Fosse

I didn't want to write about another book, but it seems like most of my recent reviews have been negative and I thought I should share my positive reaction to this one, a biography of dancer, choreographer and director Bob Fosse by Sam Wasson called simply Fosse. I read a previous biography, All His Jazz by Martin Gotfried, which did a nice job of presenting the surface of Fosse's life and achievements, but this book really brings him to life, talent, quirks, foibles and all.

Though Fosse died in 1987, his dance style (both on stage and in movie visuals) has remained influential: dancers with bowler hats, making sharp angular movements, pulling their bodies in then opening out, portrayed on film with quick jagged editing. Not all of his hit Broadway shows (Pippin, Sweet Charity, Chicago) have aged well, though all have had successful revivals, and Chicago became a record-breaker in its 1996 revival, still running and ranked as the 3rd longest-running Broadway show in history. But as far as pop culture memory, his movies will probably be his legacy, and two of them, Cabaret and All That Jazz, remain major movie musical milestones, as well as two of my favorite all-time movies.

Fosse was a classic Type A personality: a competitive workaholic who was never happy with his achievements. He was a womanizer who nevertheless inspired loyalty in most of his conquests, and a hard-driving taskmaster who inspired fervent loyalty among his dancers and actors. This book shows his full range of personality, from talented genius to petty belittler of others, from promiscuous playboy to steady partner (he remained close friends with his wife Gwen Verdon after their separation in 1971; they never divorced and she was at his side when he died in 1987).

Though Wasson didn't get to interview Fosse or Verdon (who died in 2000), he did get information from several lovers (including Ann Reinking) and buddies, and the book presents a well-rounded picture of the man. I knew that All That Jazz was autobiographical--the story of a driven choreographer and director (played by Roy Scheider, pictured above) balancing finishing editing on a movie while he gets started on a new Broadway musical--but I didn't know exactly how precise the movie's details were, and the section on the making of the movie was my favorite part of the book, but if you have any interest at all in Fosse and his works, this book will be catnip. My one complaint: like All That Jazz, the book stops abruptly at Fosse's death, without a wrap-up chapter showing how important his legacy was and is. Otherwise, a wonderful read.