May / June Fosse Master Class
Week one: May 27-31
Week two: June 3-7
Time: 10:00am to 12:30pm
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
405 West 55th Street NY, NY
Email Steve Jones at sejtex@live.com to reserve a space
Category Archives: Early Years
Check Out Fosse on YouTube 2013
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Watch The Cast of Bob Fosse’s Cabaret Hold Hands, Reminisce…….
On the Today Show original cast members celebrating the release of the 40th anniversary Blu-Ray edition of Cabaret
“Forty years ago Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Marisa Berenson, and Michael York were just four young people in Germany, defying conventions and creating a ground-breaking film with one of the greatest director/choreographers of our age, Bob Fosse. Today, all four actors have had long, successful careers, but they seem to be just as fiercely in love as they were on screen (as evidenced by their row of clasped hands and giggling couch-cuddles).
Take a few minutes to step back into the Kit Kat Klub with them in this interview from the Today Show and witness Joel Grey singing a variation on “Two Ladies” with his arms wrapped around Minnelli, Grey, Kathie Lee, and Hoda.”
Click Image above to link to TheaterMania…… article and video..
More Rehearsal Pics…Beat Me Daddy Eight to The Bar 2012
Lloyd Culbreath (L) Valarie Pettiford (C) Roumel Reaux (R)
- Jessica Knuth (L) Peter Chursin R)
- Kurt Froman (L) Tiffany Lee Ocvirc (C) Jessica Knuth (R)
Candace Tovar (L) Susie Gorman (R)New Fosse dancers talking with Cady Huffman
Original BIG DEAL Cast Members Begin Coaching New Fosse Dancers 2012
Roumel Reaux, original cast member from Bob Fosse’s Big Deal, coaches new Fosse dancers.
Patrick Coker (L) Romell Rouax (M) Tommy Scrivens (R)
Roumel Reaux (L) Mark Myars (R)
. ” It’s like clothes hanging off a hanger. Everything you learned in ballet class….forget it……just hang there
It really was a “Big Deal” …wasn’t it! 2012
from left: Mary MacLeod, Valarie Pettiford, Lloyd Culbreath, Cady Huffman, Kathryn Doby
- Fosse Love
The Verdon Fosse Estate and American Dance Machine for the 21st Century (ADM21) have joined forces to reconstruct the Act One finale number “Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar” from the 1986 Bob Fosse musical Big Deal.
Career long assistant and noted authority on Bob Fosse, Kathryn Doby was brought in from California along with original cast members Lloyd Culbreath, Valarie Pettiford, Cady Huffman, Roumel Reaux and Candace Tovar to help reconstruct the intricate dance that will be performed at an invited guest only showing on November 14, 2012. Fosse dancer Mary MacLeod was invited to attend the reconstruction and help run the auditions for dancers hired to perform the number.
Lloyd Culbreath, Valarie Pettiford and Kathryn Doby have the task of teaching the number to the 14 dancers that will perform the piece at The November 14th showing.
Nikki Feirt Atkins, founder and executive director of ADM21 related, “The reconstruction of this work exemplifies our “living mission”, which is to honor the true intent and nuanced details of the original choreographer. It has been a thrilling experience to witness the original cast members gather in the studio with their notes, memories and joy of Fosse to reconstruct this magnificent piece.
Nicole Fosse, Director and Artistic Adviser of the Verdon Fosse Estate, said, “It is so exciting to be in the studio and watch a new generation of dancers have the opportunity to learn this number from the true and authentic Fosse perspective and work ethic that Lloyd Culbreath and Valarie Pettiford bring with them. Kathryn Doby overseeing the re-construction adds the clarity and specificity that so few people have of my father’s work. There has been no other project since my father’s death that has been this true to his original intent.
Age 27 Bob Fosse’s “Humdinger” The Pajama Game, 1954
“A SMASH-HIT MIXTURE OF RACEHORSE AND EXPLOSIVE!” - Time Magazine
“A SMASH HIT – A POWERHOUSE – IRRESISTIBLE” - Variety
“A WHALE OF A SHOW!” “A SURE – FIRE WINNER!” “THE BEST AT LAST!”
“BRIGHT, BRASSY AND JUBILANTLY SASSY SHOW!”
The Pajama Game original Broadway production opened on May 13, 1954, and closed on November 24, 1956, after Continue reading
“Gwen Verdon: too hot for Hollywood?” Tempo News, 1955
“She’s everything the undesirable made absolutely and forever desirable.”
An overview photograph of “Gwen Verdon: too hot for Hollywood?” news article appearing in “Tempo News.” Tempo or “Quick News” was a weekly supermarket check-out magazine aimed towards the suburban American housewife market of the 1950s. Measuring 4 x 5 3/4 inches.
This particular Tempo News issue was published “July 18, 1955.”
Article captions reading in-part: Continue reading
Gwen Verdon’s rare press photo from “Gentleman Mary Brunettes” 1955
A vintage black and white press publication or news-wire photograph with corresponding text reading: Continue reading
Gwen Verdon’s personal performace scrapbook, 1950s
Pictured above housed within an archival paper storage box clearly side labeled “Fosse Verdon Archives” is dancer Gwen Verdon’s personal scrapbook, about 40 detached pages dating from the 1940s to early 1960s with the majority of clippings and content dating from the 1950s. Most pages are double sided and overall contain hundreds of photographs and newspaper clippings spanning three of her five decade or half-a-century career in the American performing arts.
Three interior affixed scrapbook newspaper clippings read: 
“Small World By Douglas Watt, Show People, Continue reading