WAYNE ALBRITTON
"My favorite kick? A really hot ping-pong game!"
Baseball lost a hot prospect when Wayne Albritton, a college shortstop, opted to become a dancer. At 66, he returns for his ninth season at the Fabulous Follies. He discovered dancing when he got a severe case of measles at 6, and the doctor recommended it to regain his strength. At 19, he left his native Jackson, Miss., for New York and was immediately cast in the Broadway production of Carnival.
Read More!
HANK BRUNJES
"Fishing and playing drums - that's how I get my kicks!"
Hank Brunjes had barely turned 20 when he first made it to Broadway in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey. He followed it up with a role in the cast of the original production of Leonard Bernstein's landmark West Side Story and then a succession of Broadway hits: Mame, The Rothschilds, Chicago, Working and Sugar Babies, the latter stint lasting seven years, including national tours.
Read More!
LEONARD CROFOOT
"My favorite kick is writing - like my one-man show!"
The original, show-stopping role of Tom Thumb in the Broadway hit production of Barnum was played by Leonard Crofoot, who at 60 is in his third season with the Follies. That performance is also featured on the recent CD: Broadway Scene Stealers: the Men.
Read More!
RANDY DONEY
"Aside from all the 'arts,' I get my kicks from driving!"
When a Follies cast member suffered an injury 10 years ago, Randy Doney came in to rehearse on a Tuesday, and on Wednesday he was on stage for opening day. Randy, 69, is still there. His extensive career began right after high school in Chicago when he joined a national touring company of My Fair Lady. He landed in New York to appear in the original film version of The Producers.
Read More!
DICK FRANCE
"What a kick oil painting on the beach gives you!"
Three decades of teaching dancing didn't dim Dick France's urge to go out there and do it himself. At 79, he is in his seventh season with the Follies after running the France Academy of Dance, with his wife Karrie, in Tucson, Ariz., since 1970.
Read More!
JOHN KENDRICK
"Zip-lining (suspended from a pulley on a tethered, incline wire) through a forest – now THAT'S a kick!"
At 55 years of age, John Kendrick is the male "ingénue" of the Follies cast this season, his first with the show. He grew up in upstate New York, around Binghamton and Ithaca, on the carnival circuit, which planted the show business bug in him early. As a teenager, he moved from midways and fairs to the stage, principally musical productions.
Read More!
