- Title: UK: THE AWARD WINNING BROADWAY SHOW FOSSE COMES TO LONDON
- Date: 2nd March 2000
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 14, 2000) (REUTERS TELEVISION- ACCESS ALL) ) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DARREN CARNELL DANCER REPLYING TO REPORTER ASKING HOW ANN REINKING AND GWEN VERDON GOT ON: "Scarily well. It is quite something to watch, how well they do get on. But they both loved the same man so I think they understood each other because they were in the same p
- Embargoed: 17th March 2000 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA18S9A7OD3K5A1R0NYBT53L227
- Story Text: Put on your bowler hats, white gloves and start clicking those fingers, because Fosse razzmatazz has just hit England.The American Choreographer, Bob Fosse, who died in 1987, was famous for his dance compositions in hit musicals and movies such as "Kiss Me Kate", Chicago and "Cabaret".Now some of his best routines can be caught in Fosse the award winning Broadway show that has just come to London's West End.
Fosse, the tribute show to Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse, opened in London in February to tumultuous applause.
The production consists of an endless succession of Fosse's greatest hits from a variety of shows, some sung as well as danced, others just danced.But all showing that indomitable Fosse style.
The London show's resident choreographer Warren Carlyle says: "It is very simple, it looks simple, it is very difficult to do.Because of the physical demands, not physical demands as much as high kicks or splits.It is physical demands as much as turning the feet in and arching the back and putting the arms behind you and they are the opposite to what you are taught as a dancer.Fosse style is the wit, the intelligence, it's a storytelling through the movement".
The show has the added benefit of being largely created by Fosse's two muses: his wife, Gwen Verdon, who came up with the idea and his lover Ann Reinking, who is co-director and co-choreographer.Carlyle says Verdon drew from her knowledge of both Fosse the man and the dancer.
"A lot of what you see in Fosse was created on her and when she wasn't starring in the show, she was his assistant or she was his dance captain or she maintained the show or she taught the show to people learning it.So you see first hand from the assistant of Bob Fosse and the wife and the lover and the woman he created all the stuff on, you see where it all came from.And quite often when you choreograph, you choreograph on the person you have in front of you and when you see Gwen Verdon you understand why his work is the way it is.So things like 'Big Spender' for example Gwen was the original Sweet Charity.So she could tell the story behind the bits of dialogue.She could tell you why your body doesn't move when you stamp your feet twice.She could tell you every thought in you head for the whole three minutes of that number, which becomes much more than steps, which is why it is so powerful.And Ann Reinking is a dancer's dancer.
She was one of the greatest dancers of this age.She is amazing to watch and Bob also choreographed and created for her.So she has the same as Gwen that kind of background that is invaluable".
And how did these unlikely bedfellows get on? "Scarily well.It is quite something to watch, how well they do get on.But they both loved the same man so I think they understood each other because they were in the same position".
That's from one of the show's dancers, Darren Carnell, who believes the West End show is every bit as impressive with a British cast, despite the reputation Americans have for top class razzle dazzle show dancing.
Carnell says: "It is a good challenge for us.When we heard the show was coming over there was a big question around the theatre scene as to whether the British could take on Bob's choreography and take on his style and whether people would come and see the show because it is basically about Bob Fosse and people not knowing who he actually was so much here as in America.It was a question as to whether we could make it viable to the British audiences and I think from the reaction we are getting it is definitely working as it is something new for the British audiences and they are liking it a lot and bringing it to a wider audience which is fantastic".
Nicola Hughes, the 23 year-old star of the show, is too young to belong to Bob Fosse's generation.But she says she first learned of the choreographer through the movie "Cabaret", which Fosse directed and choreographed in 1972.
The film, set in a sleazy Berlin nightclub just before Hitler's rise to power, won seven Oscars -- including best director.
Hughes says: "Probably watching cabaret and even when I watched it when I was younger, I think I was too young to get it.But now when I watch the films I am completely honoured that I am in my twenties to be doing this style that has been going since the fifties and I am doing it.So how do I feel.
Well Gwen and Ann keep telling us we are Fosse's footsteps, because it is the first time that some of these numbers have been performed in this country.So I feel really fab about that.I feel really proud I'm doing it."
Fosse is a compilation show not a musical with a story line.The production ranges in mood, tempo, eras and characters: from a sixties taxidriver to a seventies wildchild.
Carnell says: "It is definitely separate numbers and that is a mental thing to work on..is the fact of changing from one era to another in a space of a couple of numbers.
You go on and you are someone completely different.The costumes help, because the costumes are beautiful in the show.
So therefore it is the fact of us knowing who we are playing at that point and conveying it as actors and dancers and singers.....They call it the triple threat that's what Bob was famous for demanding from his actors and actresses was the fact they could sing and dance and act.He brought dancers from the back of the ensemble..and put them in the front of the stage which is exactly what we achieve here.Because we are all dancers primarily, but we are all in the spotlight at some point singing and acting as well.So it is a fantastic opportunity for us to show that we can do it all."
Hughes is the perfect example of the triple threat, taken from a term used in American baseball.She belts out the old hits, while shaking and shimmying.
Hughes says: "I Just cannot believe I am here on stage singing a Liza Minelli song with thousands of people watching me and I think that's part of my personality that I cannot believe that I am actually on the stage and I'm just enjoying every minute of it, because you don't know how long it is going to last for.That's why I see people smiling, because they can see me enjoying it and I hope that that feeds through to them, so I hope that comes through in the show.It's just I'm loving it and I know I am lucky to be here".
For those who fancy a toe-tapping trip Fosse is booked at the Prince of Wales theatre for six months, but it looks likely to get an extension. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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