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Fosse

Page 70

by Wasson, Sam


  [>] “She asked Fosse for it”: Ibid.

  [>] “She knew”: Ibid.

  [>] “I thought Bob was like the Emcee”: Ibid.

  [>] There were two ways to get results, Fosse told: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “If you ever want anything from anybody”: Laurent Giroux, interview with the author, December 13, 2010.

  [>] “He made Gwen unattractive”: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.

  [>] “That’s the great Gwen Verdon”: Chita Rivera, interview with the author, February 3, 2011.

  [>] “Chicago was always cynical but”: John Kander, interview with the author, November 10, 2010.

  [>] “There was a feeling of tension”: Ibid.

  [>] “I’m walking off the stage”: Chita Rivera, interview with the author, February 3, 2011.

  [>] “I felt pretty bad about it”: “Bob Fosse,” The Dick Cavett Show.

  [>] “Going out of town was”: Pam Sousa, interview with the author, January 11, 2011.

  [>] were discovered in the alleyway: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.

  [>] he agonized through every rewrite: John Kander, interview with the author, November 10, 2010.

  [>] “Their angsts were not well matched”: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.

  [>] Fosse snapped at him publicly: John Kander, interview with the author, November 10, 2010.

  [>] Candy Brown found Ebb in the bathroom: Candy Brown, interview with the author, January 7, 2011.

  [>] “Why don’t we get on a train”: John Kander, interview with the author, November 10, 2010.

  [>] “We made a pact”: Chita Rivera, interview with the author, February 3, 2011.

  [>] Fosse was drinking more than usual and following: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.

  [>] “I’m afraid this show is my image”: Marilyn Stasio, “A Tough ‘Chicago’ Is Where Bob Fosse Lives,” Cue, July 7, 1975.

  [>] “I’m a target now”: Ibid.

  [>] “Chicago was theater and politics”: “Bob Fosse: Steam Heat,” Great Performances: Dance in America, PBS; first aired February 23, 1990.

  [>] “Neil hated it”: Greg Lawrence, Colored Lights: Forty Years of Words and Music, Show Biz, Collaboration, and All That Jazz (New York: Faber and Faber, 2003), 125.

  [>] “We were in Philadelphia for”: John Kander, interview with the author, November 10, 2010.

  [>] After each of the many previews: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.

  [>] “They were the tiniest things”: Chita Rivera, interview with the author, February 3, 2011.

  [>] “Come in, honey”: Ibid.

  [>] The phone rang in Cheryl Clark’s room and following: Cheryl Clark, interview with the author, April 19, 2011.

  [>] “She was screaming and crying”: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.

  [>] “We had to toe a line”: Ibid.

  [>] “Bobby was almost embarrassed” and following: John Kander, interview with the author, November 10, 2010.

  [>] “She was standing at the end” and following: Chita Rivera, interview with the author, February 3, 2011.

  [>] “I was sitting at the piano”: John Kander, interview with the author, November 10, 2010.

  [>] “Bobby, I know what you’re doing”: Fred Mann III, interview with the author, February 22, 2011.

  [>] “Sharing the wealth is a difficult” and following: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “choreography and direction burn up”: Clive Barnes, “‘A Chorus Line,’” New York Times, May 22, 1975.

  [>] “A Chorus Line is a great concept”: Robert Berkvist, “‘This Show Is about the Sheer Joy of Dancing,’” New York Times, March 26, 1978.

  [>] “They can only buy one hit”: Fred Ebb, interviewed by Michael Kantor, March 29, 1999, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Theatre on Film and Tape Archive.

  [>] “Well, we fooled ’em again”: Joe Allen, interview with the author, January 27, 2011.

  [>] Gwen arrived in a sequined spaghetti-strap: Chicago opening night party photographs, LOC, box 59A.

  [>] Now twelve, she needed a chaperone for: Scott Barnes, interview with the author, January 14, 2012.

  [>] “I would say it’s not a good life”: Gaby Rodgers, “Bob Fosse: ‘Choreography Is Writing with Your Body,’” Long Island, October 1, 1978.

  [>] “I’d rather you swallowed”: “Bob Fosse: Steam Heat,” Great Performances: Dance in America.

  [>] “one of those shows”: Clive Barnes, “Stage: ‘Chicago,’ Musical Vaudeville,” New York Times, June 4, 1975.

