Marshall doesn't need to put on airs. She'd got a heavenly body of work that speaks for itself. And though she's choreographed recent Broadway hits including "Kiss Me, Kate," "Seussical" and "Follies," she doesn't duck and cover at the mention of Oscar-winning brother Rob Marshall. In fact, she loves talking about "Robbie," but calls assisting him as choreographer on shows like "Kiss of the Spider Woman" downright nepotism. She's also quick to point out she wouldn't still be here if she wasn't any good.

But she is still here, and now she's got a Tony Award to prove it. On Sunday night, June 6th, her name was called as the best choreographer of 2004 for her work on "Wonderful Town." It capped a year of pairs besting even Noah. She has two shows up on the boards -- "Wonderful Town" and "Little Shop of Horrors" -- simultaneously, but this double vision isn't unusual for Marshall. Most years find more than one production spiking her resume, not to mention her core involvement founding the Broadway revival company Encores! What's different about this year is her dual staging -- both the choreography and direction of "Wonderful Town" -- were Tony-nominated. Dominating two categories with one show is unusual, but one might say that just like the wonderful town she resides in, Marshall is so nice they named her twice.

Both you and Shirley Jones are packing houses this season. She tried to play it down, but I know you two are just the tip of the iceberg: the Pittsburgh New Wave on Broadway.

Oh my God, I think she got her start at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. I performed there, both before I moved to New York and a couple of times after I went back. I did "Anything Goes" at the Pittsburgh Playhouse choreographed by my pal Rob Ashford. I did "A Chorus Line" there together with Rob and a bunch of other people and I also did "Chicago" there.

So how does one get from Pittsburgh to Broadway? And don't say practice, kid.

It's so funny because when I sit in auditions, there are so many times I know all these people and I know them through Pittsburgh. I think the combination of the schools that are there -- Carnegie Melon, Point Park -- and the people who grew up there and then people who came through there and worked at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. I got my equity card there, so did my brother, so did a lot of people. They did these fully staged big musicals every summer. And so there's just this wild little group of people with some connection, either they grew up there, went to school there or worked there at some point. It's one of those good Middle American-sized cities that have these opportunities, but is also accessible.

Choreographers seem even more superstitious than actors. I'm sure I'd have an easier time getting you to break every mirror in your house, but I wanted to see if you had any predictions for, God, I really don't want to say it and jinx it for us.

[Laughs] We're doing a new print ad campaign for "Wonderful Town" and they brought something in with copy about Tony Nominations across the top and I'm like get that away from me! I don't want to look at that. I mean, obviously, whatever is going to happen is going to happen and you can't jinx something by talking about it, but I always feel that every time it's a gift.

You're nominated as both director and choreographer for "Wonderful Town." Can you talk about the differences between those two roles a bit?

It changes with every director and choreographer. I've worked with directors who, if there's music playing, the choreographer is in charge. If it's a transition, even if it's a ballad, in "Kiss Me, Kate," I basically staged all of the musical numbers, even the solo and duets. But then there are some directors who will actually stage musical numbers like a principle's song. For instance, Jerry Zaks is a very musically minded director having been an actor and musical theater performer himself, so he'll get more involved and stage some of those numbers, but it really depends.

Which is harder?

The hardest thing -- and my brother and I have talked about this -- as a choreographer is you have all the same tasks the director does, you just don't have the ultimate say or responsibility. You're still doing the same thing: working with designers, actors, and music directors. You're getting notes from the producer, but the director is there as this big shield. He's really there to take the responsibility in both good and bad ways. He also gets to dictate the style of things more. When you become a director/choreographer -- a very natural progression for a lot of choreographers -- you realize, oh, it's just me out there. It gives you more freedom, but with freedom comes responsibility. It means you have to do the tough things like go to the designer and say I don't think that's working, we have to change it. It's hard because you don't have that parental figure doing the hard stuff.

What are the biggest responsibilities?

