Bob Fosse's "Dancin'" Is One For The Books

Bob Fosse (1927-1987), a WW II navy veteran, rose to fame in the company of brilliant dancers like Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Carol Haney, Ann Miller, Ann Reinking and Gwen Verdon (his lifelong partner). Haney and Miller especially noticed his talent in the movie, Kiss Me Kate (1953) in which he vies with famed dancers Bobby Van and Tommy Rall for Miller’s hand in marriage in that spoof of The Taming of the Shrew.

Fosse departed for Broadway and never looked back. Oodles of awards later, he was an established legend, who brought a new kind of choreographic style to America’s gift to world theater, the musical. A case in point is the famous number, "Steam Heat", in The Pajama Game (1954), which stopped the show and led to what-hath-Fosse-wrought reviews about the new game in town. But, 24 years later, it was Dancin’ that enshrined him in the American musical theater.

The Fosse oeuvre closes Act I (“Dancin’ Man”), featuring the company in his trademark suit, bow tie, straw boater/fedora, hat-tipping hand, and half-toe pose, all before whipping into leaps, bounds and pirouettes that end in his finger-snapping, bent-knee crouch. Every move is a surprise. As Fosse said/sang/danced, he wanted to “leave his footsteps on the sands of time.” Evidently this is happening.

The 20 dancer-singers in the new revival exemplify the let-her-rip mood of this bookless show in which everyone’s a star. Backed by Robert Brill’s dramatic steel pipe and ladder set, dazzlingly lit by David Grill, with percussive sound design by Peter Hylenski, and a terrific small orchestra/band led by Darryl Archibald, the dancers throw caution to the winds and dance their hearts out, no matter the lightning-fast costume changes (Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung designed the nifty garb).

At the helm of this unusual show is Wayne Cilento, who danced in the original 1978 production and became a choreographic collaborator of Fosse. Long since a respected choreographer in his own right, Cilento describes his troupe as “young and eccentric and unique.” Take Ron Todorowski, whose show-stopping solo, “Ionisation” in Act I makes him first among equals. Ditto the beautiful Ioana Alfonso, who leaps with the company then sizzles in choice solos.

There is plenty of homage to go around. The show opens with a cleverly stacked video of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, progresses to a nod to the big band era of swing and excerpts from some of Fosse’s past choreographic hits like “Hey, Big Spender” from Sweet Charity and “Mein Herr” from Cabaret, before we're treated to a special, big city reference to The Great Depression with the rich voicing of Khori Michelle Petinaud, who turns “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries” into a veritable anthem.

This gasp-inducing show closes with a rampaging “Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar” with the whole company still at the top of their game after two and a half hours of non stop dancing. Even Fosse described Dancin’ as “like playing Monday Night football eight times a week; it’s really tough on the dancers.” Each performer earns his/her solo bow at the show's end.

Someone said Fosse is his own genre. Right.