Written Response Bob Fosse

Copyright ©2010

The “Golden Age” of Broadway brought with it new training demands for the Broadway dancer. Coming from the perfectionist world of concert dance training—where dancers regularly train and rehearse eight hours per day, six days a week—choreographers, such as George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille and Jerome Robbins, required a new level of technical proficiency from the dancers in their Broadway shows. Dancers from ballet and modern companies were often hired, forcing the Broadway dancer to take more and more dance technique classes in order to compete for prime dance jobs. The new “jazz dance,” innovated by Jack Cole, was another dance technique that needed to be perfected/achieved through rigorous and regular training.

Then along came Bob Fosse…

Bob Fosse has earned more Tony Awards for choreography (eight!) than any other individual, with an additional Tony for directing Pippin (Tony Awards Production, 2010, “Facts and Trivia”).

Bob Fosse, aka Robert Louis Fosse, was born on June 23, 1927, in Chicago. His father was a vaudeville performer, with early aspirations for his son’s stage career. At the age of nine, Fosse began taking tap dance lessons from Frederic Weaver, a dapper man who became Fosse’s agent. Weaver booked thirteen-year old Fosse into nightclubs, where he “sang, tap-danced, and told jokes” (Long, 2002, p. 145). Fosse teamed up with Charles Graff, and the “Riff Brothers” performed in vaudeville and burlesque houses in Chicago, hardly the place for two teenagers.

These beginnings later defined the main characteristics of the “Fosse style”--dark, intense and highly sexual. While traveling on the road in his first Broadway tour, Call Me Mister, Fosse met Mary Ann Niles. The two were soon married, and they formed a duo dance act, which was booked for a Broadway revue called Dance Me a Song (1950). It was Fosse’s first Broadway show. During this show, Fosse began an affair with one of its stars, Joan McCracken, who became Fosse’s second wife in 1951. “McCracken had a grounding in ballet that both Fosse and Niles lacked; had serious reading interests that included Kierkegaard; lived in a spacious penthouse and had brilliant friends. She opened a new world to Fosse, and influenced him to broaden and improve himself with his GI benefits” (Long, 2002, p. 147).

Fosse studied with highly regarded teachers of the decade, taking acting at the Actors Studio and modern dance and choreography with Anna Sokolow, Charles Weidman, and José Limon.

Fosse’s first taste of Broadway happened when he was hired to understudy lead Harold Lang in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey. Fosse took over the role when the show went on national tour.

A showcase at the American Theatre Wing, viewed by a Hollywood talent scout, landed Fosse a screen test, which led to his dancing in three Hollywood films. According to author Robert Emmet Long, Fosse’s choreographic career was made by the following 48 second dance in his third film, Kiss Me Kate (1953). Fosse convinced choreographer Hermes Pan to let him choreograph the duet for himself and Carol Haney. “From This Moment On” showed the intense “cool factor” that Fosse brought to musical theatre dancing, and it became the vehicle by which Fosse’s choreography would arrive on Broadway.

Video: Bob Fosse in Kiss Me Kate

(2009) Bob Fosse's 1953, jazzy dancing scene from Kiss Me Kate

Fosse’s choreographic career played on both coasts of the United States, with film work begetting Broadway work, and Broadway successes resulting in film jobs. A combination of events secured Fosse his first job as a Broadway choreographer.

Director George Abbott asked choreographer Jerome Robbins to work with him on The Pajama Game. Robbins agreed to co-direct, but he was too busy with Peter Pan to choreograph. At the same time, Fosse’s wife, Joan McCracken was working with Abbott in Me and Juliet. McCracken talked about Fosse to Abbott any chance she got. After seeing Fosse’s choreography for “From This Moment On,” Robbins convinced Abbott to give Fosse a try. Abbott insisted that Robbins be available for consultation and doctoring. When Robbins agreed, Fosse was hired.

Plot: Labor-management relations at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are not improved when the new manager, Sid Sorokin, and the union spokesperson, Babe Williams, fall in love. Romantic and professional differences just about close the factory but matters are resolved when the wily secretary Gladys pulls a few strings with her jealous boyfriend…and the workers get a raise” (Hischak, 2008, p. 563).

Fosse demonstrated amazing flexibility in the types of numbers he created for the show. “Dance broke out continually in Pajama Game, from the crowd scene of ‘Once-a-Year Day’ to the wild romp of a Latin tango in ‘Hernando’s Hideaway,’ where characters lit matches to see by as they search for partners and the cave-like darkness of an outré nightclub” (Long, 2002, pp. 149-50).

