Choreography

Alice Cooper co-founder and Hall Of Fame inductee Dennis Dunaway answers your questions!

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livinluvin72
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Choreography

Post by livinluvin72 » Fri Dec 10, 2021 7:23 pm

Who choreographed the shows from the original days of Alice Cooper from PFY through MOL?

Who decided the setlist for the live shows?

Was it collaborative or usually just a few people?

Did who decided what the choreography would be, change over time?

Examples below:

LITD: Who said, “Ok Alice, you wear the straight jacket during Dwight Frye and Cindy you walk on as the nurse, then to the electric chair…etc.?"

Killer: “Ok Alice now you kill the baby dolls with a hatchet, then the band will take you to the gallows.”

School’s Out: "Let’s do a street fight during Gutter Cat ala West Side Story then to the gallows."

BDB: "Let’s have the band in white satin, big Broadway stage, then bring out the dancing tooth, toothbrush, toothpaste and giant drill, snake, mannequins, guillotine, act out crazy fan attacking Alice from stage left then the Richard M. Dixon beating then the Santa beating in MOL, etc."

Thanks for sharing.

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Re: Choreography

Post by Dreary » Sat Dec 11, 2021 1:44 am

Neal, Michael, Glen, Alice, and I did everything together. Every member participated whole-heartedly in our ever-flowing tsunami of ideas. Every part of every song, chords, feel, lyrics, arrangement - all of it. We also discussed how we dressed, what we would say in interviews, stage clothes, our hair length - everything we did was brainstormed, sorted through, and voted on.

If any of us brought something to the table that didn't need changing, we would all decide not to change it.

As for theatrics, we were staging fake fights in '64. We learned how to make it look convincing without anyone getting hurt. Michael would do a flip and land on his back so it was my job to kick things out of the way beforehand so that he wouldn't land on anything.

We had tons of ideas that we hoped to someday generate enough income to execute.

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Re: Choreography

Post by patrick » Thu Dec 16, 2021 10:10 am

Hi Dennis
I am currently reading (well, trying to , spanish.. ;) ) the book by Sergio Marcos ( for a billion dolars). He mentions that in the very beginning you ware considered to be the leader, pushing the band to be different, theatrical, experimental... and once the groupname came along, that leadership changed into everyone voting on everything, like you say.
Did you ever get that book in spanish or translated ? (Not that there would be anything in it that you would have forgotten , although it is extremely detailed )
you really wouldn't understand..

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Re: Choreography

Post by Dreary » Fri Dec 17, 2021 2:33 am

patrick wrote:
Thu Dec 16, 2021 10:10 am
Hi Dennis
I am currently reading (well, trying to , spanish.. ;) ) the book by Sergio Marcos ( for a billion dolars). He mentions that in the very beginning you ware considered to be the leader, pushing the band to be different, theatrical, experimental... and once the groupname came along, that leadership changed into everyone voting on everything, like you say.
Did you ever get that book in spanish or translated ? (Not that there would be anything in it that you would have forgotten , although it is extremely detailed )
Sergio booked two shows for Blue Coupe. One in Madrid and one in Barcelona. We drove from one gig to the next with Sergio. He's a good guy that's passionate about music. I have a copy of his book. I don't read Spanish but I have a Spanish friend who's father lives in Spain. His father read Sergios book and said he liked it a lot.

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Re: Choreography

Post by livinluvin72 » Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:40 am

In the movie GTSYAAC, during the School's Out instrumental break a crazed fan apparently attacks Alice from stage left. How did he get past security? The audience might think. It was great theatre since you guys were so controversial with the rumor mill going. No internet so legends develop. There was mystery.

Was the man playing the part of the crazed fan one of your roadies?

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Re: Choreography

Post by Dreary » Tue Dec 21, 2021 3:39 am

livinluvin72 wrote:
Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:40 am
In the movie GTSYAAC, during the School's Out instrumental break a crazed fan apparently attacks Alice from stage left. How did he get past security? The audience might think. It was great theatre since you guys were so controversial with the rumor mill going. No internet so legends develop. There was mystery.

Was the man playing the part of the crazed fan one of your roadies?
Arena concerts were relatively new then and security wasn't what it is today. We got lots of threats (even bomb threats) so our crew always kept a close eye out but they had jobs to do in the show so people would make their way onto the stage. In Houston, Texas, people knew that we were filming which added extra incentive.

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