American Actor, dancer, choreographer, and director, Bob Fosse was born on this day in 1927 (died 1987).
Bob Fosse won nine Tony Awards for choreography and direction. Awards also include an Emmy, an Oscar, a Palme d’Or, and a Laurence Olivier Award. The American Choreography Awards were originally named the Fosse awards.
Fosse directed the 1979 film All That Jazz! which was based on his own life story.
It’s not actually showtime for me. The headline is a Fosse quote (used extensively by the character Joe Gideon in All That Jazz!).
If you’ve been reading here a while, you know that I’m on a self-imposed break from theatre until the fall. Or until fall auditions start up.
I’m also not a dancer. Don’t get me wrong, I can do basic choreography. Basic.
I was once in a callback audition when the choreographer said “they told me you can tap dance.”
They told you wrong.
True, however, I have been choreographed by a dancer/choreographer who trained with Fosse.
I think that makes two degrees of separation in the Kevin Bacon game.
Mmmmm…bacon…which may be why I’m not a dancer.
I digress.
Taking a serious approach to this acting thing late in life means that a lot of roles, including pretty much any that involve Fosse-inspired choreography, are just not options for me.
Maybe if after that first show back in 1975 I’d taken a serious approach to dancing and acting.
But what good is that speculation?
There are lots of parts for large, old, white men. Not as many as I would like. But the opportunities are there.
My challenge is to just be the best large, old, white man at the audition.
Sometimes I am.
Sometimes I’m not, which gives me more free time for writing.
It’s all perspective.
Fosse co-wrote the book for, and choreographed the 1975 musical Chicago. The 2002 film version won the Oscar for best picture. The 1996 Broadway revival of Chicago holds the record as the longest-running musical revival and longest-running American musical in Broadway history.
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