In the first episode of the TV miniseries, we meet Fosse and Verdon on the set of the film version of Sweet Charity. The episode then transfers locations to Munich, Germany where Fosse and Verdon work together to turn Cabaret into one of the most seminila movie musicals in the history of film. Performing “Mein Herr” are a quartet of Broadway dancers including this episode’s guest, Skye Mattox.

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 ...

A Chorus Line changed everything. It’s a statement theatre lovers have heard time and again. But until this exploration into the proliferation of the line as a theatrical device in musical theatre, I never really understood the depth of what A Chorus Line changed. For the layman, it was the first time in years that a Broadway musical reached the greater cultural conversation. Musical theatre had drifted from the zeitgeist after decades of leading the entertainment industry, but here it was back and in charge. For the theatre aficionados, it was the first Broadway musical to run longer than a decade. For comparison, prior to Broadway’s shutdown there were four musicals running that had opened more than ten years ago. But for theatre artisans, A Chorus Line was the first big musical without a separation between principals and chorus. In A Chorus Line, every character was named and given a point of view - not only in the staging but in the script itself. It’s a popular device now, but it shook theatre artists to their core because it meant that what they knew to be true about live theatre was finally being shared with audiences; that every company member makes an important contribution to the success or failure of a musical.

“Life is a Cabaret” premiered on April 9th, 2019. It was written by Steven Levenson, and directed by Thomas Kail; uniquely for this episode, the show credited Both Mssrs. Levenson and Kail with creating the story, but only one of them for writing the actual teleplay. The two group numbers we saw, “Mein Herr” and “Big Spender,” were both originally choreographed by Bob Fosse, but were reconstructed by Valarie Pettiford and Dana Moore, respectively. Something fun for these modern TV shows: the viewership is now able to be tracked separately between live viewers and viewers who watch on DVR. For this pilot episode, the live viewership was .614 million and the DVR viewership was .729 million, bringing the total viewership to 1.344 million. We heard five featured songs in this premiere. The two songs from Sweet Charity, “Big Spender” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” were both written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields. While the latter was an excerpt from the original recording, “Big Spender” was performed and sung by Bianca Marroquin and the Fandango girls. Also included in this episode were songs from Cabaret, all written by John Kander and Fred Ebb: “Wilkommen” which was a recording, as well as “Mein Herr” and the title song “Cabaret,” both performed by Kelli Barrett. The limited series begins in Hollywood, with 19 years left in the illustrious life and career of Bob Fosse. With his wife and muse Gwen Verdon at his side, he is setting up shots for the song “Big Spender” in his directorial debut: a feature film version of his hit Broadway musical Sweet Charity, which had opened on Broadway with Verdon as the lead less than three years early. While Bob is the director, it is clear that Verdon is just as much a creative force as he is, deconstructing the movement for the dancers and even recommending one of them should be cut when the frame needs to be tightened. At a party to celebrate the film’s opening the following year, Verdon and Fosse host a party for friends and colleagues at their New York City apartment. While the energy is positive with the attendees entertained by a performance from their young daughter Nicole, the reviews for the film are notably less enthusiastic. Of particular note in the New York Times review, which says “Sweet Charity is a movie haunted by the presence of an unseen star, Gwen Verdon. Although Mrs. McClaine often looks like Miss Verdon, she never succeeds at recreating the eccentric line that gave cohesion to the original.” The box office bust of Sweet Charity makes Bob have to work hard to line up his next film directorial job, which he hopes to be a film adaptation of the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret. While the film’s producer Cy Feuer is skeptical that Bob’s aesthetic is appropriate for the material, Fosse convinces him by leaning on his experience performing in the USO during World War II. Well, that and going behind Feuer’s back by speaking to his boss. Fosse lands the job and flies to Munich, Germany to direct the film two years later. But while he seems in his element visiting a brothel to cast extras and sleeping with his translator, Feuer is concerned that Fosse’s demand for specificity is going to cost the production millions like the financial flop Sweet Charity. Bob asks Gwen to join him in Munich, where she again saves the show by applying dancers make up and even making a 72 hour trip to New York and back to pick up the perfect gorilla costume.

