How bossy was Fosse? (Don't Miss Today's Weekly Blast)

Fosse's "Cabaret" and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "CATS"

Aug 11

Here is a FREE preview issue of The Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast. Full issues are available the first week of the month, and the full paid version at $5/month or $36/year.

This week, The Broadway Maven looks at Fosse’s Cabaret and CATS.

• On Sunday, August 14 at Noon ET and Monday, August 15 at Noon and 7 pm ET there will be a FREE class on that Nazi-era musical. Register here.

• On Thursday, August 18 at Noon and 7 pm ET we’ll continue our Andrew Lloyd Webber series with a class on CATS. $5. Register here.

• This Weekly Blast includes:

A) an ESSAY about Bob Fosse’s signature dance moves;

B) a RAVE about the Netflix trailers for the upcoming movies of 13 and Matilda;

C) a YouTube GEM about the 2019 film CATS;

D) a student RAVE about Patience, a new off-off-Broadway play; and

E) LAST BLASTS about Guys and Dolls, The Lion King, and Frozen.

(Last Blasts are a new FREE Weekly Blast feature: quick witty, thought-provoking, or challenging thoughts about Broadway shows.)

Bob Fosse, a well-known perfectionist, worked intensively to make his dances appear simple. They’re not.

Notorious for working his dancers hard, Fosse’s signature moves required great discipline from the performers. Here are a few key ones:

• Isolated movements. Fosse dancers had to be able to move a single body part - an elbow, a finger, even an eyeball - while keeping the rest of the body still.

• Overt sexuality. Fosse dancers often wore costumes with fishnet stockings and other sheer outfits. Their movements were sensual and sometimes flirtatious.

• Bowler hats. Fosse has admitted that tipping hats became part of his signature style because of his premature baldness.

• Curved shoulders. Fosse had a bit of a stoop, and he worked it into his dances.

• Jazz hands. The start of Pippin involved more than a dozen hands flayed open in the air around the Leading Player, which was probably Fosse’s best-known move.

“Fosse would take one count of eight and make you do it over and over and over,” Broadway and Fosse veteran Rachelle Rak told Dance Spirit Magazine. “Something happens after all that repetition. Suddenly it feels good.”

My favorite class to teach, “Fosse’s Cabaret” peels back layer after layer of symbols and themes in the classic 1972 movie musical. What does the Kit Kat Klub symbolize? Why are there mirrors, strobe lights, and a musical saw in the cabaret? And who is Elsie? (The answer will surprise you.)

This FREE class meets Sunday, August 14 at Noon ET and Monday, August 15 at Noon and 7 pm ET. ALL ACCESS Passholders do not need to sign up.

With the tag line “Now and Forever,” CATS was once Broadway’s longest-running show. Why the popularity? We’ll look at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music - and T.S. Eliot’s lyrics - to explore that question.

Should high schools produce Cabaret? Or is it too sexy a show? Explain your answers in the comments.

What’s a “wrong note”? Can you think of any in shows other than CATS? Explain your answer in the comments.

Last Blast: Guys and Dolls starts with three gamblers singing “Fugue for Tinhorns” about their favorite horses. The horse names suggest aspects of the show to come, “Valentine” being the most obvious because Guys and Dolls is about romance. But Paul Revere can represent warning the gamblers that “the police are coming” and Epitaph (perhaps) can refer to nicknames like “Harry the Horse” and “Nicely-Nicely Johnson.”

Last Blast: Those who haven’t seen The Lion King lately are missing a funny joke that doesn’t appear in the movie. When Scar asks Zazu to entertain him with a song, in the movie he sings the earworm “It’s a Small World” and Scar says “Anything but that.” Well, same thing in the stage play except the song is now “Let it Go” from Frozen.

Note: links to register for ALL classes are ALWAYS available at TheBroadwayMaven.com.

• Sunday, August 14 Fosse’s Cabaret (Noon ET, FREE)

• Monday, August 15 Fosse’s Cabaret (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)

• Thursday, August 18 CATS (Noon and 7 pm ET, $5)

• Sunday, August 21 Evita (Noon ET, FREE)

• Monday, August 22 Evita (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)

• Tuesday, August 23 Trivia Party (Noon and 7 pm ET, ALL-ACCESS Exclusive)

• Thursday, August 25 The Phantom of the Opera (Noon and 7 pm ET, $5)

• Sunday, August 28 Into the Woods (Noon ET, FREE)

• Monday, August 29 Into the Woods (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)

Reminder: ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not need to sign up or pay for anything. Just show up!

The Broadway Maven, David Benkof, helps students further their appreciation of musical theater through his classes, his YouTube Channel, and his Weekly Blast. Contact him at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.

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