Best comic choreography ever

I saw this last time I was in New York when the Lincoln Center library did their Robbins' exhibit. It really is a gem.

Also, Robbins' "Mistake Waltz" is one of the funniest pieces of ballet I've EVER seen. Oh my, God!!!

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Here too is a wonderful NY Times article that ran shortly after the opening of Jerome Robbins' Broadway about the research and detective work that went into recreating the High Button Shoes ballet. Robbins hadn't kept notes and some of the original performers could only remember bits and pieces of it. A black and white film shot by an audience member had captured the first and last third of the ballet, but the middle third was missing. The search lead to a dance captain for one of the original road companies, who had taken extensive notes on the ballet in order to trach it to replacement actors. Linda Talcott Lee, who plays Baby Crook, is also interviewed.
NY Times - "Recapturing a Vintage Romp"

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Updated On: 12/21/08 at 09:35 AM

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Unfortunately, they didn't use "Rich Kid's Rag" in Fosse. I wish Fosse had contained more of his early musical comedy work, which would have given that show much more variety. I think it ended up making Fosse's style seem limited and monotonous, which surely wasn't the intent. And it often had dancers clad in black against black backgrounds, which had me squinting to make out what was happening.

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Yup. "Rich Kid's Rag" WAS included in the early workshops of FOSSE, but was eventually not included in the show at any time. FOSSE did contain a few more numbers during its pre-Broadway out-of-town tour/tryout ("The Alley Dance" from MY SISTER EILEEN; "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" from BIG DEAL, and others), but the "Rich Kid's Rag" was never included.

For what its worth... being a huge ardent fan of Bob Fosse and his work since childhood, I was sourly disappointed with FOSSE. Having several friends in the cast since its conception, seems many in the original cast weren't happy with the show, either. During the work-shopping stage of the show, they viewed hours and hours of sensational footage of Bob Fosse's work and many were confused with what was being used and what was not being considered for the show. Also, the show not having any form of narrative or 'host' left many in the audience confused as to what number was from what, etc. I personally would have loved FOSSE to have used the original set and costume design for the numbers represented, ala JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY.

Anyway... back to the topic at hand -- several years later (in 1966), Bob Fosse used elements from the "Rich Kid's Rag" for the "Rich Man's Frug" in SWEET CHARITY.

Here is the original Broadway cast of LITTLE ME performing the "Rich Kid's Rag":

Or they could have used an electronic sign board, like in Titanic.

BrodyFosse: Thanks for clearing that up. I had no idea that DANCIN' had all original choreography.

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