Over the years, The Ensemblist has had the privilege of sharing personal stories from hundreds of theatre actors on our blog. In this edition, we spoke with Myles McHale of Mean Girls, who recalled a seemingly innocuous wrist injury a year prior that would take him out of the production for six whole months. In the days and weeks leading up to Myles return to rehearsals, Broadway shut down in the second week of March, sidelining not only Myles return to the stage, but even his in-person physical therapy. In his own words, here is Myles’ inspiring take on staying optimistic and galvanized through this unprecedented time.

In my exploration of “the line” and its impact on musical theatre, I wanted to learn more about its use in Hamilton, I reached out to a friend and colleague who has intimate knowledge of the show’s staging. Stephanie Klemons is a noted mover and shaker in the theatre industry, known for her work onstage and off. But her most impressive title is that of Global Dance Supervisor for Hamilton: An American Musical. Steph was in the room as Hamilton was staged, sitting at tech tables as the show was refined, performed in the show as an original cast member and now helps to set and maintain companies of the show around the world. She was generous enough to take time to talk to me from her New York home, where she and her wife raise their young son. Between starting episodes of Dinosaur Train, Steph told me about the purpose of the line in Hamilton and how she teaches the staging to scores of performers around the world.

Today, we remember the life and career of Doreen Montalvo. An ensemblist legend, she created the role of the Bolero Singer in In The Heights and was also an original company member of On Your Feet! Most recently, she created the role of Janet Lundy in Mrs. Doubtfire The Musical. We are honored to share memories and tributes from some of Doreen's friends and colleagues: Jocelyn Bioh, Natalie Caruncho, Linedy Genao, Analise Scarpaci, Shani Talmor and Alèna Watters.

The 30th Annual Tony Awards were held at the Shubert Theatre, current home of A Chorus Line. As opposed to the usual June ceremonies we are used to, the ceremony took place in April 18, 1976 and broadcast by ABC television. The show featured six hosts, including Richard Burton and Jane Fonda It should be noted that while revivals of My Fair Lady and Hello, Dolly! (featuring Pearl Bailey) ran this season, there was no category for Best Revival or Best Revival of a Musical. Heading into the April ceremony, the original productions of A Chorus Line and Chicago were virtually tied for nominations, with 12 and 11 respectively. Also nominated for Best Musical were Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures and a revue called Bubbling Brown Sugar. But the night went to A Chorus Line, winning 9 Awards, The awards for Set and Costume Designer going to Pacific Overtures and Chicago going home empty handed.

For theatre lovers of a certain age… my age… it’s impossible to think about a line onstage without thinking about Rent. The 90s musical which transposes the story of the opera La Boheme onto New York’s Lower East Side is a touchstone for many theatre lovers who grew up at the end of the millennium. Like A Chorus Line before it, and Hamilton after it, the show was a cultural phenomenon whose impact reached far outside a typical Broadway audience. Rent expanded the typical theatre audience to those who didn’t think that musicals were “for” them. One of the ways that Rent achieves this is by turning a very specific story into a universal message of community and, of course, love.

The 30th Annual Tony Awards were held at the Shubert Theatre, current home of A Chorus Line. As opposed to the usual June ceremonies we are used to, the ceremony took place in April 18, 1976 and broadcast by ABC television. The show featured six hosts, including Richard Burton and Jane Fonda It should be noted that while revivals of My Fair Lady and Hello, Dolly! (featuring Pearl Bailey) ran this season, there was no category for Best Revival or Best Revival of a Musical. Heading into the April ceremony, the original productions of A Chorus Line and Chicago were virtually tied for nominations, with 12 and 11 respectively. Also nominated for Best Musical were Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures and a revue called Bubbling Brown Sugar. But the night went to A Chorus Line, winning 9 Awards, The awards for Set and Costume Designer going to Pacific Overtures and Chicago going home empty handed.

