David W. Connolly

Electronic Press Kit

DAVID W. CONNOLLY is a Director, Choreographer, Professor and Author who has collaborated with Katy Perry, Piper Perabo, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Natalie Portman, Deepa Mehta, The Canadian Tenors, The Doodlebops, Jane Krakowski, kd lang, Judy Davis, Sarah Brightman, the Canadian Premiere Casts of "High School Musical: On Stage" and "Happy Days, A New Musical" and countless others to garner award-winning, box office record-breaking, held-over, published and internationally broadcast critical acclaim. ...performed on Broadway at age 19, after graduating the music theatre program at Sheridan College with the Jerry Foster, Ben McPeek and Greg Bond Awards. While a member of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Acting Company he garnered a Tyrone Guthrie Award which he applied to further study in New York. Performance career highlights include Tommy in "Brigadoon" (Rainbow Stage, Winnipeg), Seymour in "Little Shop..." (Persephone, Saskatoon) and originating the role of the Prince in Lesley Arden's "The Greatest Gift" (Lighthouse Theatre Festival, Port Hope.) ​ Being mentored by luminaries including Alan Lund, Brian MacDonald, Brian Foley, Alex Mustakas and Tibor Feherygyhazi encouraged a transition into becoming a Director / Choreographer. Mounting seven musicals at the famed Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts School in New York with a class list that included Natalie Portman, Bryce Howard and Emily Dreyfus sealed the deal. ​ Next came seven years in Los Angeles, working for Anita Mann Productions on projects such as three years of "The Miss America Pageant" [Emmy Award, Outstanding Choreography], "The Jerry Lewis Telethon" [Emmy Award Nomination] and "Barbie's 40th Anniversary Show" at the Waldorph with Rosie O'Donnell and Brandi. ​ An offer to join the ABC Mini-Series as Associate Choreographer for "Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows" with Judy Davis required relocating to Toronto and shortly thereafter Choreographing Deepa Mehta's Feature Film, "Bollywood, Hollywood" marked his permanent return. ​ Soon he was Creative Director and Co-Owner of an event production company with clients both corporate: Jaguar, Movado, SONY, Microsoft, Telus, The Bank Of Montreal, Ford, Nissan, Alliance Atlantis and non-profit: The Power Plant Art Gallery, Toronto Fashion Incubator and The Royal Ontario Museum. ​ David was 'instrumental' in casting the original pre-school rock star sensations, The Doodlebops and "Got on the Bus" with them as their exclusive choreographer and sometimes director through four seasons of the CBC tv series; for both 80-city, US National Arena tours that opened at Madison Square Gardens; The Today Show, Disney's Christmas Day Parade Special, Disney's Magical Beginnings In Concert, Target Book Tour and all of their music videos. He also choreographed the spin-off Animated Series, "Doodlebops Rockin' Road Show." ​ ​​Subsequent CBC projects had him joyfully choreographing the Andrew Lloyd Webber search series, "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?" and the two-time Gemini Award winning holiday special, "A Season of Song: The Canadian Tenors and Friends" with David Foster, Paul Anka, Jackie Evancho, Charice and Justin Bieber. ​​ David's success as the Event Designer / Creative Producer of the Michael Lee Chin Crystal Commemoration and private opening Gala caught the attention of television producers who were looking for an on-camera event planner. Cut to: five years of David planning weddings on the internationally syndicated series, "Rich Bride, Poor Bride" for Slice in Canada and WeTV in the US. He was also a contributing author of "RBPB: The Ultimate Planning Guide" and advice columnist for Wedding Bells.com. ​ ​He is on the Board and trademarked Triple Threat Faculty of the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts in Toronto. His most recent project there was a workshop he integrated into a curriculum course which involved asking Canadian composers to contribute music inspired a Chatelaine blog called, "Living With Cancer" written by Leanne Coppen. What resulted was the premiere of the world's first Blogsical. "Angels and Superheroes" was presented on March 30th, 2012. This philanthropic comittment includes twelve years as Choreographer of MAC Viva Glam's "Fashion Cares," creating production numbers for kd lang, Geri Haliwel, Sarah Brightman, Jennifer Holiday, Katy Perry....Also, as Entertainment Chair of the SnowBall for Casey House Hospice, he presented Jane Krakowski and Ana Gasteyer in their Canadian Cabaret debuts. Chaka Khan at the "Pride Ball", Martha Wash at the "Ribbon of Life" in Las Vegas, Jai Rodriguez at the "Red Ball" for CANFAR, Wayne Clarke for Evergreen Hospice and the pre-show to Elton John's APLA Benefit at Universal Amphitheatre are all in addition to his responsibilities as an Ambassador for The Shriner's Hospitals for Children. ​