure. She was great to work with. She worked very hard to get it the way Jerry would have wanted.

Question:From Jersey John ( webmaster of www.WSSOnstage.com ) Can you tell me if you ever choreographed West Side Story without using Jerome Robbins’ choreography?  I came across a program from a New Jersey stock production in 1967 starring Richard Chamberlain, Hamp Dickens and Bryan Da Silva, and I noticed that the choreography credit did not state “Original choreography re-mounted by Tony Mordente.”  Unless this is a program error, or a mistake or oversight on my part, it would be interesting to know how your own work differed from the original.  Thanks in advance.  Jersey John

Question:  From Mike:  Did Tucker Smith, who portrayed Ice in the movie, West Side Story, ever work with you on the series, Private Benjamin?

Answer:  Yes he did, as an extra, and on others series that I directed too, including The A-Team.  I liked Tucker a lot as a person and talented and requested him often.  As a TV director, I also worked with Arch Johson, who played Lt. Shrank with me on Broadway, William Bramley who portrayed Officer Krupke both on Broadway and on screen.