Marcia Milgrom Dodge

Marcia Milgrom Dodge
Broadway Directors Project Part 2
Danielle Ibrahim
Theatrical Directing 1
April 28, 2015

It is fairly often for a Broadway director to simply be a one hit wonder, with just one notable Broadway production to list on their resume. But behind every presumed one hit wonder of Broadway, there is almost certainly a plethora of other achievements that they have had.
Perhaps no example of a Broadway one hit wonder who has countless other non­Broadway achievements is better than Marcia Milgrom Dodge. As director and choreographer of the 2009
Broadway revival of
Ragtime,
Dodge has no other Broadway experience to take credit
The props were all household objects that children might play pretend with, and the costumes were designed as if picked up from around a house. The show earned her a nomination for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography.

It is likely because of this production with
Seussical that Dodge has gone on to become an incredibly successful director. She worked closely with Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, the composers and lyricists, during the production. Together, they worked on the way to fix the mistakes that occurred in the original production. With the success of their collaboration on the
Seussical revival, the trio decided to take their chances on cleaning up another of Flaherty’s and
Ahren’s shows,
Ragtime.
When the show opened in 1998, it received equal criticism as it did compliments. The show was immediately hailed as a masterpiece of American musical theatre, but the production itself was seen to have many flaws, largely having the same problems that the
original
Her work in the production was also positively reviewed by East Hampton Independent, saying “With her fluid and creative direction and choreography, Marcia Milgrom Dodge makes wondrous use of fabric, light, and the actors themselves to delineate the world the play inhabits...” She has also since directed her first straight play, with
Blithe Spirit in Vero Beach, Florida. The production was small, but still a success in the local theatre community. Dodge also choreographed the Sesame Street episode,
“The Tango Festival,” being the first film credit she has achieved.
Along with directing and choreographing, Dodge has also branched out into playwriting.
She and her husband, Anthony Dodge, have written multiple plays together, including
Hats: The
Musical and
Sherlock Holmes & West End Horror
, which received an Edgar Award nomination
.
She has directed all the productions of these plays.
Hats: The Musical has been performed at venues in California, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Chicago, and