Ann Reinking as Choreographer?

Posted: 5/2/07 at 8:26pm

Now this isn't meant ot be a bashing thread at all--I *adore* Ann Reinking. But what do most people think of her work as choreographer?

I ask becuase I recently saw the, all in all, misguided tv movie version of Bye Bye Birdie. One thing I liked least about it was the choreography which mainly just came off looking *messy*! So how surprised was I to look the credits up and see it was credited to Anne Reinking.

All I know of her work as choreographer is Chicago--and I much prefer the revival choreography to Marshall's movie choreography (which just looks like watered down Fosse to me though I admit to liking some numbers). However for Reinking's Chicago it's no secret that she used the Fosse vocabulary and even much of his choreography specifically (I never understood why she didn't use it all--for instance comparing the revival All I Care About, which is GREAT with the Fosse original on the Tony Awards it's basically the same number, the Fosse original just is *that* much better).

Has she done anything of note without the "fosse vocaublary"?

E
Updated On: 5/2/07 at 08:26 PM

[Kringas]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 8:26pm

Ann

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 8:28pm

Was THE LOOK OF LOVE in Fosse style?

HERE LIES JENNY was Fosse style, right?

I think she's amazing. Her entire ROXIE number can be seen on that site, and it's utterly SENSATIONAL.

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 8:31pm

"I think she's amazing. Her entire ROXIE number can be seen on that site, and it's utterly SENSATIONAL."

I'm watching.

Posted: 5/2/07 at 8:41pm

But isn't that largely based on Fosse's original Roxie? not to take ANy credit away

However isn't Look of Love seen as a huge mess all around (though that may have not been the choreography specifically)

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 8:47pm

I mean her performance of the number is sensational, not just the choreography.

Everything she did for CHICAGO was the Fosse style - but the only number she kept exact to Fosse's choreography was the HOT HONEY RAG.

Posted: 5/2/07 at 8:58pm

Right and that's credited--although I'd say she did take a lot of exact steps for exact moments--etc.

But this thread is about her as a choreographer :P As I said--i think she's a sensational performer

[Neverandy]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 9:40pm

She did choreograph a musical number for an episode of The Cosby Show that wasn't in the Fosse style.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 9:46pm

Well Fosse's original choreography for ME AND MY BABY (seen on Youtube)looks quite different from what Ann choreographed for the revival.

I was always told she came up with mostly new moves in the style of Fosse.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 9:48pm

What I find brilliant about Reinking's choreography for CHICAGO is that she used the Fosse dictionary and created a new piece from that dictionary, using his vocabulary, and yet managed to make it fresh, exciting, and classic. That's why she won the Tony and that's why what she did is considered such an accomplished job.
I do think she is a better performer than a choreographer--though I've never seen HERE LIES JENNY, but her dancing remains one of the most spectacular I've ever been able to witness (if anyone has seen the "Let Me Entertain You" video with Reinking, McKechnie, and Rivera on that site you know what I mean).

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 10:26pm

As being someone who's known the original Bob Fosse choreography to the "Hot Honey Rag" since the 1970's, it has always (and still does) irked me how they credit the Broadway revival's version as his original choreography. To anyone who has seen the original Bob Fosse choreography and compared it to the Broadway revival's -- they are quite different.

Yes, elements of both are quite the same, but several sections are different as well as the execution and interpretations.

Anyone who's seen Chita and Gwen do Bob Fosse's original, then Ann and Bebe do Ann's recreation, will acknowledge that each version is quite different, though they share alot in common.

Now...how to we get that credit on the Broadway revival's Playbill retracted?

As for what do I think of Ann as choreographer? I don't. Give her something to be recreated in the Fosse style, and she can create a masterpiece. Just don't give her anything 'original' to create. Oy!

I definitely need to post on that site that mess that was the "What's New Pussycat?" number from THE LOOK OF LOVE revue.

Double-oy!

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 10:31pm

^ Could you point out WHICH sections are different? I'm not a dancer, So I don't catch everything. But I would like to know which sections of the HHR are different in Reinking's version.

I think the most major change these days is the cut of the cartwheel in the HHR for a Roxie or Velma who couldn't handle it. And yes, there actually was Velma who couldn't execute the cartwheel.
Updated On: 5/2/07 at 10:31 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 10:31pm

BrodyFosse, did you see HERE LIES JENNY? I'm quite intrigued about Reinking's choreography for that show especially since it starred Neuwirth as well.

Posted: 5/2/07 at 10:32pm

I know she doesn't choreograph in the FOsse style all the time--Bye Bye Birdie was testament to this. I just wondered if any that wasn't was also good

As for that Me and My Baby clip apparantly the number was longer (this is what Brody said--who posted it) and that's a part not on the Chicago revival--I'm sure the actual cakewalk part was quite similar to the revival

Posted: 5/2/07 at 10:34pm

The revival Hot Honey Rag looked basicallyt he same to me too I'm emabrassed to say--where are the differences? At any rate I wish they had kept it as a tribute to Fosse in the movie rather than Marshall's watered down new stuff

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 10:53pm

They are pretty different. Check out both on that site. Do a search for a Gwen Verdon and Chita vid by Benchley123, and watch the revival and you'll see the difference.

[Raspberry]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 11:44pm

Wow. That original Me and My Baby choreography is amazing. I've never seen that before. Thanks for the heads up.

Posted: 5/3/07 at 2:15am

I did compare but still see (re the Rag) basciallyt eh same steps *blush*

As for Me and My Baby--so originally on Broadway did this open with the slow version done ont he OBCR cd, then go into the cakewalk THEN this dance we see? and now we just have the cakewalk in the revival? I read somewhere else the cakewalk wasn't added until Liza did the show--so confused *grin*

Posted: 5/3/07 at 2:52am

Brody--if the choreography you mentionw as anything liek her Bye Bye Birdie stuff--I'm oying right along with you. I guess Wayne Cilento isn't the only very talented dancer who's "original choreography" is lacking...

[leefowler]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 10:37am

There's a lost more to choreography than creating steps. Reinking had an amazing template to copy in Chicago. Ann took Fosse's brilliant structure of the numbers, and all his amazing concepts, and just inserted her own moves. This is the reason she's since had no success on the order of Chicago.

To be a great Broadway choreographer, you have to create great dances FROM SCRATCH. And not rely on a ghost whispering in your ear.

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:49am

When it comes to re-creating or adapting Fosse's work, no one is better plain and simple. However, her own original non-Fosse inspired choreography is a bit lack lustre in my opinion.

PS: The differences in the 'Hot Honey Rag' are actually quite noticeable and 'Me And My Baby' is very, very , very different. and also, if memory serves me the choreography Annie is doing on youtube from that special is not the original Fosse choreography. I shall go digging through my notes on the original and compare since it has been a few years since I have danced it.

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 2:20pm

I saw a production of Pal Joey at The Goodman in Chicago some years back that Reinking choreographed. Much of it was straight-forward to the piece with nothing outstanding, but I do recall a truly bizarre number with showgirls at the club that resembled nothing so much as a dream sequence from All That Jazz.

[justme2]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 3:18pm

rayandallthatjazz...

I saw Here Lies Jenny in SF. The choreography was very sexy, and Neuwirth did a lot of slow,acrobatic type moves in the show. The two male dancers supporting her did a lot more, and their dancing was very sexy as well. There was a lot of slow movement in the choreography.

We enjoyed the show and the choreography very much. And Neuwirth was a joy to watch up close. We had thrid or fourth row tickets in the very small theater (I think it was the Post).