Reinking returns to Chicago
Bob Fosse passed away in 1987, but his work as a groundbreaking director, chorographer and dancer continues to influence artists of all kinds. Most recently, Beyonce Knowles cited Fosse’s choreography of the 1969 dance trio Mexican Breakfast for the Ed Sullivan Show as the choreographic source of inspiration for her hit video of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
Now, audiences can get a live taste of Mexican Breakfast as part of Thodos Dance Chicago’s world premiere of the Fosse Trilogy. Along with Mexican Breakfast, two other early Fosse works, Cool Hand Luke (previously seen in the Broadway musical Fosse) and Tijuana Shuffle, make up the trilogy for the company’s 2009 Fall Concert.
Setting the works on Thodos’ dancers (and creating new choreography to link the pieces) is none other than Ann Reinking, one of Fosse’s major muses in the 1970s and ’80s (All That Jazz, Dancin’, Sweet Charity).
The Tony Award-winning choreographer for the 1996 Broadway revival of Chicago returns to work with Thodos for the third time, thanks in part to a National Endowment for the Arts Dance Masterpiece Grant.
“Every time I come here, it’s so positive,” Reinking said after a morning rehearsal at Chicago’s Menomonee Club Oct. 26. “The attitude is superb and you just want to do anything and everything you can for this great company.”
Reinking and company founder Melissa Thodos initially met and became friends because their husbands were buddies on the semi-pro tennis circuit.
“We took to each other right away,” Reinking said when they were chatting during tennis matches. “She just started talking and I said, ‘Gee, you know a lot about dance. Did you dance?’ And she goes, ‘Yes I dance and I have my own company.'”
Reinking was impressed with Thodos’ company and later choreographed for it. Reinking previously choreographed the Thodos world premieres of CAUTION: Side Effects in 2004 and Rossini Recess in 2007.
Watching Reinking impart her own knowledge of working with Fosse in rehearsals with Thodos dancers was fascinating. The detail of when dancers should smile and what they should be thinking about during particular moves was so revealing.
“Bob was so specific and it was crystal clear,” Reinking said, adding that she herself got a remarkable education not only from Fosse, but also from Broadway legend Gwen Verdon, who was his wife.
“It’s something a dancer dreams of—having a Broadway legend who had first-hand experience with one of the most amazing choreographers of our time,” said company member Wade Schaaf, who is a cover (understudy) in the Fosse Trilogy and represented as a choreographer with the piece “Awakening” in the fall concert. “You dream about experiences like that.”
Thodos Dance Chicago performs the Fosse Trilogy along with other works for its Fall Concert 2009 at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, for Centre East at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie, Skokie. Tickets are $38; call 847-673-6300. Thodos then performs in Chicago at Millennium Park’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph. Tickets are $25-$60;; call 312-334-7777 or visit www.thodosdancechicago.org
Gone too soon
The Chicago theater scene recently suffered some major losses, both personally and professionally.
Baltimore-based lighting and set designer Michael Philippi, 58, died on Oct. 27. Philippi was on his way to a technical rehearsal of High Holidays at his long-time collaborative home, the Goodman Theatre. Some of Philippi’s Goodman-to-Broadway lighting design credits include Desire Under the Elms, Death of a Salesman and The Speed of Darkness.
Philippi got his start working alongside director Robert Falls at the old Wisdom Bridge Theatre, and he also designed extensively at other companies locally and around the nation. Condolences can be sent via e-mail to condolences@goodmantheatre.org.
Meanwhile on Broadway, the David Cromer-directed revival of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs closed Nov. 1. The producers decided to pull the plug on this anticipated repertory pairing of Brighton Beach Memoirs with Broadway Bound (which was to open later) despite receiving a majority of positive reviews for the first play of Simon’s Jerome Trilogy.
It was a shock to the show’s cast and crew (which included Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Laurie Metcalf) when they got word of the closure. Some are putting the blame on the poor economy and smaller-than-anticipated advance ticket sales. Brighton Beach Memoirs was the Broadway debut for Chicago-based director Cromer.
Two other actors also out of work are Annaleigh Ashford (Wicked in Chicago and Broadway) and Michael Longoria (Jersey Boys). Both were attached to the upcoming Cirque du Soleil vaudeville-themed show Banana Shpeel, which is playing the Chicago Theatre before an anticipated New York run in 2010.
Despite being prominently featured at Banana Shpeel’s media launch in September and in the show’s advertising, Longoria and Ashford were let go when the show’s creative team (David Shiner and Serge Roy) dropped their characters from the script. Cirque du Soleil was quick to point out that it wasn’t the fault of the performers, just that Banana Shpeel was going in a different direction.
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