Two Marshalls win Governor's Awards for the Arts
Thursday, August 23, 2007 -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The 2007 Governor's Awards for the Arts, just announced, are topped by Distinguished Arts Awards to a theatrical brother and sister duo who are Squirrel Hill natives -- Rob and Kathleen Marshall.

Director of "Memoirs of a Geisha" and the Oscar-winning "Chicago" (for which he won the Director's Guild Award), Rob (with his partner, John DeLuca) is now in pre-production for a film adaptation of the musical "Nine." He conceived, directed, executive-produced and choreographed "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" (now up for eight Emmys), and his "Annie" for ABC/Disney won a Peabody Award.

On Broadway, Rob was six times a Tony nominee for directing and/or choreographing such as "Cabaret," "Little Me," "Kiss of the Spider Women," "She Loves Me," "Victor/Victoria," "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and "Company." And I could go on.

The Tony-winning choreographer of Broadway's "Wonderful Town" and "The Pajama Game," both of which she also directed, Kathleen is director/choreographer of the new revival of "Grease" and served also as a principal judge on NBC-TV's "Grease: You're the One That I Want." For ABC/Disney, she directed and choreographed "Once Upon a Mattress" and choreographed "The Music Man."

She started her Broadway career as Rob's assistant on his early shows, then moved on to choreograph "Follies," "Little Shop of Horrors," "Kiss Me, Kate," "Ring Round the Moon," "1776" and "Swinging on a Star." She was artistic director for the Encores! Series of musical revivals, and off-Broadway she directed and/or choreographed "Two Gentlemen of Verona," the premiere of Stephen Sondheim's "Saturday Night," "Violet" and more.

How big a deal is this? Well, the Distinguished Arts Award recognizes Pennsylvania artists of international fame. Previous winners include Jimmy Stewart, Andrew Wyeth, Marian Anderson, Marilyn Horne, James Michener, John Updike, Chaim Potok, M. Night Shyamalan and Judith Jamison!