Peter Gennaro was born in Metairie, Louisiana on November 23, 1919. He
made his Broadway debut in the ensemble of Make Mine Manhattan
(starring Sid Caesar) in 1948 (this is
somewhat in dispute as some biographies claim he debuted in
1950's Arms and the Girl), and Guys and Dolls (1950). He first drew notice from theatergoers as a member of the trio that danced the Bob Fosse
number "Steam Heat" in The Pajama Game (1954), and continued to hold
their attention with the "Mu Cha Cha" number with
Judy Holliday in Bells Are Ringing (1956),
which ran for 924 performances. A year later, he broke out of the
chorus line and into choreography when he collaborated with
Jerome Robbins on West Side Story,
notably choreographing (uncredited) a majority of the "America" and
"Mambo" dance sequences.
In addition to his theatrical chores, Gennaro worked steadily in
television, appearing in and/or choreographing such shows as Your Hit
Parade, The Polly Bergen Show,
Judy Garland's CBS variety program, and the
Kraft Music Hall. With his dance troupe he was a guest on
Ed Sullivan's long-running CBS
Sunday night variety show dozens of times, and he was a member of the
regular repertory company on the short-lived CBS 1964-65 variety show
The Entertainers, one of the stars having been
Jon Davidson. Gennaro also served
for many years as choreographer for Radio City Music Hall, staging
routines for the Rockettes. He died at age 80 on Sept. 28, 2000 in New
York City.
He was posthumously inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in
2002
