Dancers & Choreographers - Biography, Modern Dance

All His Jazz

Name: All His Jazz
Author: Martin Gottfried
ISBN: 9780306812842

by Martin Gottfried

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Overview

Bob Fosse (19271987), the director and choreographer of Chicago and Sweet Charity, has never been more popular than he is right now. Here is the less-publicized side of his story-his surprising ascent from the world of sleazy Chicago strip joints to the glitter of Broadway. A legend's memory is preserved in this eloquent biography.

Synopsis

"All His Jazz practically dances off the pages."Harper's Bazaar

Publishers Weekly

Former Women's Wear Daily drama critic Gottfried traces the life and career of director/choreographer Fosse (1927-1987), who rose to fame with The Pajama Game , Damn Yankees , Sweet Charity and other shows and films. Fosse's life was full of conflict--a desire (unfulfilled) to star as performer as well as director, painful personal relationships, obsession with sex and a preoccupation with death that led him to recount the details of his heart attack in the movie All That Jazz . Basing his text on interviews, Gottfried examines Fosse's numerous unsatisfactory marriages and love affairs, and his tense dealings with collaborators and colleagues, revealing much about the backstage intrigues and vicissitudes of show business, but offering little of substance about either the shows themselves or Fosse's talent. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)

About the Author, Martin Gottfried

Martin Gottfried, winner of the George Jean Nathan Award for dramatic criticism, is the author of Sondheim and All His Jazz, among other books. He lives in New York City, and Amagansett, NY.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Library Journal

Drama critic Gottfried, author of Broadway Musicals (Abrams, 1989), brings a wealth of Broadway lore to his biography of choreographer/director Fosse, who made a lasting impact on the dancing style of Broadway musicals. Fosse was a driving perfectionist who had such mega-hits as Broadway's Sweet Charity and the movie version of Cabaret , and such colossal failures as the movie version of Sweet Charity and his last movie, Star 80 , which combines his lifelong obsessions, sex and death. Three times married, the last to Gwen Verdon with whom he had his string of Broadway hits, Fosse was a compulsive womanizer. He remains a likable character despite this and other negative traits which Gottfried does not soften. Gottfried gives a more complete psychological portrait of this contradictory man than Kevin Grubb's Razzle Dazzle ( LJ 10/1/89), which was heavily illustrated. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/1/90.-- Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.