“Steam Heat” was the standout dance number in the show. Fosse’s signature was stamped all over the choreography and many of the postures and steps became basic vocabulary in his distinctive technique.

“Steam Heat” was a minimalist number, rich in comic invention, in which Buzz Miller, Carol Haney, and Peter Gennaro moved in unison to a syncopated beat, hissing like unruly radiators as they edged sideways, their hats held above their heads, then dropped to their knees as they advanced forward to the audience. They were like three Chaplinesque tramps, dressed in black suits and derby hats that they pumped up and down over their heads. They clapped their hands, stomped their feet, and snapped their fingers in time, giving the impression of some weird hybrid, half human and half machine.… Most of all, [“Steam Heat”] reflected the economy and compression of effect on Haney’s mentor, Jack Cole, for whom the twitch of a muscle could be dramatic. For audiences and critics alike, “Steam Heat” was a master work of jazz choreography. (Long, 2002, p. 150)

Video: “Steam Heat”

(2008) From the 1957 film, Pajama Game - choreography reproduced from Broadway.

Pajama Game’s success earned Fosse a Tony award for choreography and a movie offer to both choreograph and perform (Long, 2002).

Meanwhile, a red-headed Jack Cole dancer was wowing crowds in the musical Can-Can. Though the show was choreographed by Michael Kidd, I interject it here because it launched Gwen Verdon to fame and brought her to the attention of Bob Fosse.

If the plot of Can-Can wasn’t enough to arouse audiences—the Paris police attempt to close down a café due to the over-risque dancing of the performers—Michael Kidd’s dances, led by Gwen Verdon, sealed the deal. In review after review, the dancing was lauded as the best part of the show, with Verdon overshadowing the female lead.

Gwen Verdon, who played the temptress Lola in the musical, was unknown to Fosse when they worked together on the show. She danced for six years with Jack Cole in his nightclub act. When she originated the role of Lola, she brought Jack Cole’s jazz training and style to Bob Fosse’s choreography. It was a match made in heaven. Fosse was drawn to Verdon, personally and professionally. She is said to have contributed much to his choreography, both in terms of style and specific steps.

Plot: Joe Hardy, a middle-aged baseball fanatic, sells his soul to the devil in exchange for his transformation into a young, baseball star.

Damn Yankees was a smashing success. Fosse again incorporated many different types of numbers, from the powerfully athletic baseball players’ dance “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo” (complete with bats), to the slinkly, sensual seduction of “Whatever Lola Wants.”

“Who’s Got the Pain?” was put into the show to replace the gorilla number. In terms of show integration, the number brought Broadway dance backwards a few steps to a time when dance was interpolated into the show for the sole purpose of entertainment. But the dance was so entertaining!!!

Do you remember this video from our course introduction? As you watch it, reflect on whether or not you feel differently as an audience member now than you did when you first saw it.

Video: Damn Yankees – “Who’s Got the Pain?”

(2009) Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon as the Mambo dancers in the film adaptation.

Verdon’s dancing was so phenomenal and so admired by audiences that the 1957 musical New Girl in Town, with a rather serious role for Verdon that included little dancing, was increasingly modified during out of town tryouts. Audiences were visibly disappointed to be denied Verdon’s dancing, and dances that had little or nothing to do with the plot were added to mollify them (Long, 2002).

Verdon was asked to star in Redhead (1959). She had only one condition, that the director and choreographer be Bob Fosse. It was Fosse’s first time doing both jobs together. The show included “Erbie Fitch’s Twitch”—in which Verdon disguised herself as a man and danced with a cane—and “Essie’s Vision,” a dream ballet. Redhead won 7 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Choreography and Best Actress in a Musical for Verdon.

Verdon and Fosse began an affair and were married in 1960. Though he would have more than one serious affair during their marriage, they remained married until Fosse’s death in 1987. Eventually, Verdon and Fosse separated and lived in separate homes, but they stayed close personally and shared a work relationship that was never rivaled by another dancer. Verdon understood Fosse better than any other person on earth. She was Fosse’s dance muse; she inspired him and challenged him. Together they created musical after musical, with Fosse choreographing and Verdon starring in dance roles that were lovingly created for her.

