The Ensemblist

We’re revisiting our 2014 interview with Tony Award Winner Randy Graff. Among her many Broadway credits is the original production of Les Miserables. Randy spoke to us about originating the role of Fantine on Broadway, the rehearsal process, memories of performing the show, and why Les Miserables has had such a lasting legacy.

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The Fosse/Verdon finale, “Providence,” premiered on May 28th, 2019. Just like the pilot, its writing credit was separated into two: the story of the episode by Joel Fields & Steven Levenson, while the teleplay itself was written just by Steven Levenson. The episode was directed by Tommy Kail. We saw three pieces of choreography in this finale: two were performances of “Big Spender” and “If They Could See Me Now” in this episode, both originally choreographed by Bob Fosse and reconstructed by Mimi Quillin. The third was the father-daughter sequence to Mr. Bojangles between Bob and Nicole, as well as its subsequent plagiarism later in the episode, both choreographed by Nicole Fosse herself.

We had four featured songs in this finale. The two songs from Sweet Charity, written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields, were “Big Spender,” performed by the show’s fictional tour cast, and “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” performed by both Kelcy Griffin and Michelle Williams. The other two songs are not from musicals: All That Jazz’s finale “Bye Bye Life,” which exists as a play on the Everly Brothers’s “Bye Bye Love,” written by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, and performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Also performed by Lin is a version of “Mr. Bojangles” written by Jerry Jeff Walker.

The finale viewership came in at a high of 992,000 total viewers, third only to the series’s first two episodes, with both live and DVR viewership rising from last week. What’s nice is, the finale’s live viewership was the highest it had been since the pilot, so luckily the show went out on a live high!!

Bob is in pre-production for his semi-autobiographical movie All That Jazz, but the script still has a satisfying ending. Paddy hits the nail on the head when he tells Bob, “the problem with your movie is that your hero doesn’t change.” In his search for a realistic, if unsatisfying ending, part of the pre-production includes interviewing Gwen about her feelings about putting Bob’s next wife, Ann, into roles that she created. Her response? “It’s pretty familiar.”

Part of the casting process is Bob auditioning Ann for the role of Katie - a role is obviously based on herself. Bob grills her, making Annie run the scene over and over pleading “why can’t you do the scene like it means something to you?” Her response: “Because this isn’t a scene. This is my life. These are my words. You took our life and you put it into a fucking scene in a movie.” Nicole is also watching her life being put into a fucking scene in a movie when she visits the All That Jazz set and watches the conversation she had with her dad being rehearsed by another actress playing her. 

After creating Roxie in Chicago, Gwen is back where she was just a few years ago: at dinner with her manager, discussing dead ends of career opportunities. She really wants to act, but isn’t interested in following the work to LA. When Nicole’s interest in extracurricular drugs increases, Gwen considers moving her, Ron and Nicole out of the city. But dangled with another challenge to the way he sees the world, Bob gives Gwen the role of Roxie on tour, telling her, “It’s your show. It’s always been your show.” Her husband Ron forces Gwen to make a decision: staying with him vs. being puppeted by Bob. And so, she watches him pack up his life and leave. 

Post-production, everyone is back on their shit: Gwen performing and hosting a medical auction on Staten Island, and Bob recreating conversations he had with Ann (both in real life and in the movie) with his latest girlfriend. Gwen takes on the task of shadow choreographing the pre-Broadway revival of Sweet Charity, but with the direction missing the heart of the show completely the only way for the show to work is for them to work as they always have been meant to: side by side, as partners.

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Most recently seen in New York shining in the ensemble cast of off-Broadway’s Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Dionne has performed on Broadway in Motown, Memphis and Hot Feet. But her other passion is for fine period clothing, which led her to become the owner of the fine vintage clothing and luxury goods store Couture du Jour. Dionne spoke with Anna about how she turned into passion into a thriving storefront in New York’s theatre district, and how her two careers continue to interweave. Here’s their conversation…

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We’re revisiting our 2014 interview with Eddie Korbich. As we know, original cast recordings are vitally important in bringing Broadway and off-Broadway musicals to audiences both before and after the shows have left the stage, and Eddie is no stranger to the process of creating them. He’s been featured on five! In this interview, Eddie spoke with us about how cast recordings inspired him as a child, the ins and outs of recording them, and the magic of being featured on one for the first time.

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It's been a roller coaster of a year, but there are silver linings to even the darkest clouds. Even though the 2020 Tony Awards have yet to announce a ceremony date, one of those bright spots was seeing two performers with major ensemblist cred be celebrated for their work last season: Robyn Hurder of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, and Daniel J. Watts of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. We asked each of them to share their feelings on being nominated for our industry's highest honor. Here in her own words in Robyn Hurder, and a statement by Daniel J. Watts he has given us permission to read and share.

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Jack Sippel made his Broadway debut in 2018 as a swing and dance captain in the original cast of The Prom. Two years later, his journey with the show continues with the recently released film adaption, for which he served as assistant choreographer to Casey Nicholaw and as a performer. Our own Mo Brady recently sat down with Jack to discuss his experience working on the film. Here’s their conversation...

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We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Ann Reinking, Broadway titan. Her memory lives in the souls of so many dancers. The Ensemblist dedicates this episode to her memory. Ann will be deeply missed by our community.