  [>] “It was a steal”: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] Frank Rich saw it: Walter Kerr, “‘Chicago’ Comes On Like Doomsday,” New York Times, June 8, 1975; Barnes, “Stage: ‘Chicago,’ Musical Vaudeville”; Frank Rich, interview with the author, February 6, 2011.

  [>] “What happened is [Fosse] saw”: Stephen Sondheim, interview with the author, February 15, 2012.

  [>] “At first Fosse seems to be saying”: Stephen Farber, “Bob Fosse’s Acid Valentine,” New York Times, August 3, 1975.

  [>] Then Gwen sucked down some of and following: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.

  [>] “The cast seems altogether tighter”: Clive Barnes, “Liza Minnelli Lends Talents to ‘Chicago,’” New York Times, August 15, 1975.

  [>] producer Martin Richards, who had given: Joyce Haber, “Liza’s Last Night: Hamming It Up,” Los Angeles Times, September 17, 1975.

  [>] “Never before”: Ibid.

  [>] “Good,” Fosse said: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.

  [>] Fosse deliberately led his daughter to all sorts of: Nicole Fosse interview, Dance in America, WNET archives, September 6, 1989.

  [>] she was named, he liked to say, for: Emory Lewis, “Fosse Can’t Get Used to Success,” Sunday Record, July 8, 1973.

  [>] It was the basis for all movement, she told and following: Nicole Fosse interview, Dance in America, WNET archives, September 6, 1989.

  [>] Fosse wrote urgently to Lennie Strauss: Bob Fosse/Lennie Strauss correspondence, October 22, 1975, LOC, box 47B.

  [>] “The black attaché case Fosse carried”: Julian Barry, interview with the author, September 6, 2010.

  [>] As a boy, Fosse had personally defended: Bob Fosse/Lennie Strauss correspondence.

  [>] “Bob was not a multimillionaire”: Ken Laub, interview with the author, February 13, 2012.

  [>] “We had this jokingly competitive”: Charles Grodin, interview with the author, March 7, 2012.

  [>] A slow and stubborn collaborator: Cynthia Scheider, interview with the author, March 25, 2011.

  [>] “Herb said once he’d rather not”: Charles Grodin, interview with the author, March 7, 2012.

  [>] Sam called Chayefsky, Fosse, and: Craig McKay, interview with the author, February 26, 2011.

  [>] “We were Sam’s children”: Cynthia Scheider, interview with the author, March 25, 2011.

  [>] “What do they want from me?” and following: Craig McKay, interview with the author, February 26, 2011.

  [>] Fosse considered borrowing what Ostrow: Stuart Ostrow, Present at the Creation, Leaping in the Dark, and Going Against the Grain (New York: Applause, 2006), 82.

  [>] Ending was relentless, Hamill explained: Pete Hamill/Bob Fosse correspondence, April 25, 1976, LOC, box 14B.

  ELEVEN YEARS

  [>] “We were pretty sure they were going”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “It was hell”: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.

  [>] “It was like you start disappearing”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “Every time they cut back to Bob”: Alan Heim, interview
with the author, July 22, 2010.

  [>] “You know she can’t act”: Scott Barnes, interview with the author, January 14, 2012.

  [>] “Being depressed is not a bad thing”: Fosse quoted in “Bob Fosse,” October 24, 1983, interviewed for William Wolf for NYU’s School of Continuing Education Class, the Filmmakers, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, William Wolf Film and Theater Interview Collection, 1972–1998.

  [>] “He put himself down”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “What do you think?”: Dustin Hoffman, interview with the author, September 13, 2012.

  [>] Fred Ebb got a call: Greg Lawrence, Colored Lights: Forty Years of Words and Music, Show Biz, Collaboration, and All That Jazz (New York: Faber and Faber, 2003), 121–22.

  [>] Herb Gardner said when Fosse openly: All That Jazz, Herb Gardner interview transcripts, LOC, box 1A.

  [>] Nicole confessed she knew all about: All That Jazz, Nicole Fosse interview transcripts, LOC, box 1A.

  [>] Verdon, interviewed by Aurthur, remembered: All That Jazz, Gwen Verdon interview transcripts, LOC, box 1A.

  [>] Ann admitted that he’d changed: All That Jazz, Ann Reinking interview transcripts, LOC, box 1A.

