Tattle Tales

By Lenny Traube

WELL, I FINALLY MADE IT: To the great musical "Fosse", which opened January 14, 1999, at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre where it has been a sell-out hit ever since. It won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Musical as well as Best Musical awards from the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League. Now well into its second year at the Broadhurst, the star of this hit show is not a single singer–dancer but the amazing choreography of the late director/choreographer/dancer Bob Fosse. The show presently has a cast of 32 dancers (many of whom also sing beautifully), headed by the stunning and talented singer– dancer Stephanie Pope. The program includes such classic Fosse numbers as "Steam Heat," "Bye, Bye Blackbird," from the television special "Liza With A Z" and "Sing, Sing, Sing." But many of them have never been performed before. That a musical without dialogue, story or songs that advance the story is such a rousing success is, consequently, not surprising.

The beautiful Miss Pope is back on Broadway following two years on the road as Velma Kelly in that other Bob Fosse smash, "Chicago," which, coincidentally, plays nightly at the Shubert Theatre next door to the Broadhurst.

There is no gainsaying the genius of Bob Fosse, who won Tony Awards for his choreography in nine shows, including such memorable hits as "Pajama Game," "Redhead," "Sweet Charity" and "Chicago" and "Damn Yankees" and "How To Succeed In Business." However, he had a fine co-choreographer in the dancer Ann Reinking, to whom we owe a debt as she is responsible for the present choreography performed nightly onstage at the Broadhurst. It’s Fosse’s choreography, of course, but it could not have been resuscitated without Reinking.

During his productive years, Bob Fosse’s unique talent embraced most areas of the entertainment world, with the result that in 1973 he became the first director in history to win Oscar, Tony and Emmy Awards in a single year: for the film of "Cabaret," the Broadway musical "Pippin" and the television special "Liza with a Z." There has been no duplication of that accomplishment since 1973. Bob Fosse was also a gifted movie director of such vaunted films as "Sweet Charity," "Lenny" and "All That Jazz," the screen biography of his life. As a screen choreographer, he was also responsible for the dancing in "My Sister Eileen," "Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees."