Will Rogers’ Follies Reunion Video, OUR FAVORITE SON

AMERICAN DANCE MACHINE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

PRESENTS

“Our Favorite Son”

FROM

A NEW FILM DIRECTED BY JOSHUA BERGASSE

CONCEIVED BY NIKKI FEIRT ATKINS

ORIGINAL CHOREOGRAPHY BY TOMMY TUNE

ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHER JEFF CALHOUN

CHOREOGRAPHY STAGED FOR THE FILM BY PATTI D’BECK

PERFORMED BY 10 ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST MEMBERS

AND 10 DANCERS FROM THE ADM21 COMPANY

WITH

CADY HUFFMAN AS ‘WILL ROGERS’

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH THE CAST FOLLOW THE DANCE NUMBER

“OUR FAVORITE SON” CAN BE STREAMED AT

www.adm21.org/will

PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT AMERICAN DANCE MACHINE FOR THE 21st CENTURY,

THE ACTORS FUND, AND THE BLACK THEATRE COALITION

American Dance Machine for the 21st Century (ADM21) is thrilled to release its latest joyous virtual video, “Our Favorite Son” from the Broadway musical The Will Rogers Follies, performed by Tony Award winner Cady Huffman in the role of Will Rogers, and 10 original Broadway cast members, along with 10 of ADM21’s featured dancers. “Our Favorite Son” is streaming at www.adm21.org/will

The virtual video of “Our Favorite Son” was directed by Tony Award-nominee and Emmy Award-winner Joshua Bergasse and conceived by Nikki Feirt Atkins, with original choreography by 10 time Tony Award winner and National Medal of Arts winner Tommy Tune (Associate Choreographer Jeff Calhoun) and staged by Patti D’Beck, Dance Captain on the original Broadway production. The video also includes exclusive commentary from the cast members and original dance captain Patti D’Beck.

ADM21’s “Our Favorite Son” was filmed and edited by Elsa Stallings, with lighting design by Ken Billington, costume coordination by Ricky Lurie, and artistic direction by Nikki Feirt Atkins, the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of ADM21. The video was produced by Douglas Denoff.

Performers in ADM21’s virtual video of “Our Favorite Son” (in alphabetical order) include original cast members Maria Calabrese Heyburn, Colleen Dunn, Sallie Mae Dunn, Eileen Grace Reynolds, Kimberly Hester, Cady Huffman, Luba Mason, Dana Moore, Angie Schworer, Allyson Tucker-Mitchell, and Leigh Zimmerman. ADM21 dancers are Jordan Betscher, Alyssa Epstein, Julia Feeley, Julia Harnett, Naomi Kakuk, Danelle Morgan, Kenna Morris, Kristyn Pope, Christine Sienicki, and Lizzy Tierney.

The film’s director Josh Bergasse said, "It was absolutely thrilling to help ADM21 capture this incredible group of dancers performing one of the most memorable and iconic numbers from The Will Rogers Follies. My greatest hope for this video is that we create new musical theater fans.”

“I am so grateful to Tommy Tune for allowing ADM21 to reconstruct and perform this iconic work,” said ADM21 Founder and Producing Artistic Director Nikki Feirt Atkins. “And thank you to Jeff Calhoun for his choreographic contribution to “Our Favorite Son”! I am particularly grateful to Patti D’Beck, who was the Dance Captain for The Will Rogers Follies, for agreeing to stage this joyous number for our video. Patti is meticulous and exacting as a stager and at the same time, she creates an incredibly loving, inclusive, and positive learning environment. It was wonderful to have a cast consisting of 10 original cast members and 10 current ADM21 dancers. I truly enjoyed working with Patti, Josh, Elsa and the entire cast to put this video together.”

Viewer donations are welcome and deeply appreciated.

As part of its commitment to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive arts ecosystem, ADM21 shares 20% of donations from its virtual video releases with The Black Theatre Coalition and The Actors Fund.

About The Will Rogers Follies

The Will Rogers Follies, a musical with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Cy Coleman, and book by Peter Stone opened on Broadway on May 1, 1991 at the Palace Theatre. Directed and choreographed by Tommy Tune, the original cast included Keith Carradine as Will Rogers, Dee Hoty as Betty Blake, Dick Latessa as Clem, and Cady Huffman as Ziegfeld’s favorite chorus girl. The show, which ran for 981 performances, told the story of the life and career of famed stage and film actor, vaudeville performer and humorist Will Rogers, set against the backdrop of the Ziegfeld Follies, for which Rogers often headlined.

About American Dance Machine for the 21st Century

ADM21 is a rebirth of The American Dance Machine, founded in 1976 by noted Broadway luminary Lee Theodore to preserve musical theater choreography at risk of becoming obsolete. Theodore created a “living archive” by engaging the original artists – from theater, film, and television – to reconstruct, stage, and present great choreographic works with the nuance, style and technique as originally intended. These stagers carry forward the artistic wisdom of past generations to a new generation of artists and audience. In 2012, Nikki Feirt Atkins revived the organization as ADM21 to ensure great works of musical theater choreography remain fresh, relevant, and vibrant. Atkins is a tour de force, fueling the organization’s activities from 2012 through the present time.

ADM21 was pleased that so many people were moved by the December 17 release of its first virtual video, “The Music and the Mirror” from A Chorus Line, performed by 27 singer/dancers and coached by Tony Award-winner Donna McKechnie. Their second video, “Cool” from West Side Story, directed by Joshua Bergasse, has been viewed over 150,000 times on social media. The film of “T’aint Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do” from Bullets Over Broadway The Musical was released July 20, 2021 in loving memory of Nick Cordero. Their most recent release “Moses Supposes” from Singin’ In the Rain was directed by Caleb Teicher.

“The Music and the Mirror” can still be viewed here adm21.org/matm

“Cool” can be viewed here adm21.org/cool

“T’aint Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do” can be viewed here: adm21.org/cheech

“Moses Supposes” can be viewed here: adm21.org/moses