Fosse television taping of live stage performance

I have to confess, I'm not much into dance. I realize that if I knew the components of the art form better, and understood how they are put together, I would be able to appreciate it more. Sorry, Mr. Fosse, as I understand it, you were a great progenitor of a new style of Broadway dance who created a new language not only in the dance world but also the world of the Broadway musical as a whole. And the 1999 review of your work, Fosse, showcases the wide range of your choreography.

I do know just enough to realize his choreography and direction form a bridge from the so-called "Golden Era" of the Broadway music to more diverse styles of musical which started in the 1960s and continues today.

From the early form comes numbers from Damn Yankees and Pajama Games. Dances from Pippin, Cabaret, Chicago, and Sweet Charity make up much of the new style. Also included are numbers from a television special, Liza with a Z, the film All That Jazz, and a strictly dance concert, Dancing, each which Fosse created and/or choreographed.

The show was put together and the choreography re-created by Ann Reinking, one of the final dancers to work heavily with Mr. Fosse. The former Mrs. Fosse (Gwen Verdon) served as artistic supervisor to the show, forming the link to Fosse's early work. Ms. Verdon died before the taping of the performance near the end of the show's run.

For me the most interesting parts were seeing the similarities in numbers. Often three dancers were used. Movement is often presented in profile. Hats form a big bit in many pieces. And of course, the iconic isolation moves of arms and legs.

There is some singing included in the show, and the best of it is done by Ben Vereen, whose voice sounds surprisingly fresh considering he had made his Broadway debut more than 30 years earlier.

Fosse
Music by many composers
Lyrics by many lyricists
No book
Original choreography Bob Fosse
Presented as a show in 1999
Cast: Ben Vereen, Dana Moore, Ann Reinking, and a bunch of other incredibly limber and energetic dancers.

Pippin stage production on DVD

I have a long and sorted history with this show. I may have gone to about the only high school in America that would have risked staging Pippin. It was also about the last time I would have dared wear a unitard, which the entire cast wore, making the sexually charged nature of the show even more potent. It was 1983 and the show was, if not still cutting edge, at least a lot more edgy than your average high school musical. This also a time before things like parents' advisory groups, which now would surely squelch any director who wanted to use high schoolers to tell this story.

This show suffers a bit from age, not only in the "finding one's self" story, but also from it's circus-infused story-telling techniques, its strong theatricalities, and it's blatant anti-war theme. Actually, the anti-war theme may still be potent. The music remains likable, particularly Pippin's solo numbers.

William Katt is a pleasant Pippin, with the right pop-twinged voice for Stephen Schwartz's score. He spends a goodly amount of time without a shirt on, and it's, well, goodly. The cast is generally all good. Ben Vereen reprises his leading player role from the Broadway cast, for which he had won a Tony Award in 1973. Chita Rivera is Pippin's mother; Martha Raye is Pippin's grandmother. The vocal standout in the cast is Benjamin Rayson as Charlemagne. He displays a strong full-throated baritone befitting the King that united an Empire. Is this the touring company? It's nearly a decade after the show opened on Broadway.

Sorry to drop so many unknown names, but really all I can think of when writing about Pippin is Teri and Adam (who split the Leading Player role), and Drew(Pippin), and Anna (Berthe), and Paul (Charlemagne), and Jamie (the brother whats-his-name), and Melissa (Catherine), and Carrie (Fastrada), from"my" production. I should get points for remembering those names after 25 years. I've only seen two of them in the last 10.

Pippin
Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by Roger O. Hirson and Bob Fosse
Original production directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse
Filmed in Hamilton, Ontario in 1981
Cast: William Katt, Martha Raye, Chita Rivera, Ben Vereen, Benjamin Rayson, Leslie Denniston

Sweet Charity film on DVD

I seem to be in a DVD rut at this point in my Year. But if they are all as good as Bob Fosse's film version of his stage production of Sweet Charity, then I'm fine by it. Shirley MacLaine has exactly the right balance of bravado and vulnerability, eternal optimist and perennial victim. And she is the perfect embodiment of Fosse's choreography. The music is at the same time bubbly and specific to time/place/character.

