They're Fond of Fosse
March 26, 2007

The first DVD edition of Bob Fosse’s seminal backstage musical drama, 1979’s All That Jazz, was released nearly four years ago and it included interviews and scene-specific commentary by Roy Scheider

Let’s see, there’s director/choreographer Rob Marshall of Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha fame; All That Jazz featured dancer Sandahl Bergman; Kenny Ortega, the choreographer behind Dirty Dancing and, even more notoriously, Xanadu; the always-ready-to-chat Liza Minnelli, whose 1972 TV special Liza with a Z was directed by Fosse; and George Benson, who’s classic cover of “On Broadway” provides the score the movie’s memorable opening cattle call sequence. It’s Benson who offers the most enthusiastic memory of his involvement with All That Jazz: Upon seeing the scene that his music accentuated, he exclaims “Let me tell you, it just knocked me out of my socks!”

Oh yeah, there’re a couple of more talking heads and for the life of me, I can’t figure out what they’re doing there: It’s composers Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale, late of the rock group Devo. What they have to say in these featurettes is completely viable, I just can’t figure out how they came to be in them! Does anyone know if there’s indeed a connection between Devo, Bob Fosse and All That Jazz?

Posted by Laurence Lerman on March 26, 2007 | Comments (0)