Fosse/Verdon’s penultimate episode “Nowadays” premiered on May 21, 2019. It was written by Joel Fields & Steven Levenson, and was directed by Tommy Kail. In this episode we saw the old Fosse standards of “All that Jazz” and “Nowadays” from the musical Chicago, reconstructed by Valarie Pettiford. Here again we see the company of Chicago, featuring Bianca Marroquin as Chita Rivera, and including Broadway stalwarts Tyler Hanes as Jerry Orbach, Sean Patrick Doyle as Michael O’Haughey, Bahiyah Hibah as Candy Brown and Peter Chursin as Christopher Chadman. We even get to see a Ballet Mistress played by Pamela Sousa, who was played by Nina Lafarga in the last episode. 

“Nowadays” was jam-packed with music -- the most we’ve seen in any given episode this entire series -- and it was all from, you guessed it, the musical Chicago, written by Kander & Ebb.. These four songs included the titular song “Nowadays” featuring our own Velma and Roxie, Bianca Marroquin and Michelle Williams; rehearsals of “All That Jazz” and “We Both Reached For the Gun” featuring Tyler Hanes and Sean Patrick Doyle as Billy Flynn and Mary Sunshine, respectively; and a non-diegetic rendition of “Razzle Dazzle” performed by Michelle Williams.

The total viewership for this episode rose by 53000 viewers to a total of 859,000. The main rise came from a growth of DVR numbers to a whopping 492000, with live numbers inflating a tiny bit to 367000.

It’s 1975, and Chicago is back in the rehearsal room following Bob’s triumphant return from a heart attack. But Bob feels fucked without his pills - he can’t eat, he can’t sleep and he definitely can’t direct. He’s pushing for Paddy, musicians, dancers - literally anyone he can to get him the dexedrine he can imagine. 

Gwen is pushing herself to become the ingenue she no longer is, arriving at the rehearsal room hours early to stretch, jump rope and perform vocal trills. But even still Gwen is having trouble keeping up with Bob’s uptempo choreography, leading Bob to change the choreography for “We Both Reached For The Gun” for Gwen to sit instead of dance. Meanwhile, she’s working every angle she knows to get a new, more satisfying ending written for her. But when Kander and Ebb pen the perfect finale to showcase Gwen, Bob flexes his power and makes it a duet between Gwen and Chita.

When the reviews come out, they are positive to Gwen and Chita but less so for Bob. His failure reminds him of yet another low point in his personal life: when he was just a failed dancer and unknown choreographer who couldn’t get his famous wife pregnant due to his low sperm motility. Just as Gwen can’t get Bob to sign onto Chicago until she dangles him being replaced by Hal Prince, she can’t get pregnant until they’re scheduled to adopt a child.

But even Gwen’s triumphant return to the Broadway stage seems short-lived, when the pregnancy combined with blisters on her vocal chords make her time off of the show - literally without a voice. And even though Bob promises Gwen that there will be no publicity for her temporary replacement, word of mouth for the shortly available Liza Minnelli brings in lines of ticket buyers and a more positive review than the aging Verdon received.

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There isn’t a theatre choreographer more associated with their own unique style than Bob Fosse. The infamous Oscar-, Emmy- and Tony-winning director and choreographer created his own signature technique that distinguished shows like Chicago, Pippin, and Damn Yankees into dance masterpieces. This April, FX launches a new limited television series Fosse/Verdon, based on the 2013 biography by Sam Wesson with a focus on his marriage and collaboration with Gwen Verdon. 

The sixth and seventh episodes turn their focus onto the creation of Chicago. We see Fosse in the rehearsal room as begins staging the show before being sidelined with health issues. When he comes back after four months, the show becomes much darker - turning into the piece we know and love today. Among the Broadway performers playing those in the rehearsal room are Robyn Hurder, Michael Williams, Fred Odgaard, Alex Wong and this week’s guest, Heather Lang. 

Heather Lang has performed on Broadway in An American in Paris and Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark and will be back in Jagged Little Pill this fall. In Fosse/Verdon, she plays Sandy, Fosse’s associate on multiple projects from the film of Cabaret to Chicago on Broadway. Here’s our conversation.

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The film adaptation of The Prom - one of our favorite Broadway musicals in recent years - debuts on Netflix today! So I brought along our very own Prom Stan In Residence, Jackson Cline, to discuss how this movie version is different from the stage show, what works about this adaptation and... what doesn't.

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Last season, The Prom leapt onto the Broadway scene, delighting audiences with an original queer-themed musical just in time for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In The Prom, teenage lesbian Emma Nolan is banned from attending her high school prom with her girlfriend, Alyssa. When a group of narcissistic Broadway performers hear the news, they travel to Indiana to help Emma and pick up some good press along the way. While this premise sounds quite humorous — which it is, The Prom also moved audiences with its great heart and depth. 

This week, we asked Caitlin Kinnunen, who received a Tony nomination for originating the role of Emma, into the studio to chat about her experience as a queer actress bringing this role to life. In addition to The Prom, Caitlin has performed on Broadway in Spring Awakening and The Bridges of Madison County. Here’s our conversation…

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