Photo by Berry Berenson. Title in Bob Fosse's handwriting. Collage by Lauryn Johnson. Liza wrote: “At moments like this you keep your focus on the show and shut everything else out. Unfortunately, we had one headache that threatened to unravel the whole shebang. Halston had designed stunning costumes, and one stood out. I'd be singing the Joe Tex pop song 'I Gotcha,' and while you might love the performance, you couldn't take your eyes off my bright red, sequined, oh-so-very-

Liza in her "Mein Herr" costume designed by Halston for the Liza with a 'Z' filming. Liza wrote: “Our work on Cabaret would have exhausted the most energetic cast and crew. For God's sake, we all deserved a rest. For me, though, the hard work suddenly got harder. In the weeks before the Academy Awards, Fosse, Kander and Ebb, and others were busy planning a television special for me that, if it succeeded, would once again break new ground. At the time, TV variety shows blendin

International Posters for the original release of Cabaret American, Italian, French, Czechoslovakian, Japanese, German, Polish,

Liza arrives at the 1973 Academy Awards March 27, 1973 “At that point in time, the Oscars ceremony was still a hometown celebration, as well as a global broadcast. I was facing an audience packed with people whom I'd grown up with, a community I knew. It was an echo of the feelings I had eight years before at the Cocoanut Grove. But the stakes were much bigger now. Before the night began, the unspoken buzz in the room was: Is this little girl gonna make good tonight? Will she

This number was cut from the film Liza with a 'Z' which aired on NBC, but the work print was found and edited using Fosse's original editing notes so this is true to his vision for the number. Liza wrote: “When I first read the shooting script, [of Cabaret] there was a blank space right after the emcce introduces me in the film for the first time. The screenwriter, Jay Presson Allen, a woman, noted that a Kander and Ebb song-as yet unwritten— would fill this scene. And what a

Fosse directs Liza. Photo from the Fosse/Verdon Collection at the Library of Congress “Fosse also had a lot to prove with Cabaret, and he didn't play it safe. […] Fosse's earlier film debut as the director of Sweet Charity had bombed-and his future was not secure. Now, he was determined to make a film that some called an "anti-musical," a show for people who didn't like musicals. It's true that he and his producers had titanic clashes over casting and content as filming progr

The countdown to Liza at 80 at Carnegie Hall has begun! To mark this milestone evening, we will be celebrating this week by sharing archival photos, videos, and interviews on the collaborations between Liza Minnelli and Bob Fosse. Liza wrote: “Fosse had a profound influence on me as a singer, dancer, and actress. Dance has always been my first passion— it gave me my own lane—and Cabaret offered me an opportunity to show the world what I could do. Fosse knew this and brought a

Footage from the American Musical Theater Archive 1986. Ann Reinking stars as Charity in the Broadway Revival. Ann Reinking (Charity), Mark Jacoby (Vittorio Vidal), Bebe Neuwirth (Nickie), Allison Williams (Helene), Carrie Nygren (Ursula), Irving Allen Lee (Daddy Johann Sebastian Brubeck) Quinn Baird, Christine Colby, Alice Everett Cox, Kim Morgan Greene, Jan Horvath, Jane Lanier, Fred C. Mann III, Tanis Michaels, Dana Moore, Allison Renee Manson, Michelle O’Steen, Kelly Patt

Gwen Verdon as Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity. Photo by Ralph Morse for LIFE Magazine. Gwen Verdon All Aglow from LIFE Magazine, March 25, 1966 "Though the very look of it is rosy-hued sin, the lady is dreaming of the suburban world of kids, station wagons and PTA. She is Gwen Verdon, starring as Chair in the new Broadway musical Sweet Charity, in which she is anything but the devil’s helpmate she portrayed in Damn Yankees. She is a dime-a-dance girl who is the soul

Gwen Verdon as Charity singing "If My Friends Could See Me Now" Photo by Friedman-Abeles. Library of Congress Unfortunately there is no stage footage of Gwen in the original 1966 Broadway production of Sweet Charity. We do have two numbers that were recorded on the Ed Sullivan show on March 5, 1966: "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "I'm a Brass Band." Sets, costumes and staging are not 100% accurate to the stage version due to the constrains of television studios. Below