After contributing choreography (uncredited) to the flop The Conquering Hero, Fosse’s next project was How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. With cartoon-like naivete, Fosse used stop time to freeze the action. Characteristics were exaggerated. “Unlike Redhead, which was largely a showcase for Gwen Verdon, How to Succeed had a much stronger sense of integration and its own distinctive look. Its comedy of the vacancy of the corporate man also made a trenchant comment about American society in the 1950s” (Long, 2002, p. 158).

The businessmen in the show are portrayed as drones who follow orders, then go home to the nightcap-and-slippers comfort of their family. How to Succeed ran for 1417 performances, won 7 Tony Awards, and was the fourth musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, however Fosse was not nominated for a Tony. The 1967 film featured his choreography.

Fosse used Sweet Charity as a vehicle for Verdon’s comeback to the stage. [She had retired to have their baby, Nicole.] Directed and choreographed by Fosse, it is the musical that is most commonly associated with his name. Fosse won another Tony for his choreography for the show. The dances in Sweet Charity combined the best elements of Fosse’s innovative style with Verdon’s captivating, twinkling personality.

“I’m a Brass Band” showed Charity using long-legged Fosse-style struts to bound around the stage. An athletic workout, the dance showed Verdon off and spotlighted the ease with which she danced Fosse’s numbers.

“Big Spender” highlighted Fosse’s genius at creating choreography that incorporated subtley and stillness to maximize impact.

Video: Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse

(2008) Clips from Sweet Charity: Gwen Verdon in “I’m a Brass Band,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now;” Fosse rehearsing the film cast in “The Rich Man’s Frug,” “There’s Got to Be Something Better Than This”

“The Rich Man’s Frug” captured the grooviness of the 1960s in a controlled and detailed dance that dictated the positioning of every inch of every dancers body. It was a marathon of difficult body positions and coordinated subtle movements. The intensity of detail in the number left the dancers exhausted (Gottfried, 1990), a fact that audience members not educated in dance would never notice. Fosse’s less-is-more philosophy was spotlighted in the number, and the dancers made the movements look both stylized and easy. Take particular notice of the placement of the back, arms, wrists and hands of the dancers.

Once again, Broadway dancers were forced to adapt to an innovation on the Broadway stage. The Fosse style became one of the most difficult techniques for them to conquer. For some dancers, such as Gwen Verdon, the style felt natural, and on these lucky dancers, it looked phenomenal. Other dancers would train for years to look merely adequate as they tried to reproduce the minute details of the turned-in, sensual, subtle style.

Fosse had emerged from the dark world of performing burlesque acts in nightclubs. He was also a huge fan of vaudeville. These beginnings—poles apart from the ballet, tap, modern dance training of his colleagues—heavily impacted his style. The foundation of Fosse’s movement was an simmering, restrained sensuality. “Fosse dancers” almost always dance in black. Vaudeville elements such as hats, canes, gloves, emcees, showgirls and performers’ working the crowd by walking into the audience all eventually made their way into his dances. Fosse talked about his style of dancing:

I’ve really tried to vary my choices to try to get rid of whatever it is that people call my style. And when you think about it, what are they talking about? Characteristics. I use a lot of hats, I suppose. But I started wearing hats because I started losing my hair. I’d wear one to rehearsal and start doing tricks with it—so that became part of my “style.”

Also, I have bad posture. Look. A lot of my stuff comes out rounded over this way. I don’t have a natural turnout. In fact, I’m slightly turned in, so a lot of the steps I do are that way too. See? And the jerkiness of what they call my style is… well, I guess the jerkiness is just me. (Cited in Kislan, 1987, p. 109)

Here is a fabulous example of the legacy of Fosse’s choreography. After watching the above video, go to this one that puts “Snake in the Grass” side by side with Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” video to show where Jackson got his signature moves! [ Billie Jean (1983) was the video that made people stand up and take notice of Jackson’s dancing. Fans had never seen anything like it.

Mark Grant gave his take on the Fosse technique:

From early on, Fosse had the most recognizable visual signature of any show choreographer past or present with the possible exception of Busby Berkeley: the derby hats, the white gloves; the black costumes and black backgrounds upon which he’d throw…lighting effects; the bent knees, turned-in feet, and hunched shoulders; the pelvic thrust; the small group of dancers slithering across the stage in a synchronized movement known as the “Fosse amoeba.” As his dance style further evolved from the 1950s to the 1970s, every dancer in a Fosse ensemble became a replica of Fosse himself…In his late shows Fosse’s dances became metaphysical distillatons of vaudeville…unrelated to text, plot or character. (Grant, 2004, p. 284)

There is as wide a range of choreographic processes as there are choreographers. Fosse’s process evolved as he became more confident. Worried about appearing untalented in front of his dancers, Fosse choreographed every step of his show, The Pajama Game (1954), before his first rehearsal with the dancers. As time went on, he worked out a general structure for dances, then waited until rehearsal to experiment with individual steps and patterns with his dancers, often trying several different versions of a short dance combination before collaborating with the dancers to finish the dance (Kislan, 1987).

