Andrew Palermo

Andrew Palermo is a director, choreographer and creator of new works for the stage. Nickel Mines (conceived by Palermo, co-authored by UCI Drama lecturer Shannon Stoeke, with music and lyrics by Dan Dyer) interprets the events surrounding the 2006 Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Amish schoolhouse shooting. Initially developed at UC Irvine, Nickel Mines went on to an award-winning Off-Broadway production with the New York Musical Festival and received its commercial premiere at ACT of Connecticut.

Palermo made his Broadway choreographic debut with Allegiance, starring Lea Salonga, Telly Leung and George Takei. In the following season, he choreographed for Laura Benanti in the Broadway premiere of Steve Martin’s play Meteor Shower.

International work includes a commissioned evening-length piece by the U.S. State Department and Moscow State Ballet Theatre Gzhel. Let Go has played the Kremlin and Moscow’s Pushkin Theatre and is now part of the touring repertoire of the 65-member dance company.

Other stage direction and/or choreography credits include Sweet Smell of Success (Jazz at Lincoln Center); The Other Josh Cohen (Paper Mill Playhouse and Soho Playhouse); Midnight at the Never Get (The York Theatre, Provincetown Inn, New York Musical Festival); Kristin Chenoweth at Carnegie Hall; The Frank Loesser Songbook/New York Philharmonic (Lincoln Center); Iolanthe; The Mikado; Babes in Toyland; Of Thee I Sing; Let ’Em Eat Cake (Carnegie Hall); Ace (The Old Globe, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis); Miss Julie (Geffen Playhouse); Lyrics and Lyricists (92nd Street Y); Bright Lights, Big City (Prince Music Theater); Vices (Theatre Aspen); The Aluminum Show (international tour); For the Record: Paul Thomas Anderson (Rockwell, Los Angeles); 125th Teachers College Gala (Apollo Theater); Aida (Music Theatre Wichita); Man of La Mancha (Sacramento Music Circus); and numerous university productions.

Palermo has choreographed multimillion-dollar industrials for Toyota, episodes of Comedy Central’s Stella, promos for Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union, commercials for Showtime and G-Shock watches, and a chapter of Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns for MasterVoices, an award-winning New York Times Critics’ Pick.

Along with childhood friend Taye Diggs, Palermo was the co-founding artistic director of dre.dance, a contemporary dance company. With performances throughout New York City and North America, dre.dance received multiple commissions, residencies, grants and critical acclaim for its work.

One such work, beyond.words, which focuses on the autism spectrum, led Palermo to become a leader in movement therapy. His workshop for children on the spectrum, Creatively Able, has been taught to students and caregivers across the United States and abroad, has been the subject of research studies at UC Irvine and has been featured by Upworthy Presents in a video that has garnered more than 6 million views.

Performing highlights include the original Broadway companies of Wicked and Annie Get Your Gun (as Tommy Keeler in the Bernadette Peters revival), as well as How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Matthew Broderick revival), national and international tours of West Side Story, Michael John LaChiusa’s Little Fish (Second Stage Theater), and numerous regional and concert productions. Palermo is an alumnus of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is a dog dad to rescues Steve and Henry. For more information, visit www.andrewpalermo.com.