As a director, your biggest responsibility is, really, choosing the project and the design team, casting it and overseeing the creative design. Once you've put all that together, you're halfway there. As opposed to a choreographer, where you start with a blank page on day one. In that way, for a director of musicals, blocking scenes has to be done carefully, but it doesn't take as long to block a scene as it does to stage a big dance number.

What about when the show is already extant, like the two you worked on this year?

When you're following in someone else's footsteps, that's a different thing. With "Little Shop," I saw the original and loved it and saw the movie and loved it. It's a chamber piece. You're trying to bring the show you love to life in a fresh way, but it's certainly not deconstructing. The concepts are still what was created 20-years ago. It's 1960s and a little girl group transform themselves into this elegant girl group by the end. The opening number is actually an arrangement of some new material written for the movie. So that was fun to do -- it's extended -- the opening number's never been done that way on stage before.

And "Wonderful Town?"

Wonderful Town is an interesting case because it was never made into a movie. There's a Roz Russell TV-version cut down to 90-minutes, but as far as I could tell it wasn't the original choreography. So I had no real template in my head for what that choreography was, as opposed to when you do a Fosse show and you know what you're up against. In that way, I felt a little freer. There were some numbers like "Swing" or "Village Vortex" where I had no idea what the original movement was. We used original arrangements because Leonard Bernstein wrote all the dance music. That was a different challenge from "Seussical" where really it is a blank page. You're deciding where the movement is going to be. Most of the time, when you do a revival the choreography is where the choreography was before, even if it's all new ideas and all new choreography. The same characters dance and the dances happen at the same place, even if it's totally new.

How is it passed down?

Well, a lot of it is lost. Now, thanks to videotape and the Lincoln Center Library, anything from the 80s on is probably preserved if it was on Broadway or off-Broadway, but a lot of that early stuff, isn't there. When they did "Jerome Robbins' Broadway," they had to find a bunch of old dancers and see if they could get them in a room to recreate and some of that stuff. It's just not around much.

Do you see "Wonderful Town" racing down that same golden Encores! Tony, Oscar trajectory as "Chicago?"

There's such a heightened interest in movie musicals, but I don't know if "Wonderful Town" could…actually, it would make a great, family-based television movie. "Chicago" is obviously so edgy and sexy it has a different sort of appeal. I wouldn't want to be the next one out of the gate, I tell you. There's a lot of pressure. My brother always said one bad movie musical and the whole genre is dead. No one sees a bad romantic comedy and goes, well, that's it! Nobody knows how to make romantic comedies anymore! But one bad movie musical and people think no one knows how to do it.

I remember talking to you brother about the casting of the movie version of "Chicago" and wondering if there was anyone who didn't read for it. Who would you want for a film of "Wonderful Town?"

This is one of these cases where you'd want to see Donna [Murphy, the show's star] do it, but I also think for Robbie, of course, Anne [Reinking] and Bebe [Neuwirth] weren't his production so he was starting fresh. It's tricky, obviously you would still need a brilliant comedienne, but you can protect someone more on film than you can onstage. Onstage, you either have it or you don't. And it's quite clear when people don't.

Okay, last question about Rob, I promise.

That's okay. I like talking about my brother.

Do you view your launch in this industry as his assistant as more pro or con for your own career these days?

For me, it's just all pros. Even now, I constantly call him and ask his advice about things: what project to do, casting suggestions, stuff. I started off assisting him on "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "She Loves Me" and "Damn Yankees" before I started getting offers on my own. I was a good assistant for him because I got everything that he was doing instantly. It actually created great opportunities. The first show I choreographed on Broadway was a little review that didn't last long, but John Kander recommended me because he knew me from "Kiss of the Spider Woman." So you feel like, did I get in the door because of nepotism? Yeah. But you're not going to stay there if you don't prove yourself. Choreography is an apprenticeship art. Almost everyone has been a dancer, dance captain, assistant choreographer before becoming a choreographer.

The thing that struck me most about your two shows was the incredible limitations you took on. "Wonderful Town" confines its movement to this incredibly shallow alley that spans the stage. There's almost less room onstage in "Little Shop."