Since March, we've been sharing stories of actors moving out of Broadway theaters - sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently. But today we share a story from Natalie Charle Ellis, who as an original cast member of School of Rock and Beetlejuice moved out of the Winter Garden Theatre after five years in the building.

The 58th Annual Tony Awards were held June 6, 2004 at Radio City Music Hall with Hugh Jackman as the host, also a nominee this year for portraying fellow Aussie Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz. Leading the pack this year was Ozian juggernaut Wicked with 10 nominations, followed by six for Avenue Q, five for The Boy From Oz and six for Caroline, or Change. In a rare year where four productions were nominated for Best Revival of a Musical, a Roundabout Theatre Company production of Assassins led with seven, followed by six for Fiddler on the Roof, five for Wonderful Town and two for Big River.

Just after the 2020 Tony Award Nominations were announced, I chatted with Mary Dina (host of BPN's Page to Stage podcast) about our reactions to the nominees: our co-signs, surprises and snubs.

In this exploration of the history of musical theatre through one of its most effective devices, I wanted to bring along one of our artforms most knowledgeable and personable historians. Jennifer Ashley Tepper is a theatrical icon of her own, most notably for authoring her book series “The Untold Stories of Broadway.” But she’s also a proverbial vault of theatre history, recognizing the connective tissues of musical theatre in ways that others may not have seen before. Jen’s statement about the line as a political function intrigued me. Sure, Soft Power is a musical about politics. But is the line itself a political act. So I went to the source, the woman who staged the line into Soft Power herself: Leigh Silverman, director of Soft Power.

The 58th Annual Tony Awards were held June 6, 2004 at Radio City Music Hall with Hugh Jackman as the host, also a nominee this year for portraying fellow Aussie Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz. Leading the pack this year was Ozian juggernaut Wicked with 10 nominations, followed by six for Avenue Q, five for The Boy From Oz and six for Caroline, or Change. In a rare year where four productions were nominated for Best Revival of a Musical, a Roundabout Theatre Company production of Assassins led with seven, followed by six for Fiddler on the Roof, five for Wonderful Town and two for Big River.

I’m not sure why this postponement of Broadway’s reopening stung more than the last time. On Friday morning, the Broadway League released a statement: “Ticket sales for Broadway performances in NYC are now suspended through May 30, 2021. Dates for each returning and new Broadway show will be announced as individual productions determine the performance schedules for their respective shows. The League will provide updates to the public as more information becomes available.” When I started hearing rumblings of this announcement this night before, I began to text friends and colleagues asking if they had heard similar news about an impending announcement. With each person I checked in with, the reaction was similar: disheartened but not surprised. No one I knew really believed that the New York theatre industry would be back up and running by January, and yet to see it in print that there is at least another seven months ahead of this is just so sad. I say “at least” because that’s all we know so far: not that performances will begin Tuesday, June 1st but that they could begin on June 1 at the earliest. It might be next Labor Day, or further into the future. But like I said, it’s not just the lack of an end date to this “intermission” that is disappointing. It’s that much of this could have been prevented. With better leadership, better preparedness, more mandates, perhaps we could have been back in theatres by now. It wasn’t always inevitable that this shutdown would last more than a year, but now it is our sentence to wait.

It was one of the most arresting - and uncomfortable moments I’ve experienced in the theatre in quite a long time. There I sat, in The Public’s Newman Theatre, watching a performance of the show Soft Power. In the song, a reprise of a number called “Democracy,” the full company of actors comes down to the edge of the stage. There, standing shoulder to shoulder, 15 performers looked directly into the audience to recognize our presence in the space. What is it about this line?! Why is it that, in an industry known for spectacle, does stillness provide the most arresting visual images. Why is that, in an artform full of Ziegfeld’s Follies and falling chandeliers, nothing is as effective as doing nothing?

