There is one word in the English language that two-time Tony nominee Debbie Allen doesn’t understand: Can’t.

The quintuple threat—known across the globe for her high-octane dance, vocal, and acting performances—is back on Broadway this season with a new directorial venture, a revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner's Come and Gone beginning March 30 at the Barrymore Theatre. The production comes hot on the heels of her honorary Academy Award, presented to her in 2025, and the release of her very own Barbie doll. It's been a haze of delight.

“I’m just so thrilled,” Allen states, briefly bashful as she brushes the fringe on her Barbie, which is dressed to match her costuming from the 1982 Fame television series. “I never had a Barbie that looked like me growing up, and it's nice to have her now, and to be able to buy her for my grandkids and all my friends. I even gave Tom Cruise a Barbie!” Allen cocks her head to the side, mischievously pleased with herself.

Allen deserves this moment to preen. For decades, she has fought her way through every industry she has encountered, despite obstinate others insisting she would never belong. Denied entry by classical ballet programs across the country? She became one of the most internationally recognized dancers of her generation. Pigeonholed as a musical comedy performer? She made a serious splash in her television debut as J.J.'s drug-addicted fiancée Diana in Good Times. Cornered by the limitations a life on stage and in front of the camera can hold? Her work producing and directing A Different World for NBC led to robust fourth and fifth careers, allowing her the freedom of creative control whenever the pressures of performance became routine. And that isn’t even getting into her era-defining work as a choreographer.

When looking back at her career, many of what were once disappointments now register as brief pauses on the winding road of her life. One could-have-been, however, is sure to haunt everyone but her.

“Bob Fosse called me in to audition for The Leading Player,” Allen confesses, referring to the enigmatic master of ceremonies in Pippin. “Ben [Vereen] was leaving, and they didn't have anybody that they felt strongly about. I went in, and oh, that was amazing. Bob and I, the choreography, all of that. And then they found Ben Harney, dammit.” Allen laughs, waving her hand to the side. For Allen to replace Vereen in the assumed-masculine role would have been groundbreaking in the mid-1970s. But alas, it wasn’t to be. A second close encounter between Allen and Fosse played out shortly after, when she declined a role as one of the Merry Murderesses in Chicago to focus on her leading lady career. Fosse would eventually make it up to her a decade later, when he cast her as Charity in the first Broadway revival of Sweet Charity, bringing her a Tony nomination and an overall win for Best Revival.

“I love a challenge,” Allen smiles, her eyes twinkling. The revival was custom tailored to Allen's skills as a performer, with Fosse re-choreographing much of the piece to suit Allen, rather than pushing her to replicate Gwen Verdon's original interpretation. "Bob was really open to me. He said that I was a little bit more of a street fighter, and he taught me vulnerability. And he let me do certain things, because I said, 'Bob, come on, can I just do at least a double turn??' Honey, everything was so many isolations. I loved his choreography, and oh, the stories off stage ... Well, I'll save those for the book," Allen smirks.

Remarkably, Allen's performance was almost overlooked for preservation at the 1986 Tony Awards. "Sweet Charity was nominated for everything: Best Musical Revival, Best Actress, Best Supporting, Best Actor, Best Choreography, best everything. And it was my second big Tony nomination, after being nominated for Anita in West Side Story. But when it came time for the Tony Awards, which were being held at our theatre, the Minskoff..." Allen shakes her head. In a stunning faux pas, the Tony committee asked Allen to reprise her role as Anita for a tribute performance, while attempting to cut any kind of performance from Sweet Charity from the broadcast.

"I had to push them. It was very awkward and weird. They let me do 'Brass Band,' and it was me by myself. That was with a vengeance. I kicked my head till I hit my face, and I had a good time doing it. I didn't win that night, and that was fine. My show won, Bebe [Neuwirth] won, Michael [Rupert] won, everybody won, except me. And that was it was okay, because that was worth everything."

To learn more about Allen’s stage career, including when Chita Rivera taught her the choreography for West Side Story, the frustrations of Carrie the Musical, and why Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is her contribution to the “preservation of genius,” check out her full My Life in the Theatre interview in the video above.