Award-winning director, choreographer, producer, and writer Bill Castellino not only directed the pre-Broadway production of Cagney (Pioneer Theatre Company, Salt Lake City) but pre-pandemic, the award-winning production of Desperate Measures (York Theatre, New World Stages Off-Broadway). On television, 
Castellino has directed and choreographed “Stop the World, I Want to Get Off” (A&E). He also wrote, directed, and choreographed Bell Aria, (Venetian Las Vegas, PBS), and choreographed Rap Master Ronnie (Cinemax), as well as other musical reviews, cabarets, concerts and corporate and special events. Among the stellar entertainers he’s worked with are Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Human Nature, the Four Tops in Chicago, Amanda McBroom, Ann Hampton Callaway, and Christiane Noll. Castellino was the Creative Director of Aruba Productions (NYC), co-owner of CRW Productions (NYC), served as Producing Artistic Director of Cherry County Playhouse (Michigan), and wrote, directed and choreographed all the revue entertainment for Holland America Cruise Lines from 1988 to 1992.
Castellino’s latest project is directing the 45th anniversary production of Elizabeth Swados’ Nightclub Cantata, an eclectic and heralded theatrical creation rarely seen since its inception decades ago. It will be staged from Saturday, April 23 to Sunday, May 22 at Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre. Click here for more information.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Bill Castellino (BC) Six Questions:
NLE: Beyond the press that Nightclub Cantata was groundbreaking in its day, what was the core of that production at the Village Gate? What made it important in the context of 1977?
BC: NIGHTCLUB CANTATA brought together a number of different theatre traditions and, by doing so, created a few new ones. This collage of World Literature (poems, short stories, and original lyrics) with languages (Ancient, known, and invented) melded with Latin, African, Asian, and Native rhythms created an exciting new way of communicating in the theatre.
Both profound and joyous, the theme of NIGHTCLUB CANTATA is survival. As 1977 technology began to link divergent parts of the World, Liz’s imaginative use of words, movement and music underscored the notion of a global village. This achievement is substantive, positive, and hopeful. One people, one planet.
NLE: What impact did appearing in the original Boston production have on you in terms of the direction of your life in theater?
BC: After graduating from Boston University, NIGHTCLUB CANTATA was my first professional job. This experience was life changing. A young actor performing in a uniquely challenging vocal and physical “avant-guarde” revue. 1977, I stood at the intersection of art and politics. Liz orchestrated her CANTATA with fierce beliefs and fearless devotion. She guided the actors on a mind expansive odyssey redefining the definition of song, the purpose of art, and the use of the voice and body. All of my work since has benefited from this experience… even work which on the surface has no connection. I want all of it to reflect a respect for language, the quest for meaning, and the stretch of the imagination.
NLE: You’ve been connected with Nightclub Cantata since the beginning—directing the West Coast premiere and the 10th anniversary production. Have you had new insights into the work now, 40 years on? Will your approach to this upcoming 45th anniversary production be substantially different than in the past? If yes, how?
BC: NIGHTCLUB CANTATA at the cell is not a revival… it is the 45th Anniversary production. At its conception, Liz (with the other contributors) reflected the political environment and the cultural landscape of the time. Because these words were so carefully chosen and so artfully set to music, they have a fresh and provocative effect on the listener today.
As I rediscover CANTATA with this wonderful, young company… the meaning contained herein echoes our contemporary world. We see with new eyes and hear with new ears what it means to be alive in 2022: the conflicts, the victories, the challenges – the silly, the complex, the dangerous, and the euphoric.
Though made in 1977, NIGHTCLUB CANTATA reflects our lives as we live them now. Every time I’ve worked on CANTATA, it somehow seems brand new – it sheds insightful fresh light on this very moment.
The approach, however, is much like the method I learned from Liz. Language is emphatic, words are onomatopoetic, movement is precise, and unison is powerful.
NLE: Generally speaking, how has the “avant-garde tradition” of the 1960s and 70s evolved?
BC: In the 1960s and 1970s, the theatre traditions of “downtown” and “uptown” seemed far apart. Now, that gap has narrowed—we are more aware of each other. Everywhere, there is “environmental” theatre, “site specific” productions, “absurdism,” “taboo” topics, etc. The things first associated with the “avant-garde” are ubiquitous. The overall artistic vocabulary has congealed. We are beneficiaries of discoveries that happen on smaller budgets, in smaller venues, with small groups of artists with gigantic imaginations! As large and sometimes corporate theatre can now be, the art form gains when eyes are kept on the “experimenters.”
NLE: In an illustrious directing/choreographing career, what kind of works give you the most satisfaction to helm?
BC: My eclectic resume is a source of gratitude and pride—each project has unique challenges and rewards. A community is formed, an audience is provoked, choices are weighed, ideas exchanged, mountains climbed, and, hopefully, a contribution to civilized discourse is made. So, I am honored with each opportunity to make theatre art.
However, from the beginning, I have been drawn to original work (sometimes of my own). Swados is, in part, responsible for my special attraction to new work. I have directed more World Premieres than Revivals. In a way, I approach NIGHTCLUB CANTATA as something new. CANTATA does not need rewrites or changes; it lives in a new time (thanks to the cell) and deserves care from a new generation. I see it through a lens four decades in the making.
NLE: Do you have a “bucket list?” Are there any established works you have a serious desire to direct/choreograph in revival? Or are there goals you’ve set that you want to achieve in general?
BC: I want, somehow, for us all to move toward healing… the challenges that we face need a communal response to overcome. I want my work to contribute to the healing, to the repair. It’s complicated and often overwhelming—I hope to make more important work like NIGHTCLUB CANTATA and push the ball a little further down the field toward kindness and understanding. Yup, I guess I’m still a hippie. You got a problem with that?
