Marshall's Choreography for the Chicago Movie..

I know this may seem like beating a dead horse over the head.. But wanted to discuss this. This is NOT a Chicago Revival VS Movie thread. It's about the choreography.

Today I rewatched the Chicago movie, the whole movie. Something I haven't done in a while. And this time I made sure I paid close attention to the choreography.

I saw practically NO Fosse. Is it just me? I feel the ATJ choreography is weak - it's like a softcore porno, okay maybe that comparison is a bit much. While, I like CELL BLOCK TANGO behind bars, I don't like having the male dancers, and how they bring out like 100's of girls at the end - the number loses its intimacy. The ROXIE choreography is just plain weak. Now I find I CAN'T DO IT ALONE spectacular, It's a thrilling number. And Catherine nails it. This is probally my favorite number in the movie. RAZZLE DAZZLE is pretty good. I find the Billy tap dance stupid and out of place. HOT HONEY RAG is good, but lacks the thrill the Fosse version has.

Overall, I just feel like there is no Fosse in the movie. And it still boggles my mind that some people enjoy Marshall's choreo better than Ann's award winning choreography. But I respect that opinion of thse who fel that way. I feel the movie had to do with the revival didn't have to do. Use big sets and costumes to make the choreography more interesting.

Any thoughts, anyone agree?

Updated On: 9/23/05 at 05:23 PM

Maybe your talking about Cilento??

Ann Reinking created her own choreography with Fosse's style. She kept HHR's choreo EXACT as a tribute to Fosse.

Renee Z is no Gwen Verdon
Catherine Z-J is no Chita Rivera.

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In all fairness we can just start a whole thread of posts:

Brooke Shields in NO Gwen Verdon.
Bebe Neuwirth is NO Chita Rivera.
and so on and so forth...BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Updated On: 9/23/05 at 05:45 PM

Again, they felt it wasn't necessary. It was a new take on the musical. They dedicated the movie to them and they felt that was enough. They even gave Chita a cameo. That was their way of tipping their hats off to the original team that made it all possible.

EDIT: Their wouldn't be any CHICAGO the musical without the original play by Maurine Dallas Watkins.

Updated On: 9/23/05 at 05:47 PM

I would put Catherine in the current revival anyday, she could definitely handle it.

Renee on the other hand, no.

I think it would be fantastic if they got Catherine to do the revival of Chicago with the Fosse/Reinking choreo. Can you imagine?!!! Sales would go through the roof, no doubt!

Point taken, and I'm sure Gwen was phenomenal in the role, no doubt.

Yeah but can you blame Fosse/Gwen fanatics (like myself) for being dissapointed that there is no Fosse in the movie?

Well, I can see the desire, but that it wasn't in the film shouldn't be a criticism of the artistic merit of Marshall's work. You can disagree with a choice but still see the merit of the choice made if such exists.

I'm sure fans of Ron Fields and his great work on Cabaret were sad to not see this recreated for the film. But, what would you say if they automatically dismissed the quality of work Fosse did?

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Yeah, they actually could sort of fit together. He promised her one more show, so she might have said, "Well, I've been trying for years..... why don't YOU try again for the rights to ROXIE HART?" or something like that. And the rest is history.

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Now I love Fosse just as much as the next person, but he's had plenty of success on stage and in the movies. This wasn't his movie, it was Rob Marshall's. I wasn't disapointed at all that there was no "Fosse" in the movie. I wasn't expecting any in the first place. This is just a personal opinion, but I would rather see new and exciting things done with shows and musical numbers, rather than simply recycling old material.

But I would say it is a shame that Fosse's choreography wasn't recorded and preserved.

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Of course you have the right! And I would be surprised at you if you didn't feel that way... based on your love and admiration of his work and Gwen's, too! It was their baby when it was a stage show.

But Baby grew up and went to Hollywood and found a new daddy for the movies.

I love them both, and I really wish there was a video of the OBC for all of us to enjoy.

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