Next, Fosse directed and choreographed the musical Pippin. Fosse’s star power was by now so fixed in the industry that he was able to take complete control of the show. He changed the script to suit the dances he wanted (Kislan, 1987) and shut composer Stephen Schwartz out of almost all decision making, including decisions about music (De Giere, 2008).

Pippin was light on plot, big on visual impact, song and dance. Fosse let his imagination take him to new explorations in dance. Though Fosse was well-known for dark, sensual choreography, he was also adept at creating spirited, vaudevillian comedy.

Pippin also explored a new advertising tactic:

Plugging a Broadway musical on a television commercial, [now] a standard practice, was originally the brainchild not of a Madison Avenue adman but of Fosse. Fosse made the suggestion to Fred Golden of the Blaine-Thompson ad agency to put a snippet from Pippin (1973) on a television commercial…“The curious thing was that the beautiful little moment Fosse staged for the commercial wasn’t even in the show,” recalls American Theatre Wing’s Roy Somlyo. “It became so popular that ultimately he did put it in, and whenever that moment came up, the audience broke out in wild applause.”

Fosse was thus responsible not only for helping to make musicals a primarily visual medium, but for selling them to the public as a visual, not a storytelling, medium. Pippin’s producer, Stuart Ostrow, wrote: “I have mixed emotions about having created the Pippin commercial that I put on television in 1973. The commercial was the first of its kind, a minute of lightning in a bottle, but it never occurred to me that it would change the way theatre was to be produced. From that moment on hucksters could sell shows as commodities so long as their [TV commercial] spot had glitter and hype. Never mind producing a great show, produce a great commercial!” (Grant, 2004, p. 285)

Pippin was a runaway hit, continuing for over three and a half years and 1944 performances. The show won Tony awards for Best Actor in a Musical (Ben Vereen), Best Directing (Fosse) and Best Choreography as well as 2 others for Lighting and Scenic Design.

For years, Verdon wanted to turn the play Chicago into a musical in which she would play the lead.

Plot: Chicago tells the story of married Roxie Hart, a wannabe musical star who would do anything to see her name in lights. After murdering her lover, she finally gets the publicity and notoriety she needs to achieve her dream.

Fosse used his love of vaudeville to format the show. The show was a musical revue that forwarded the story with a wide variety of song and dance numbers in a wide variety of styles:

· “All That Jazz” was signature Fosse, with tight, minimal movements that somehow evoked a mood of dark, pent-up sexuality waiting to explode. This opening number, danced by the elitely trained chorus and lead character, Velma Kelly (played by Chita Rivera), gave audiences a tantalizing peek at the wonders to come.

· The “Cell Block Tango” was dark and dangerous. Set in prison, each of five “merry murderesses” sang and danced the violent story of how she had been driven to murder her lover. The sixth woman, Swedish-native, Hunyak, spoke desperately in her mother tongue then plaintively said the only two English words in her vocabulary: “not guilty.”

· With vaudeville spirit guiding the show, “We Both Reached for the Gun” showed Roxie as a ventriloquist’s dummy, sitting on her lawyer’s knee as he coached her on her upcoming court testimony.

· “Mister Cellophane” showed Roxie’s hapless husband Amos, a man who worships Roxie, but is invisible to her.

Each number parodied the justice system, exposing it to the audience as nothing more than show business.

The sensuality of Fosse's movement grew along with America's sexual revolution. The costumes also reflect the change in attitude about sex. In the video below, dancers sing their love for the lawyer, Billy Flynn, who puts a lawyer-spin on love.

Chicago ran for 936 performances. It was Verdon’s last Broadway show.

Ann Reinking was born in Seattle in 1949 and trained at the Joffrey School. Her first Broadway musical was Coco (1969), choreographed by Michael Bennett [another famous choreographer who we will study next week.]

