The problem (to paraphrase that section of Ken Mandelbaum's 'Not Since Carrie') was that Fosse had too much control over the show.
Fosse acted as director, choreographer, book writer, and all-around conceiver of BIG DEAL.
As a result, no songwriters were hired to write new material: instead, Fosse compiled the song list with hit songs that, in the end, had almost no connection to the surrounding action. The plot (about a bunch of thugs who try to rob a pawnshop, but give up after burying through the wrong wall) was thin thin thin. Fosse refused to really change the show before coming to Broadway. The usual "bad show" syndromes.
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
Updated On: 6/10/08 at 01:56 AM
