A gift to Gwen from Jack
FOSSE VERDON — Michelle Williams as Gwen Verdoncredit Eric Liebowitz/FX Networks Ed. note: Excerpted from a story published today in DANCE Magazine: You can see them in “Fosse/Verdon” episode one. Michelle Williams, playing Gwen Verdon, wears them with a cool, retro, forest-green jumpsuit. Tucked beneath a mop top of tousled Gwen Verdon locks, Williams sports ...
It’s Jack Cole time Tuesday on FX’s ‘Fosse/Verdon’
Actor Christopher Tocco, above, plays Jack Cole in a backstage scene with the young Gwen Verdon in FX’s blockbuster eight-episode docu-drama, “Fosse/Verdon.” “Fosse/Verdon”‘s backstage scene between Verdon and her mentor Jack Cole is preceded by a Jack Cole jazz number vividly choreographed by “Hamilton” choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, who is a co-producer of this series. Out with ...
Clippings tour: ‘Dirty Dancing,’ original version 1
42nd Street (1933) choreography by Busby Berkeley This month’s edition of “Dirty Dancing: The Original” dates to the 1930s. If you think the McCarthy era saw the birth of the Hollywood black list you got that wrong. A work ‘lock-out’ took place during the Depression when chorus girls did not (ahem) ‘put out’ — and ...
Jack Cole on the Beeb 2
Apr
13
2019
Jack Cole, Chita Rivera, Beale Street Blues It’s correct. The attention given, this past week, to the choreographer Jack Cole at the very moment of the debut of the Fosse/Verdon mini-series on FX. It’s correct because Verdon, a miraculous, one-off entertainer, was nearly a creation of Cole’s. And it’s correct because, basically: no Jack Cole, ...
Nureyev – the man, the dancer – in a stimulating documentary 1
A rich companion piece to the soon-opening feature film, The White Crow (our review here), is the cleverly constructed new documentary, Nureyev, co-directed by BAFTA-nominated directors Jacqui Morris and David Morris. This doc, with its very unusual structure, was made with the support of the Nureyev Foundation. Released by CineLife Entertainment, Nureyev is a reworking ...
THE WHITE CROW: Getting Rudik right 2
WHITE CROW director Ralph Fiennes sets up museum shot for Oleg Ivanko as Rudolf Nureyev My headline news: dance people will absolutely love The White Crow. Most everything — in dance terms — about this rapturous feature film depicting the early life of ballet’s dark prince, Rudolf Nureyev, is spot on. (The film, based on ...
Gwen Verdon to critic: Don’t overlook my choreographer
Apr
1
2019
Gwen Verdon, a woman with values, in a handwritten note from September 1958, mildly protests to Los Angeles Times film critic John L. Scott about a crazy oversight in his review of the film Damn Yankees. [Pause the slide show for easier reading.] Scott was sufficiently impressed by Verdon’s message that he saved the letter ...
Jerry’s beach house … 1
This lovely Bridgehampton cottage, a creative, restorative retreat for its former owner, Jerome Robbins, can now be yours. It is for sale by the Jerome Robbins Foundation. According to Forbes.com, His two-bed, 2 ½ bath wooden-shingle cottage on an acre along the Hamptons oceanfront was the perfect spot, with a wraparound deck and views of ...
Death of a dancer: Lawrence Rhodes
Mar
31
2019
Lawrence Rhodes, Brunilda Ruiz in “Time Out of Mind” – Harkness Ballet 1965 Michael Avedon photo courtesy Finis Jhung I first saw Lawrence Rhodes (1939-2019) dance with the Pennsylvania Ballet. Growing up in Pittsburgh, the company was a point of pride. The below photo is very much how I remember Rhodes’s dancing. His elegance, power, ...
Cunningham, 100, at CAP
Mar
29
2019
We’ve heard of the Land of 1,000 Dances. But what is the ‘Night of 100 Solos‘? It is a global celebration of the centennial of a great dance genius, Merce Cunningham, the exceptional dance-advancing artist who was born on April 16, 1919, in Centralia, Washington. Mighty Los Angeles is part of it! In Night of ...