I just finished a biography about Bob Fosse. Very good.
One of the many sources in the book was Tony Stevens.
Stevens, now dead, was a successful choreographer on Broadway and worked on many shows with many of stars.
Long before all that, he was Tony Pusateri. A creative young man growing up in Herculaneum, Missouri and attending St. Pius High School in Festus.
This Festus boy (“Herky” was a neighbor) remembers a school play and the buzz about Pusateri doing some kind of a fire dance in a splashy production number. (I don’t remember the play, or any other details).
Even then as not worldly high school student, I knew Pusateri was good and it came as no surprise that he headed for Broadway as fast as he could on graduation.
One other note. I believe Stevens was part of the core group that put together and contributed the interviews that led to “Chorus Line”. I even think I recall seeing some version of the play and hearing someone in the chorus identify himself as being from Herculaneum.
I will always remember the fire dance and I wish at some point I would have had the chance to visit with him about that, his roots and his career.