This was Bob Fosse's first job directing a film and there is an interesting DVD extra about his efforts to translate his stage production to film. He uses a lot of various cinematic techniques in telling the story and presenting the music and dance. Sometimes they feel a little dated and slow down the story-telling, but I give him points for looking outside the box.

The men get short-changed in terms of musical numbers in this film, which cuts several of the songs from the stage show. But there is a good ol' fashioned Stubby Kaye chorus number.

I found myself mesmerized by the portrayals by some notable musical theater performers in smaller roles in the film, which I think is a positive comment on their watch ability. Chita Rivera is front and center on the rail during the "Big Spender" number, and finally gets the dance on the roof she was denied when Rita Moreno was cast in the film of West Side Story. The afore-mentioned Stubby Kaye is the dance hall manager. Ben Vereen appears in the night club dance scene. And I think I can totally get behind any religion that has Sammy Davis Jr. as its apostle!

Sweet Charity
Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Screenplay by Peter Stone (of 1776?) based on the book of the stage musical by Neil Simon
Directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Chita Rivera, Ricardo Montalban, Stubby Kaye, Sammy Davis Jr., John McMartin

Damn Yankees film on DVD

My second Adler and Ross show this Year is Damn Yankees. Since George Abbott produced and directed both the stage versions and screen versions, I have to assume that the film is fairly true to the original, although I've never seen it on stage. Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon reprise their stage roles for the film. Jean Stapleton, in a small role, was also in both. Ms. Verdon's husband, Bob Fosse, choreographed both versions and appears in the film.

Ray Walston won the Tony for this role, and I have to say Applegate seems like a fun role, but I don't see Walston really savoring it much. Perhaps the very two-dimensional staging and camera angles are partially to blame. This seems like a role where you should chew the scenery.

Gwen Verdon as Lola proves herself the perfect embodiment of Bob Fosse's choreography, especially in the "fan club" dance they perform together toward the end of the film. I wonder if there are other examples of the two of them dancing together.

Tab Hunter is sweet as Joe Hardy and seems appropriately stymied by the more polished performances of Walston and Verdon--perhaps part of the point of casting him.

After enjoying Adler and Ross's Pajama Game so much, I was a bit disappointed in the music in this show. "You Gotta Have Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants Lola Gets" were the only songs I had heard before. The rest of it didn't really do it for me.

A new production of Damn Yankees opens for a short run at City Center today, coincidentally. It stars Jane Krakowski as Lola, Sean Hayes as Applegate and Cheyenne Jackson as Joe Hardy. Seems like a good cast. I won't be able to get to New York to see it, but if you do, give a report.

Damn Yankees
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Ross and Richard Adler
Book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop
1958 film directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen
Cast: Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston, Tab Hunter, Jean Stapleton, Rae Allen, Robert Shafer, Shannon Bolin

The Little Prince Television production on DVD

This television production from 1974 was vaguely remembered by me, as I've previously mentioned, so I was glad when Netflix delivered The Little Prince to my mailbox. Richard Kiley is one of those baritone voices I admire--robust without being "woofy" and with enough legato to qualify as real singing. The music, lyrics and screenplay are by Lerner and Loewe, so it marks this team's first appearance in my Year.

The cast of this production, which the Netflix envelope rightly describes as a quasi-musical, also includes Bob Fosse, Gene Wilder, and Donna Mckechnie. Mckechnie is hampered by never being let outside a rose bloom. Fosse shines as the snake who slithers his way through a funny song and dance. It was kind of odd to see Fosse's characteristic isolation-style choreography in a desert setting, but it totally works for a snake. Gene Wilder is perhaps the best of the three, very funny and skittish as the fox.

By far the best piece of music in the production is the title song which Kiley sings toward the end. I hope this song has a life beyond the television production, which seems a bit forgotten with Lerner & Loewe's justifiably more memorable stage musicals.

The Little Prince
Music by Frederick Loewe
Lyrics and Screenplay by Jay Lerner
Directed by Stanley Donen
Created for television in 1974
Cast: Steven Warner, Richard Kiley, Donna Mckechnie, Gene Wilder, Bob Fosse