Reinking’s first show with Fosse was Pippin, in which she was cast as a “Player” and an understudy [person that plays the role when a cast member is unavailable] for the lead. Fosse fell in love with the leggy dancer. Although he had many girlfriends both before and after meeting Reinking, she became Fosse’s second muse, never taking Verdon’s place, but nevertheless stealing a piece of his heart.

In a rather interesting turn of events, Reinking took over the role of Roxie Hart—originated by Verdon—in Chicago for the last six months of its run. She also replaced Debbie Allen as Charity in the 1986 revival of Sweet Charity. Verdon was Fosse’s assistant on the show.

Though it didn’t happen quickly, Verdon learned to accept Fosse with all of his weaknesses. Fosse always had at least one or two girlfriends. He had periods of deep depression. Verdon remained Fosse’s closest friend. She understood and admired him. The two never divorced, and they maintained a marriage-like emotional bond throughout Fosse’s life.

For Dancin’, Fosse completely eliminated script, composer and lyricist. The show was filled with dance numbers, set to existing pieces of music. The music—and dance styles—varied widely and included music by Bach, George M. Cohan, [pop star] Neil Diamond and John Philip Sousa (Bordman & Hischak, 2004). The show “enjoyed an exceptionally long run not only because of its fine dancing but because it became a prime attraction for foreigners, who found it offered no language problems” (Bordman & Hischak, 2004, p. 164).

In 1979, Fosse conceived, co-wrote, directed and choreographed an autobiographically-based film entitled All That Jazz. The story began with Joe Gideon—the lead character based on Fosse—casting a show. As the movie progresses, Gideon worries that he’s dying and he begins to look back at his drug-filled, womanizing life. Fosse created a dark world that reflected his own tortured mind. The movie shows the crassness and cruelness that Fosse often displayed, and it also shows the genius of his work and why those close to him not only put up with his abuse—they worshipped him.

Fosse had—and still has—many admirers. There are those, however, who are not Fosse fans.

While he concedes that Fosse was an innovative choreographer, author Mark Grant believes Fosse used musical storylines to further dancing, rather than the other way around. In his book, The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical, Grant states,

Fosse was a brilliant and original choreographer, but his work, like Champion’s, did incalculable damage to the integrated Broadway musical’s previous ability to create moving and coherent drama…Director-choreographers choose weak books for the same reasons that some presidential candidates choose weak vice-presidential running mates: so as not to be upstaged” (Grant, 2004, p. 285-6).

Grant posits that Gower Champion and Fosse focused too much on visual production, and he believes this emphasis on spectacle over story later impacted set design, which eventually took over as a major production priority when producers were considering where to spend their money. Less money was then spent on orchestra members and chorus performers. Actors that could sing and dance took the place of separate choruses that were expert at one skill. This shift in priorities, according to Grant, negatively impacted the quality of Broadway shows.

Although Fosse’s dances certainly contributed to character and were especially evocative for the mood they created, each dance is a study of movement that could be pulled out of the musical and viewed as its own work of art. In the style of the vaudeville/variety shows he loved, Fosse created show stopping numbers. In 1999, some of Fosse’s proteges did just that; they pulled the best of Fosse's dances from the context of their shows to create a new one: Fosse.

Fosse combined the sexuality of burlesque, the smokiness of the nightclub and the desperate attention-grabbing of vaudeville with his insatiable insistence on perfection to create his own signature style. By doing so, he also added an enduring style to Broadway dance.

Chita Rivera, Gwen Verdon and Ann Reinking re-established the female dancer as the star of the show. Fosse’s trio of stars became iconic symbols of dance on Broadway. During her career, Gwen Verdon won four Tony Awards: [ Can-Can (1954), Damn Yankees (1956), New Girl in Town (1958) and Redhead (1959)], tying with Angela Lansbury for the most Tonys for an actress in a musical (Tony Awards Production, 2010, “Facts and Trivia”). Reinking received a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical ( Dancin’) and Best Choreography ( Chicago, 1996 Revival) and several Tony nominations, including Best Direction of a Musical ( Fosse). Chita Rivera received seven Tony nominations and an additional two Tony Awards: one for Best Actress for her portrayal of Anna in The Rink (1984), and her second for her stunning portrayal of the Spider Woman in the 1993 musical The Kiss of the Spider Woman. Rivera was 60 years old when she sang, danced and acted her way to the Best Actress award.

Bob Fosse, who always had much love, admiration, and weakness, for women helped to put them center stage, dancing where they belonged. And they gave him their love, sweat, tears, and eternal devotion in return.