Well, sometimes those limitations are fun. "Wonderful Town" is obviously based on the Encores! model. We debated whether to keep the orchestra onstage when we moved to Broadway, but decided to keep the music as one of the characters in the show. It's also about New York City, which is populated, so I loved having these bodies onstage all the time. And I like that it makes our choreography very crowded. The stage is filled to the brim, like a widescreen movie.

I also loved your nod to Martha Graham in the purple ultra suede. What did you make of her Company being tied up in court for years over copyright? Do you think dance is something you can own?

A choreographer should own their work, but just like with authors, you can't copyright the idea, you can copyright the execution. Anybody can set a play in a prison, but not take your characters and specific plotline. It's the same with choreography. There are only a certain number of steps in the world. It's how you put them together.

Okay, more New York legends. Tell me about working with Comden and Green.

They were so enthusiastic. And Adolph [Green], I think this was one of his favorite shows. He was so thrilled just to see it get done again. He was losing his sight and standing in the isle with my assistant Joey. Joey says to Adolph, Isn't it a wonderful production? And Adolph says, Yeah, I just wish I could see it. But they were great. And Betty [Comden], as frail as she is in some ways, is just so strong. This was wonderful and hard for her because this was her first Broadway opening without Adolph. When we did our first run-through with a little invited audience. Afterwards she just dissolved in tears saying it's so hard. It's so hard without Adolph.

It's clear why you'd want to do "Wonderful Town," but there's not much movement in "Little Shop." Why did you take it on?

I know, it's not really a showcase for a choreographer because there's not an ensemble and there aren't any big, breakout dance numbers. Really, it was just my affection for the show. I just wanted to be around that music.

Has it given you a bead into this ‘Puppets on Broadway' phenomenon?

I know! "Avenue Q" and "Little Shop." I didn't see the Paula Vogul play off-Broadway, but that had puppets too, right?

Not just puppets, Basil Twist puppets. He's the nee plus ultra of puppeteers.

John and Stephanie, the two leads from "Avenue Q", were our puppeteers for "Carnival" at Encores! a couple of years ago. I remember they handed me a flyer and said we're doing this little showcase of this show and I went, Oh, that‘s sweet. Of course, it was "Avenue Q." Who knew?

Speaking of puppets, last night at "Little Shop," we were sitting right behind Joey Fatone from *NSYNC. I have to tell you, Kathleen, for someone trying to gain inroads to the musical theatre, he was a little chatty during the performance.

Oh, really?

What do you make of people like Joey coming to Broadway and messing with the economics?

It's hard. You wish we could make stars of our Broadway actors and just cast the best people, but when your show is in danger of closing, bring in the stars. I'd rather keep a show running and keep all the people in the building employed.

And where will you find yourself employed this summer?

Well, we have the "Little Shop" and "Wonderful Town" tours coming up. "Little Shop" starts rehearsals in June and "Wonderful Town" right after, back to back. There are also a couple things in development. One is a revival of "The Pajama Game," hopefully for next season, but we have no casting. It's funny, you talking about stars, because everything is hinging on casting. In a way, if the casting comes into place, it will start gaining momentum. Another thing we're trying to get off the ground at ABC/Disney is a remake of "Once Upon a Mattress" with Carol Burnett playing the queen. ABC's just had their little shakeup over there, but now everything seems to be settling so we're trying to go forward. These commercial projects -- and that's what both those are -- are the most exciting but also frustrating because you're not quire sure if and when they're going to happen. It's very tempting when the institutional theaters call because you know it's going to happen. If Roundabout says we're going with this next season, you can put it in ink in your calendar.

And Encores?

I didn't direct anything this year. I'm not as involved in the day to day over there. I'm just throwing out ideas for the season. But I just saw "Bye, Bye Birdie" last night.

And it's almost time to bid you bye, bye, but first, I was really surprised to learn recently that some choreographers rehearse the company's bows.

That's true. There are some shows where the bows become like a third act -- this British Mega-Mix thing -- it depends on the show. "Seussical" had a big production number at the bows. We used material that was new: a whole "Green Eggs and Ham" thing for the bow.