Lawrence Leritz Biography

Lawrence Leritz (born September 26, 1962) is an American dancer, singer, actor, producer, director, fitness expert and choreographer.

Life and career

Born in Alton, Illinois, Leritz made his stage debut in the children's chorus of the world stage premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical State Fair at The Muny, starring Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, directed by James Hammerstein, supervised by Richard Rodgers and choreographed by Tommy Tune.

Leritz moved to New York City on scholarships to the Harkness Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and School of American Ballet, studying with Alexandra Danilova, Stanley Williams and the Bolshoi's M?ris Liepa. Leritz was invited to work with the dance choreographers George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Robert Joffrey, Ruth Page, Frederic Franklin, John Neumeier, Lee Theodore, Joe Layton and Sir Frederick Ashton. Leritz, while dancing in a company class at The New York City Ballet, was discovered by Balanchine ballerina Violette Verdy. Violette invited Lawrence to join The Hamburg Ballet. While performing in Hamburg, his dancing impressed Dance Magazine's editor-in-chief William Como, who invited Leritz back to the U.S.for photo sessions with famed dance photographer Kenn Duncan for Dance Magazine. Leritz continued his dancing career on the international stages, starring with Ruth Page's Chicago Ballet, Israel's Bat-Dor Dance Company and with the Paris Opéra on its U.S. tour to the Metropolitan Opera and DC's Kennedy Center. Leritz also appeared as guest artist and choreographer for Plácido Domingo's Los Angeles Music Center Opera and danced in the Joffrey Ballet version of Michel Fokine's "Petrushka" with Rudolf Nureyev at the New York City Center. Leritz created his own company, Dance Celebration, which represented the United States at the International Choreographic Competitions in Paris, performing his signature ballet, "Worth A Song," receiving special congratulations from President Jimmy Carter at The White House in 1979. Leritz produced The 50th Anniversary Gala of The American Guild of Musical Artists, featuring over 300 stars of ballet and opera at The New York State Theater at Lincoln Center in 1986. The Gala's hosts, New York City Opera's Beverly Sills and New York City Ballet's Peter Martins provided the show's highlight, dancing together in the restaged opening of Balanchine's "Vienna Waltzes." Leritz appeared three times on the cover of Dance Pages Magazine, including the Spring 1989 issue, in which he wrote an article which introduced and encouraged bodybuilding for dancers. Appearing on the cover with bodybuilding champion Rich Gaspari, his article helped to change the look of professional dancers. In 2006, Leritz was included in Harvard University's George Balanchine Collection of The New York City Ballet at The Harvard Theatre Collection and The Harvard College Library. Leritz appeared Off-Broadway in "Funding The Arts" at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, May 2010, acting and dancing the role of J. Edgar. Leritz's television dance appearances include the 2013 Emmy Award winning "Night Of Too Many Stars" on Comedy Central, performing as Keitel's tough guy in "Call Me Maybe" with Carly Rae Jepsen and Harvey Keitel at the historic Beacon Theatre (New York City). Lawrence was recently featured in The New York Times dance article, Your First Dance Crush, July 2013.

Leritz appeared on Broadway in the Jerome Robbins directed revival of Fiddler on the Roof with Herschel Bernardi and Maria Karnilova, Fonteyn & Nureyev on Broadway, and directed two editions of "Broadway Showstoppers" at the Hudson Theatre and The Town Hall. Leritz returned to co-star at The Muny with Broadway's Judy Kaye, John Reardon, John Schuck, Beth Leavel and his dance partner, Lorene Yarnell in Cole Porter's Can-Can, receiving excellent reviews. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted "Can-Can opened in dazzling style, reminisent of the Muny glory days, weaving a magic spell. Leritz and Yarnell are teamed in exciting style. Their dancing was fabulous."

Television acting roles include NBC's Saturday Night Live" with Nathan Lane, CBS's Capitol, ABC's All My Children, Dick Clark's "Celebrity Boxing" with Ron Palillo, CBS's Cosby, and in HBO's Sex And The City; talk shows including The Rosie O'Donnell Show with Liza Minnelli, Maury, CNN's Showbiz Tonight and Entertainment Tonight. Leritz hosted and created the best-selling DVD Total Stretch! with Lawrence Leritz".

Leritz has appeared in many feature films including The Adjustment Bureau opposite Matt Damon, Julie Taymor's Across the Universe, Dummy with Adrien Brody, Easy Money with Rodney Dangerfield, Legs with Gwen Verdon and the HBO feature Stag with Ben Gazzara, Kevin Dillon and Taylor Dayne.

Leritz is the Spectrum Records recording artist of the dance hit single "Crank It Up" produced by Cory Wade, performing on tour with The Weather Girls, Laura Branigan, Sylvester, Natalie Cole and starred at the Las Vegas Stardust Hotel during its final months.

Leritz choreographed the Motown feature film musical, Berry Gordy's "The Last Dragon", the mime duo Shields & Yarnell for Atlantic City, for MTV and various recording artists. He also choreographed the one-act ballet "Alone" for The Hamburg Ballet. For Goodtimes Entertainment, Leritz choreographed two live action children musicals, "Treehouse Trolls Birthday Day" and "The Forest Of Fun and Wonder." Leritz is also known in the fitness world as the choreographer to many bodybuilding stars, which included the NBC Sports television special "Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bodybuilding Arnold Classic" in 1989 and appears in numerous issues of Joe Weider's "Muscle & Fitness" and "Men's Fitness magazines.

During the 2003"2004 New York theatre season, Leritz was the producer and choreographer of the long running Off-Broadway show, Boobs! The Musical. The New York Times review noted "The six person cast is expertly choreographed by Lawrence Leritz." "Boobs! The Musical" was nominated for the 2004 Mac Awards for Best Musical Revue and won New Orleans' 2005 Big Easy and Ambie Awards. For television, Leritz produced three seasons of the annual event "Day of Compassion", for which Time magazine honored Leritz as their 1996 Local Hero.

Leritz directed and produced a tribute, hosted by Tyne Daly, to honor Welcome Back, Kotter's Ron Palillo's life and career at NYC's The Triad Theatre, October 3, 2012.

Awards, nominations and citations

• 2004 Mac Awards Best Musical Revue (Producer nominee)
• 2005 Big Easy Awards Best Musical (Producer nominee)
• 2006 Teall Awards Best Musical (Producer nominee)
• 2006 Teall Awards Best Choreography (nominee, based on original choreography by Lawrence Leritz)
• 1996 Time Magazine's Local Hero
• 1987 Lawrence Leritz Day Proclamation, Alton, Illinois
• 1983 Lawrence Leritz Day Proclamation, Wood River, Illinois

See also

• Treehouse Trolls Birthday Day
• Songs of Youth and Discovery
• Kenn Duncan