Frankie Nevin

John Lennox

Theater History

26 November, 2017

Bob Fosse

Chicago native, Bob Fosse, defined musical theater as it stands today. With his

impressive and unprecedented eight Tony awards, he is the only person to have earned a Tony,

Oscar and Emmy in the same year. Fosses style of dance and direction revolutionized not just

theater but movement throughout all medias with his uncompromised style characterized by

props, signature steps and provocative moves has influenced actors, dancers and directors.

Bob Fosse, born Robert Louis Fosse, was born June 23, 1927 the fifth of six children at

the height of the Roaring Twenties. Both parents had a knack for music so it was no surprise that

Bob Fosse found the stage. Fosse found early inspiration in Fred Astaire and was said to have

danced the entire way home after seeing one of his films. This lead a young Fosse to start taking

dance classes at an early age. He was the only male in the dance school which led him to being

bullied and be whistled at and was quoted saying, I got a lot of jokes and got whistled at a lot.

But I beat up a couple of the whistlers and the rest sort of tapered off after a while. By the time

Bob Fosse reached his early teens he was dancing professionally at local clubs helping his

parents pay the bills. At the young age of fifteen, Bob Fosse was already emceeing at local

Burlesque houses and was given his first chance a bit of choreograph. Dancing at these clubs was

where the young Bob Fosse was introduced to the burlesque style of dancing which influenced

the rest of his career.

 While Bob Fosse danced in clubs to help support his family, his brothers and many other

young American men were helping their country fight in the war. Though Fosse loved dance he

also felt that needed to help serve his country. Keeping his epilepsy a secret, he went through

bootcamp just as the war was coming to a close. Though still eager to serve his country, Fosse

was assigned to serve in the Navys entertainment division for soldiers waiting to come home.

After two years of service, he was discharged and moved to New York City in 1947 in hopes of

making it big on Broadway.

By 1950, he booked Broadway! He was in the musical revue Dance Me a Song and in

1952 he understudied for Harold Lang in the title role of Joey Evans in Pal Joey. Before

booking Broadway, Fosse formed a dance team with his first wife Mary Ann Niles and

performed in variety shows for television and on stage. In 1953, Bob Fosse traveled to

Hollywood and earned himself a contract with MGM. At MGM, he made three movies including

Kiss Me, Kate. In that film, he was uncredited with choreography and danced a short but

exciting sequence with Carol Haney which took the attention of George Abbott and Jerome

Robbins -- two very powerful Broadway producers. After he choreographed MGMs movie

musical My Sister Eileen he moved back to New York City with his new wife Joan

McCracken to work George Abbotts new musical The Pajama Game.

Bob Fosse went on to choreograph and director for the stage and screen earning acclaim

in both mediums. Starting with The Pajama Game, Fosse earned his first Tony award for his

use of his signature style that incorporated intricate movement and imagery drawn from Fosses

vaudeville past. In The Pajama Game, Fosse choreographed Hernandos Hideaway to be

performed in half-darkness and for his choreography for Steam Heat which director Abbot
almost cut because it was too hot. Can you imagine dancing almost in the dark? Fosse then went

on to work on the musical Damn Yankees and earned another Tony. After Damn Yankees

came Bells Are Ringing which he co-choreographed with George Abbott; then after that came

New Girl in Town which was quite pivotal moment in Bob Fosses life.

New Girl in Town reunited Fosse with George Abbott and actress Gwen Verdon -- who

starred in Damn Yankees -- again in 1957. The show was quite dramatic but left not much room

for movement so Fosse embellished. He embellished the walk of the performers who were

playing prostitutes and even added the infamous Red Light Ballet which was so shocking and

dirty that the out-of-town tryout in New Haven, Coneticut was padlocked by the police until the

production was cleaned. Fosse then restaged the number at the directors request but soon

restored the number into the production after opening in New York City. This led Bob Fosse to

realize that he no longer wanted to make changes to his choreography on the sake of propriety.

He realized that he needed to become the director of his own shows to have complete creative

freedom which brings us to his next hit Redhead.

