To San Diego, for Fosse’s Dancin’!
bob fosse’s dancin’ in rehearsals. Photo by julieta dervantes It will be a reckoning. I have been researching Bob Fosse through his several biographies and of course, critically, through his movies. So, the advent of a major revival of Dancin‘ the original Broadway production created, directed, and choreographed by Fosse, this time directed and staged ...
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. [Hover to pause the slide show for easier reading.] Scott was sufficiently impressed by Verdon’s message that he saved ...
How ‘Lola’ helped Bob Fosse handle Gwen’s ‘bad reputation’
In a 1991 interview with Gwen Verdon on CUNY Television, the great Gwen describes her first encounter with Fosse as her choreographer for Damn Yankees. I had seen [Fosse] at MGM studios. We had met at a party that Michael Kidd gave. I had a reputation for being difficult … and I was. I was ...
Movie musical talk with George Chakiris
I had the wonderful good fortune to interview singer/dancer/actor George Chakiris at TCM Fest this weekend. The resulting Los Angeles Times piece here. A few leftover niblets to follow… His passion for musicals when growing up: I used to love every movie musical I saw. There was one that stood out, The Barclays of Broadway ...