Creator / Kenny Ortega

Kenneth John Ortega (born 1950), credited as Kenny Ortega, is an American director, choreographer, and concert tour manager.

Ortega began as an actor before transitioning to direction and choreography. Mentored in choreography by no less than Gene Kelly, Ortega was the choreographer for several iconic works of the '80s. He made his directorial debut with Newsies. In the late 90s and 2000s he did concert tours for Gloria Estefan and Michael Jackson. Ortega had choreographed and directed This is It, which was cancelled due to Jackson's death; Ortega put Michael Jackson's This Is It together from rehearsal footage.

He resumed his working relationship with Disney in the late 2000s with the High School Musical and Descendants musical film series, which he directed and choreographed. He's also directed several television shows, including Julie and the Phantoms.

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Filmography:

C as Choreographer, D as Director

• Xanadu (1980) ^C
• One from the Heart (1982) ^C
• St. Elmo's Fire (1985) ^C
• Pretty in Pink (1986) ^C
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) ^C
• Dirty Dancing (1987) ^C
• Dirty Dancing (1988) ^D
• Salsa (1988) ^C
• Shag (1989) ^C
• Hull High (1990) ^D
• Newsies (1992) ^{C, D}
• Hocus Pocus (1993) ^{C, D}
• To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)^C
• Ally McBeal (2000-2001) ^D
• Gilmore Girls (2002-2006) ^D
• High School Musical (2006) ^{C, D}
  • High School Musical 2 (2007) ^{C, D}
  • High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) ^{C, D}
• The Boy From Oz (2006, Australian theater tour) ^{C, D}
• Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) ^{C, D}
• Descendants (2015) ^{C, D}
  • Descendants 2 (2017) ^{C, D}
  • Descendants 3 (2019) ^{C, D}
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016)^{C, D}
• Julie and the Phantoms (2020) ^{C, D}

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