In the final installment of our series highlighting musicals from the fall 2019 season and their brilliant ensembles, we’re celebrating Jagged Little Pill. After a world premiere at Cambridge, Massachusetts’ American Repertory Theatre in 2018, Jagged Little Pill opened on Broadway on December 5, 2019. Adapted from Alanis Morrisette’s hit album of the same title, this musical features a diverse ensemble of individuals helping to bring the story of the Healy family to life.

The 36th Annual Tony Awards were held on June 6, 1982 and hosted by Tony Randall. That season, there were a number of Broadway theatres being demolished to make way for the Marriott Marquis, so the theme of the telecast was to celebrate a great Broadway theatre at the home of that night’s celebration: the Imperial. Going into the Awards ceremony, Dreamgirls led the pack with 13 nominations, followed closely by 12 nominations for Nine. The original production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was nominated for seven awards, while the fourth contender, Pump Boys and Dinettes was nominated for just one. Only one musical was nominated for Best Revival, a Rex Harrison-led production of My Fair Lady.

Cristy Candler worked as a Broadway performer for over a decade in hit shows including Aida, Wicked, Chicago, and Rock of Ages. But when an injury brought her career to a pause, Cristy’s non-surgical approach to recovery inspired her to focus on another passion of hers: the healing arts. Cristy and I spoke about making this career transition and how the healing arts can be helpful as we live through the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about Cristy and Sound Body at ofsoundbody.com. You can take her "Yoga for people who hate Yoga" class online: https://linktr.ee/cristycandler.

The 63rd Annual Tony Awards were held on June 7, 2009 at Radio City Music Hall and hosted for the first time by Neil Patrick Harris. Heading into the ceremony, Billy Elliot the Musical led the pack with 15 nominations, followed by 11 for Next to Normal and 8 for Shrek The Musical. The Public Theatre revival of Hair led the revivals, also with 8 nominations. Also in the running for Best Musical and Best Musical Revival were Rock of Ages, Guys and Dolls, Pal Joey and West Side Story.

This week, we're turning over the mic to Christine Shepard. Featured in the Broadway companies of Head Over Heels and Mean Girls, Chris is a fierce advocate for providing opportunity for all. In her first two-part episode, Chris takes on art education. Education is an ongoing topic of debate in our country. The arts, forever America's favorite face rag, has its own education that continues to lose acknowledgement and funding in schools nationwide. There are opportunities to learn outside of school, but those don't come without a price. Education has a lot of systemic issue, but this episode focuses on how arts education has helped shape the lack of representation seen on Broadway currently.

This week, we're turning over the mic to Christine Shepard. Featured in the Broadway companies of Head Over Heels and Mean Girls, Chris is a fierce advocate for providing opportunity for all. In her first two-part episode, Chris takes on art education. Education is an ongoing topic of debate in our country. The arts, forever America's favorite face rag, has its own education that continues to lose acknowledgement and funding in schools nationwide. There are opportunities to learn outside of school, but those don't come without a price. Education has a lot of systemic issue, but this episode focuses on how arts education has helped shape the lack of representation seen on Broadway currently.

The 63rd Annual Tony Awards were held on June 7, 2009 at Radio City Music Hall and hosted for the first time by Neil Patrick Harris. Heading into the ceremony, Billy Elliot the Musical led the pack with 15 nominations, followed by 11 for Next to Normal and 8 for Shrek The Musical. The Public Theatre revival of Hair led the revivals, also with 8 nominations. Also in the running for Best Musical and Best Musical Revival were Rock of Ages, Guys and Dolls, Pal Joey and West Side Story.

The Tonys are quickly approaching, and we could not be more excited to continue our celebration of the 2019-20 Broadway season and the dazzling ensembles bringing each musical to life. Today, we’re looking back at Tina: The Tina Turner Musical! Tina opened on Broadway on November 7, 2019 after a spring 2018 world premiere on London’s West End. Not only does this biomusical feature high-octane performances of Turner’s greatest hits, but it dives deep into her life offstage, thanks in large part to the talented ensemblists populating Tina’s world.