Excerpts from an opening night review by Stanley Kauffman in the New York Times, 1966. "Mr. Fosse’s staging of numbers is often superb. ‘Big Spender,’ in which the hostesses line up at a railing that has arisen just behind the footlights, is a splendid mobile frieze of floozies. ‘Rich Man’s Frug’ and ‘Rhythm of Life,’ the ‘religious’ beatnik number with a sharp vocal arrangement, are electric uses of jazz. Mr. Fosse also employs nice silent-movie touches—subtitles flashed o

Whatever Verdon Sings… excerpted from a New York Times article written by John S. Wilson, 1966 "The mere presence of Gwen Verdon in the original cast recording of Sweet Charity, gives this musical an advantage over most of those that have been served up to us this season. As a dance hall hostess of unquenchable romantic optimism, Miss Verdon works wonders with her oddly charming voice— a voice that is slightly nasal, slightly raspy, slightly sibilant but always touched with

The original Broadway production of Sweet Charity, composed by Cy Coleman with lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon, opened on J anuary 29, 1966, at the Palace Theatre . The production played 10 previews and 608 performances before closing July 15, 1967, earning nine Tony Awards with Bob Fosse winning Best Choreography . Based on the screenplay Nights of Cabiria by Federico Fellini, Sweet Charity follows the adventures of a New York taxi dancer with an open-heart

Photo by Ralph Morse for LIFE Magazine, 1966 From Life Magazine, March 25, 1966 by Thomas Thompson: "Last year, Gwen decided she wanted to return to the stage [after a 5 year retirement], and Fosse started searching for an idea. One day they went to see a Fellini movie called Nights of Canaria. One their way home afterward, Gwen said: ‘It didn’t do a thing for me.’ But it did something for Bob. He stayed up all night working out a musical treatment for the plot. Fellini’s he

At the 1987 Tony Awards Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon present the awards for Best Choreography and Best Director. Before announcing the winners, Bob took a moment to acknowledge that his success as a choreographer was due to the inspiration and partnership he found in Gwen Verdon. A beautiful acknowledgment of the vast body of work they created together including musicals, films, and their daughter Nicole. Despite separating in 1971, they remained close collaborators until Fosse'

Liza in "Nowadays" “When you love people, I think you help out, if you can.” — Liza on joining “Chicago” Just two months after Chicago opened in June of 1975, Gwen lost her voice. Marsha Bagwell relates the story that she took Gwen to her own renowned ENT where he recommended surgery to explore the issue. During surgery, the ENT found a single piece of confetti that had landed on her vocal chord and adhered to it, causing a blister. Marsha explained that during the finale whe

Hirschfeld made the drawing while Bob Fosse's show was still out of town in Philadelphia. It was published in the Times on June 8, 1975 after the Broadway opening. The Hirschfeld illustration has seven Ninas. Illustration of Gwen in her Roxie costume by Mark Cote. (left) Lenora Nemetz as Velma Kelly by Hirschfeld. (right) Illustration by Mark Cote of Fosse's shows. Top left illustration shows Gwen, Jerry and Chita.

Bob and Gwen on opening night. Photos by Martha Swope. Of opening night: “The audience adored it—they even applauded when the lights first went down—and there are things, very very positive things, for everyone to adore, not least the performers. Both the girls dance their hearts out, together, singly, or leading the splendid band of gypsies who make up most of the rest of the cast. Miss Verdon’s voice, all candy innocence and yet somehow naughtily suggestive of untold viciou

"Bobby had the audacity to present us as 'poetry in motion, two moving as one.' Each of our movements was perfectly matched to the microsecond. We went all-out on 'Hot Honey Rag,' as the emcee announced: 'Okay, let's pick up the pace, let's shake the blues away, let's make the party longer, the skirts shorter and shorter, let's make the music hotter. Let's all go to town in a fast car and keep it hot!' "And we did, changing into fringed skirts that whipped around in time to t

Chita and Gwen perform the new finale: Nowadays Chita: "Bobby and Freddy had always struggled with how to end Chicago. After Roxie is acquitted in her trial and Velma in hers (offstage), they put together a vaudeville act to take advantage of their notoriety. When Velma suggests the merger, Roxie has a ready answer: 'You're forgetting one thing. We hate each other.' Velma replies, 'Yeah, but there's only one business where that doesn't matter.' True. Like I said, Bobby was so