“The one thing I really had done well in my journey with dancing and choreography was that I studied with everyone who was a teacher in the city so I never got trapped in a style,” Cilento said.Īfter “Dancin’,” Cilento danced in five more shows before transitioning into becoming a full-time choreographer and director. Cilento thinks the reason Fosse offered him so many opportunities in the genre-hopping show was his versatility.

In an ensemble show, dancers rarely get individual recognition, but because Fosse put Cilento in almost every number of the show, he got a Tony nomination, alongside Reinking.

Then on opening night of ‘The Act,’ I’m doing a dance number in the center of the stage and I’m in a demi-plié looking out in the audience and who do I see but Bob Fosse right in my face there in front.”Īt the end of the night, Fosse asked Cilento to be in “Dancin.’” For the next six months, Cilento rehearsed with Fosse by day and performed with Minnelli by night until he left “The Act” to open in “Dancin’”. I already have a cast,’” Cilento recalled. Then he said, ‘I don’t know what I’ll do with you. He asked Cilento to sing a song in three different keys, and he threw a bunch of other ideas at Cilento to test his skills. For an hour, Fosse put Cilento through his paces with Reinking. Just two years after making his debut as a Broadway dancer in 1973, Cilento landed the plum role of Mike, the multitalented dancer who sings “I Can Do That,” in the original cast of “A Chorus Line.” The role earned Cilento his first of seven Tony nominations, as well as the attention of Fosse, who - with a nudge from fellow Broadway choreography legend Graciela Daniele - invited Cilento to audition in 1977 for a new dance-based show he was developing.Īt the time, Cilento was already in rehearsals as dance captain for Liza Minnelli’s song-and-dance show “The Act,” but during a lunch break, he sneaked out to audition for Fosse.

Cilento will mark his 50th anniversary as an Broadway artist next year.

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