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Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks
Theatrical poster for the world premiere of the play Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles in 2001
Theatrical poster for the world premiere season in 2001
Written by Richard Alfieri
Characters Michael Minetti
Lily Harrison
Date premiered 7 June 2001
Place premiered Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles
Original language English
Subject ageism, intolerance
Genre comedy, drama
Setting St. Petersburg Beach, Florida
Early 21st century (prior to Obergefell v. Hodges ruling in 2015)
Official site

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks is a 2001 play by American playwright Richard Alfieri. It is a play with only two characters: Lily Harrison, the formidable widow of a Baptist minister, and Michael Minetti, a gay and acerbic dance instructor hired to give her dancing lessons. It premiered at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles (with Uta Hagen and David Hyde Pierce in its two roles) before moving to Broadway. It has gone on to performances in 24 countries and been translated into 14 languages.

Lily Harrison is a self-described "tight-arsed old biddy" living alone in St Petersburg Beach on the gulf coast of Florida. As the play opens, she is waiting for her first of six weekly in-home dance lessons. Her tutor is Michael Minetti, an acerbic gay man who has been forced by circumstances to leave his life as a chorus boy on Broadway and to take work as a dance instructor. Lily is Michael's first client, and their first lesson does not go well owing to his foul language and the fact that both are bitter. Each lies to the other, Lily claiming her husband is soon coming home (in fact, she is a widow whose life was cramped by her Southern Baptist Minister husband), and Michael claiming to be married to hide both his homosexuality and the pain of his lover's death. As the lessons continue, an improbable friendship develops out of their shared testiness and solitude. It becomes clear that Lily did not need lessons but rather a dance partner, and the pair enjoy time together outside of their lessons. The friendship grows to the point where Lily is playing match-maker for Michael, and Michael is caring for Lily as her health deteriorates.

Arthur Allan Seidelman directed the play for its 2001 premiere in Los Angeles at the Geffen Playhouse (with Uta Hagen and David Hyde Pierce) and for the 2003 season at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami (with Rue McClanahan and Mark Hamill). McClanahan bowed out of the role of Lily and was replaced by Polly Bergen as the production moved on to Broadway. Seidelman also directed productions in the West End of London (with Claire Bloom and Billy Zane) in 2006 and the Los Angeles revival (with Constance Towers and Jason Graae) in 2008.


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