Redhead starred Gwen Verdon -- later to be Fosses third and final wife -- was Bob

Fosses directorial debut. Gwen Verdon was the queen of Broadway at the time and helped Bob

Fosse and starred in his big debut which led to Tony awards for both Verdon and Fosse. This

added responsibility of not just choreography but direction heavily weighed upon Fosse. Many

believe that this added stress negatively affected his health for he suffered an epileptic seizure

during the rehearsal of his next show The Conquering Hero which debuted in 1961. The

producers of the show felt that with Fosses health that they need to replace him and brought in
Todd Bolender which led to epic flop that was The Conquering Hero which funny enough did

not really conquer anything but Bob Fosses health.

Meanwhile, the show How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was

struggling with choreographer Hugh Lambert so they offered Fosse the job who only accepted

the position out of sheer pity and would only come on as musical staging manager if Lambert

stayed on as choreographer so not to step on anyones toes. Fosse reshaped numbers Coffee

Break and A Secretary Is Not a Toy which helped the show win seven Tonys. In 1962, Fosse

choreographed and co-directed Little Me with Dy Feuer which garnered multiple awards but

the only Tony went to Fosse. He briefly returned to acting and reprised his role in Pal Joey and

earned yet another Tony nomination but then soon returned to directing and choreography for

Sweet Charity in 1966 a project that he helped conceive and write for himself. The show

featured two very big very Fosse numbers Big Spender and Rich Mans Frug and earned

seven Tony nominations and yet another win for Fosse. Next came Pippin, one of Broadways

highest-earning shows, which was nominated for six Tony nominations and won five where

Fosse took two home -- one for directing and one for choreography.

Next Fosse directed his second movie, Sweet Charity, for film starring Shirley

MacLaine in Gwen Verdons role; then Cabaret starring Liza Minnelli and Michael York which

took eight Academy Awards in 1973, one of them being Best Director. Plus, Fosse directed and

choreographed the 1972 television concert Liza with a Z earning him two Emmy awards and a

Tony award for Pippin. This leaves Fosse with a Tony, an Emmy and an Oscar all in Best

Director in 1973. What a year!

 Fosse returned to film in 1975 with Lenny a biopic of Lenny Bruce and The Little

Prince. That year he also returned to Broadway with Chicago where he served as book writer,

director and choreographer. Though with Chicagos 1996 revival being a huge hit and being

one of the longest running shows in musical theater history its original production was a bit

ahead of its time. The show was nominated for an impressive eleven Tony nominations but took

home nothing. Next came Dancin a revue in which directed and choreographed and won his

seventh Tony for choreography in 1978. Then Fosse returned to film and directed his extremely

flashy autobiographical film All That Jazz. The film centered around his heart attack in the

early rehearsals of Chicago and nearly every character in the film represented real people from

his life such has as wife Gwen Verdon who he had separated with. The film starred Roy Scheider

as Fosse and John Lithgow represented his real life rival Michael Bennett. All That Jazz took

home four Academy Awards including best director for Fosse. His next and final film was the

controversial movie Star 80 in 1983 about the life and murder of Playboy Playmate Dorothy

Stratten. Though it did have international acclaim its subject matter did read well with American

viewers. His final Broadway production Big Deal in 1986 was not much of a success running

for only 69 performances he won his eighth Tony for best choreography and earned four more

nominations.

Bob Fosse died in September 1987 in Washington D.C. before the opening of Sweet

Charity revival. In 1999, a three-act musical revue called Fosse was brought to Broadway by

Richard Maltby Jr. and Ann Reinking. Fosse was later inducted posthumously into the National

Museum of Dance in Saratoga April 2007. Fosses legacy will not just live on stage and on

screen but in the hearts of those who got to experience him. His colleagues described him as a
driven, tireless and hard-working with an addictive personality but overall genius. His ability to

string together a light comedic story with dark plots such as Cabaret is simply remarkable.

Fosse created an unapologetic style of dance of his own style that was characterized by finger

snapping, tilted bowler hats, net stockings, splayed gloved fingers, turned-in knees and toes (ew)

and shoulders. In musical theatre and even dance today, to see choreography such as this --

which is quite difficult to do right -- will be undeniable Fosse which to him was just jazz (insert

jazz hand here).

Works Cited

Bob Fosse. Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017,

www.biography.com/people/bob-fosse-9299517.

Cross, Lucy E. Bob Fosse. The Official Masterworks Broadway Site,

masterworksbroadway.com/artist/bob-fosse/.