Chicago 50 - No. 34 - I Can't Do It Alone

From Chita Rivera's memoir:

"One afternoon, Bobby was choreographing ‘I Can't Do It Alone.’ It's the number in the show when Velma, 'in an act of desperation,' tries to persuade Roxie to take her on as a vaudeville partner once they're sprung from jail. Bobby had me dancing on a chair for what seemed an eternity. The movements were small and subtle.

"‘Make it less, Chita, less,’ he kept repeating. At one point, I wondered whether I was moving at all.

Finally, on a break and in an act of desperation myself, I leaned on Tony Stevens, who was now acting as Bobby's assistant choreographer.

"‘Tony, could you please ask Bobby to get me off this damn chair?’

It worked. I was liberated from the chair and wound up eventually using the whole stage, doing flying splits, grand jetés, and even a cartwheel in the number. No disrespect to the chair by the way. I never lost sight that the chair came first; the chair was the star. I said to my understudy, "Be good to that chair, honey, or it will kick you in the ass!”

Chita in her costume backstage

"In the process of working on this and other numbers with Bobby, I realize something that he rarely, if ever, gets credit for. When people think of Fosse choreography, they think of what he himself described as his signature, 'the amoeba': the finger snapping struts, rolling shoulders, sideway shuffles, and gloved jazz hands. But working with me, Bobby used every move, choreographed to the tips of my fingers, to inform and define who Velma was. Building the character was his goal. If I wanted to express desperation, I did it through my body. I learned to enjoy 'pulling it back.' It was completely different from what my mind and body had thought dance was.

"During another session on 'I Can't Do It Alone,' Bobby pointed to a spotlight on the floor that looked to be a football field away. 'Chita, can you jump to there from where you're standing?'

I thought to myself, 'Damn, that's far!' When the music started up, I did my best and missed.

'Bobby, I am so sorry. Let me try it again," I said.

"He laughed. 'Chita, do you see that spotlight just a few feet away? I meant that one! Don't kill yourself.'

"If we all worked hard to please Bobby, it was because we realized that he was working hard for us. Besides, dancers are eager to please, no matter what is asked of them. No matter the pain."

--Chita: A Memoir by Chita Rivera

Small excerpt of Chita in "I Can't Do It Alone"

Footage taken by Candy Brown, original ensemble member, during the out-of-town try-out in Philadelphia.