PBS' Great Performances: Fosse

I just caught this on my local PBS station, and I really enjoyed it. A few questions:

1. Is this the exact same version that is available on DVD? Or does the DVD have more extras?

2. Were Ben Vereen and Ann Reinking part of the original Broadway cast? I don't recall hearing them on the OBCR.

3. What other cast changes were there? I seem to remember catching "Big Spender" on the Rosie O'Donnell Show, but with a different cast (at least for the leading ladies in that number--the redhead and the other girl in the middle).

4. On the PBS version, who is singing "Mr. Bojangles" with Ben Vereen?

Wow! I have this DVD, but it has been a while since I have watched it so my memory is not that fresh, unfortunately.

I am trying to remember the PBS broadcast when it originally was aired. I don't think there was much, if any, extras. I DO know that the piece "Dancin' Dan" was not included on the DVD. I can't remember the acurate "behind the scenes" story, but I think they couldn't get the rights to include that piece on the DVD, which was originally in the Broadway show.

There had been many changes in the cast before the videotaping of the show. By the time this DVD was made, producers had started bringing in "names" to sell more tickets. This move included bringing in people like Ms. Ann Reinking, Ben Vereen, and Bebe Neuwirth. None of these legends were on the original cast recording, when the leads were played by Valarie Pettiford and Jane Lanier.

On this DVD, the wonderful Rachelle Rak performs "I Gotcha", but this part was originated by Shannon Lewis when the show opened several years before the DVD was made. Both ladies added their own special flare to this number and it is an ongoing debate amongst FOSSE fans as to who did the better interpretaion. (They were both wonderful in my opinion!)

Brad Anderson was the fellow who sang "Mr. Bojangles" on the DVD.

I know that the DVD featured some sections of "recollections" by Ann Reinking, Ben Vereen, and Dana Moore. I think they included those in the PBS broadcast though.

I had heard that they had taken out "Shoeless Joe From Hannibal Mo" towards the end of the Broadway run. I'm not sure if that is true or not. There may have been minute changes here and there depending on who they had in the cast at the time. Towards the end of FOSSE's run, there were many new faces on the Broadhurst stage and many of them are seen on the DVD along with a few of the long time cast members like Rachelle Rak, Dana Moore, Eugene Fleming, Deborah Leamy, and the beautiful Marc Calamia, to name a few. Of course, there is the added bonus of having two Fosse legends, Ann Reinking and Ben Vereen, on DVD format forever. What a treat and a treasure!

Hope this helps you CB4ever!

---