(L-R) Michon Peacock, Candy Brown, Graciela Daniele, Chita Rivera, Cheryl Clark, Pamela Sousa. Photo from Patricia Zipprodt's collection at NYPL FRED EBB: As I recall, "Cell Block Tango" was a very difficult number to write. It's not so much a song as a musical scene for six women, and each has to tell her personal story in the course of a musical refrain that keeps repeating. It was difficult because each of the stories had to be entertaining and also meaningful. Each one ha

Lenora Nemetz was the original standby for Gwen and Chita in Chicago. Below she tells the story of her audition, and when she made her Roxie debut during the out-of-town try-out in Philadelphia. “My friend Norman in Pittsburgh sent my picture to Bob Fosse, and he wrote back and told me to come in for an audition. Do you know what happened? I got on the wrong plane. I actually got on a place to Chicago. Then I got off and got a place to New York. Well, I auditioned for Bob and

Gwen Verdon sings "Funny Honey" Photo by Martha Swope, 1975. Fosse knew vaudeville. Though he wasn't born until 1927, when he came of age as a performer in his teens, the people he learned from were all vaudeville veterans, and he danced old vaudeville numbers himself. Almost every song in the show is modeled on an actual vaudeville act or star. “Funny Honey” starts out being an homage to torch song queen Helen Morgan's song “Bill” from Show Boat, a song about an ordinary man

Chita Rivera. Photo by Martha Swope, 1975 "At the beginning of almost every performance of Chicago, when the stage manager called ‘Places, please,’ I took my position in an elevator in the basement below the playing area. It would whisk me, standing in a large cylindrical drum, up to center stage to begin the show. Before that, however, I paced the floor, giving myself a pep talk. "Invariably, the stagehands asked, ‘Who you gonna be tonight, Chita?’ Of course, my first obli

The song title, “All That Jazz” as become an everyday expression, used in conversations to mean “and everything else.” But do you know where that phrase came from? Sure its the title of the opening number in Kander & Ebb’s “Chicago,” and later the title of Fosse’s semiautobiographical film, but in interviews, lyricist Fred Ebb has revealed the true origin of the phrase! While he was researching the 1920, he was reading a book from Time-Life series “This Fabulous Century” on t

Chris Chadman, Ron Schwinn, Gwen Verdon, Gene Foote, Dick Korthaze rehearse onstage following a musicians’ strike which shut down nine Broadway musicals for 25 days in 1975. Rehearsals began October 26, 1974 at Broadway Arts. After the first table read, Fosse was admitted to the hospital for chest pains. His doctors said he was going to have a heart attack. Fosse's doctors called Broadway Arts to inform Gwen. Gwen was found in a studio alone with Chita, knitting needles in ha

John Kander and Fred Ebb. Photo by Martha Swope. John Kander and Fred Ebb were a music and lyrics team who had worked together on Flora, The Red Menace (1965), Cabaret (1966), The Happy Time (1968), Zorba (1968) and 7 0, Girls, 70 (1971). They joined the creative team for Chicago in with Bob Fosse. John wrote the music, and Fred wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book with Bob. After Chicago (1975) they were known for The Act (1978), The Rink (1984), Kiss of the Spide

Bob Fosse in the house of the 46th Street Theatre during rehearsals of Chicago, 1975. From Chita Rivera's memoir : "On the first days of a rehearsal for a new Broadway musical, all companies are brimming with hope and nervous energy. The ones for Chicago, in the autumn of 1974, felt different. There was the excitement of a potential hit in the making, and there was loads of laughter as we read through the script written by Freddy. He gave it warmth and wit; Bobby gave it sat

"A musical version of Chicago had been on Gwen's mind since the 1950s when she saw Roxie Hart, the 1942 film with Ginger Rogers. She liked the idea of adapting it even more after she read the 1926 play Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins. It had been a hit. The public fell for a pair of devilishly clever young women, Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, who had parlayed their celebrity as murderers into successful vaudeville careers. "When Gwen told Bobby about it, he came quickly on bo

In this episode, host Lauryn Johnson interviews Broadway actress Mary Ann Lamb. Mary Ann shares insights about her collaborations with...

I often lament not being born a few decades earlier. There are so many dancers and choreographers I wish I could have worked with,...

Happy Opening to the company of Dancin'! As always, I celebrate all theater and dance events by looking back at where we came from. Today...

"Above it all, is Miss Reinking. There are other first-rate performers, but she is clearly the star. Miss Reinking possesses a number of...

Ann Reinking in a clip from the DVD recording of “Fosse” (2001). Start at 1:39:44

Happy first preview to the cast of Dancin'! Just a day prior to the 1978 opening of Dancin', Bob Fosse told the Times: “I feel like I’m...

Description of the rehearsal room for Dancin': “At the rehearsal, the “kids” await their turns or sprawl, once those turns are over. They...

Bob Fosse: “That’s one thing I told the kids who showed up for the auditions for this show. If you don’t really love to dance, I said,...

It's Dancin' Week! Dancin' begins previews this Thursday on Broadway and I wanted to celebrate by doing what I do best: digging in...

Gwen Verdon—born 98 years ago today! I hope you enjoy this tiny history lesson I’ve complied for the occasion! Below are excerpts from a...