  [>] Chayefsky said he was punishing Ann: All That Jazz, Paddy Chayefsky interview transcripts, LOC, box 1A.

  [>] It’s the same story with every girl: Ibid.

  [>] He loses them, Paddy said: Ibid.

  [>] But, Dr. Sager explained, he let: All That Jazz, Clifford Sager interview transcripts, LOC, box 1A.

  [>] He wrote to Robert Joffrey in June 1976: Bob Fosse/Robert Joffrey correspondence June 24, 1976, LOC, box 47C.

  [>] almost a hundred, Fosse claimed: Bernard Drew, “Life as a Long Rehearsal,” American Film, November 1979.

  [>] Using actual names: Draft of All That Jazz screenplay, August 3, 1976, LOC, box 1A.

  [>] Aurthur wrote a first draft quickly: Betty Spence, “Bob Fosse—He’ll Take the Risks,” Los Angeles Times, May 17, 1981.

  [>] “Bob Aurthur said that I was crazy”: Ibid.

  [>] “I’ve only got one more film”: Craig McKay, interview with the author, February 26, 2011.

  [>] “He knew he was going”: Ibid.

  [>] to meet with Melnick: For an in-depth consideration of the producer at home and at work, see David Thomson, “Footloose and Fancy Free,” Film Comment, May/June 1984.

  [>] The studio encouraged Melnick to: AMPAS cast and crew reunion screening of All That Jazz, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater, videotaped September 21, 2001.

  [>] But Beatty (after his customary): Los Angeles Herald Examiner, November 22, 1976.

  [>] Nicholson, who took Fosse to: Kathy Witt, interview with the author, May 20, 2011.

  [>] read the script and found it surprisingly: Dustin Hoffman, interview with the author, September 13, 2012.

  [>] “I think you’re wonderful”: “Jessica Lange,” Inside the Actors Studio, Bravo, June 12, 1996.

  [>] “He befriended me in a very”: Ibid.

  [>] “This is a man who did not want”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “When you think something’s about to”: Bruce Williamson, “All That Fosse,” Playboy, March 1980.

  [>] Angelique, Fosse said, was the one: Roy Scheider commentary, All That Jazz (Twentieth Century Fox, 2003), DVD.

  [>] “He used to tell people”: “Jessica Lange,” Inside the Actors Studio.

  [>] “He assumed she was my girlfriend”: Charles Grodin, interview with the author, March 7, 2012.

  [>] “Is it good?”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “He was hooked on his stress”: Ibid.

  [>] “You know what?”: Laurent Giroux, interview with the author, December 13, 2010.

  [>] “If Bob had a free evening” and following: Ken Laub, interview with the author, February 13, 2012.

  [>] “I think he wanted to prove”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “I don’t know what I want” and following: Gordon Harrell, interview with the author, February 23, 2011.

  [>] “He was moving closer”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] he unlocked the studio door and following: Nicole Fosse interview, Dance in America, WNET archives, September 6, 1989.

  [>] “Don’t dance”: Gary Flannery, interview with the author, January 26, 2011.

  [>] “I don’t want a caricature”: Ibid.

  [>] “The character of Bojangles never”: Gordon Harrell, interview with the author, February 23, 2011.

  [>] “It wasn’t that we drifted apart”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] Their old arguments, once fought and following: Ibid.

  [>] Chayefsky had been working on and following: Shaun Considine, Mad as Hell: The Life and Work of Paddy Chayefsky (New York: Random House, 1995), 351.

  [>] “Our family has never taken death”: Chayefsky Funeral Arrangements, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Paddy Chayefsky Papers, box 166, folder 9.

  [>] “In ‘And All That Jazz’”: Susan Stroman, interview with the author, January 14, 2011.

  [>] After a tech run at Boston’s: Carolyn Kirsch, interview with the author, February 11, 2011.

  [>] “I wanna smell you girls”: Susan Stroman, interview with the author, January 14, 2011.

  [>] “You could see his joy”: Maxine Glorsky, interview with the author, September 7, 2010.

  [>] “It was like applause”: Ibid.

  [>] “Is he dead?”: Carolyn Kirsch, interview with the author, February 11, 2011.

  [>] “It scared him”: Ibid.

  [>] “As soon as we got together”: Drew, “Life as a Long Rehearsal.”

