Lloyd Culbreath (L) Valarie Pettiford (C) Roumel Reaux (R)
Candace Tovar (L) Susie Gorman (R)New Fosse dancers talking with Cady Huffman
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
from left: Mary MacLeod, Valarie Pettiford, Lloyd Culbreath, Cady Huffman, Kathryn Doby
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.
Fosse Dancer Carolyn Kirsch
Check out our first estate sanctioned Fosse teacher, long time Fosse dancer and Broadway veteran Carolyn Kirsch. She will be giving a Master Class on Fosse in CT at Newington Mainstage. Follow link below…….
Personal stationery top center titled “Verdon – Fosse” and below reading longhand in ink “Thank you Gwen”
After receiving Bob Fosse’s estate, all official documents came to Gwen Verdon titled “Verdon – Fosse.” Additionly we are paying homage to her own personlized stationery. See above.
American Film | Magazine of the Film and Television Arts | November 1979
Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz: A Life As Extravaganza
“Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz is a confessional, hallucinatory extravaganza. Here is his candid assessment of frenetic life in film and theater.” Continue reading
“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
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
A vintage black and white press publication or news-wire photograph with corresponding text reading: Continue reading
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