  [>] “Sign this or I’ll kill you”: AMPAS cast and crew reunion screening of All That Jazz.

  [>] “So what do you think”: Gail Benedict, interview with the author, January 6, 2011.

  [>] line around the theater for two hours: Christine Colby, interview with the author, March 20, 2011.

  [>] for as many as six hours: Ibid.

  [>] “He didn’t want to see your technique”: Ibid.

  [>] “We were afraid the show was not”: Gail Benedict, interview with the author, January 6, 2011.

  [>] Jill Cook brought a snake: Blane Savage, interview with the author, February 26, 2011.

  [>] “That show’s a huge hit”: Sandahl Bergman, interview with the author, April 27, 2012.

  [>] “Gail”: Ibid.

  [>] “Everyone was fighting for”: Wayne Cilento, interview with the author, January 27, 2011.

  [>] “He really liked Sandahl”: Blane Savage, interview with the author, February 26, 2011.

  [>] Savage reasoned that Fosse thought his open: Ibid.

  [>] But Bergman didn’t take Fosse: Sandahl Bergman, interview with the author, April 27, 2012.

  [>] “You know,” Fosse said: Ibid.

  [>] “looking like a raptor”: Blane Savage, interview with the author, February 26, 2011.

  [>] “I’ve really tried to vary my choices”: Robert Berkvist, “‘This Show Is about the Sheer Joy of Dancing,’” New York Times, March 26, 1978.

  [>] “One valve is still partially clogged”: Ibid.

  [>] the producers asked the dancers to: Sandahl Bergman, interview with the author, April 27, 2012.

  [>] “We were always together on that show”: Ibid.

  [>] “Everyone was talking about it”: Blane Savage, interview with the author, February 26, 2011.

  [>] “It was obvious yuk-yuk humor”: Christine Colby, interview with the author, March 20, 2011.

  [>] “It was like he was killing Charles”: Don Rebic, interview with the author, February 28, 2011.

  [>] Drummer Allen Herman recalled they kept: Allen Herman, interview with the author, March 3, 2011.

  [>] “I re
member looking at the Trumpet”: Christine Colby, interview with the author, March 20, 2011.

  [>] rerouted Fosse’s dancers: Ibid.

  [>] The production hired horse-drawn carriages: Eric Angelson, interview with the author, June 27, 2012.

  [>] Stagehands met dancers at the station: Christine Colby, interview with the author, March 20, 2011.

  [>] down into the basement, where a strip: Ibid.

  [>] brought on two more in Boston: Ibid.

  [>] “It was absurdly hard”: Gail Benedict, interview with the author, January 6, 2011.

  [>] for a few Dancin’ dancers, the only: Name withheld, interview with the author, September 10, 2010.

  [>] “We were so tired”: Ibid.

  [>] “I haven’t been asleep for three days”: Blane Savage, interview with the author, February 26, 2011.

  [>] “Don’t spend your life at the mall”: Diane Duncan, interview with the author, April 9, 2011.

  [>] “You look tired”: Ibid.

  [>] Reinking’s relationship with Ward: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “All she wanted to do was please him” and following: Allen Herman, interview with the author, March 3, 2011.

  [>] who appeared one day in Boston, dressed: Christine Colby, interview with the author, March 20, 2011.

  [>] Months earlier, he had had the idea to: Kevin Kelly, “Fosse, at 58, Finds No Security in Success,” Boston Globe, February 9, 1986.

  [>] “He really knew the way”: Jessica Lange, Inside the Actors Studio.

  [>] Suspecting another man in her life, Fosse: Kelly, “Fosse, at 58.”

  [>] “All of our eyes popped out”: Christine Colby, interview with the author, March 20, 2011.

  [>] The following day she came late: Blane Savage, interview with the author, February 26, 2011.

  [>] “It’s not just your rehearsal, Annie”: Gail Benedict, interview with the author, January 6, 2011.

  [>] “René,” he said into the hush: Ibid.

  [>] “They’ve forgotten there’s a thing”: Berkvist, “‘This Show Is about the Sheer Joy of Dancing.’”

  [>] “Precision and style mark the evening”: Richard Eder, “‘Dancin’,’ Fosse’s Musical, Opens at the Broadhurst,” New York Times, March 28, 1978.

 

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