• Author / Uploaded
• maverick2689

Citation preview

Fosse Discusses Creation of ‘Pippin’ - The New York Times

HOME

SECTIONS

1.

You Don’t Need a Recipe

SEARCH

2.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Kamala Harris Is Accused of Lying About Listening to Tupac. Here’s What...

3.

NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission

4.

Parkland: A Year After the School Shooting That Was Supposed to Change Everything

ARCHIVES | 1972

Fosse Discusses Creation of ‘Pippin’ By LAURIE JOHNSTON

NOV. 7, 1972

About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

5 ARTICLES REMAINING

Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or

Subscribe to The Times for $2 a week.

other problems. Please send reports of such problems to [email protected]. Who gave “Pippin’ a bed to romp on and Irene Ryan a bouncing ball to singalong with, and changed ‘War Is a Science” from a Gilbert and Sullivan‐style song into a minstrel show and invented outright a role with “a Pirandello aspect” for Ben Vereen? Bob Fosse, the director and choreographer, takes both credit and responsibility for “an incredible amount of change” in the new musical comedy about Charlemagne's son. The book is by Roger O. Hirson, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz.

VIEW PAGE IN TIMESMACHINE

“I don't think you would recognize the original material that Stuart Ostrow [the

November 7, 1972, Page 26 The New York Times Archives

producer] brought me a year ago,” Mr. Fosse said yesterday. The triple‐medium man, who has also directed the film “Cabaret” and the Liza

Minnelli television special, takes, also, a certain amount of umbrage at even the friendliest of the generally friendly critics when they rate “Pippin” a triumph of his own razzle‐dazzle over substance. What he has clone, he insists, is to take “malleable material” and turn it into his “personal statement” that — at least on the subjects of war and the family—is “pretty profound.” https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/07/archives/fosse-discusses-creation-of-pippin.html[2/13/2019 4:26:23 PM]

5.

The Two Codes Your Kids Need to Know

6.

NASA’s Opportunity Rover Dies on Mars

LOG IN Log In

7.

T N G S

Fosse Discusses Creation of ‘Pippin’ - The New York Times

A Jolting Message “Besides,” he said a bit testily, “I don't think the book is all that weak for the purpose. The ‘Man of La Mancha’ or ‘Fiddler’ form doesn't interest me.” In the Fosse office, posters and other memorabilia deliver a jolting message: It was in 1954, with “Pajama Game,” that the 26‐year‐old Hollywood dancer‐actor hit Broadway as a choreographer and won the first of his five Tony Awards. His shows staged here have since rolled on to nine, including four hits starring Gwen Verdon: “Damn Yankees” (1955), “New Girl in Town” (1957), “Redhead” (1959) and “Sweet Charity” (1966), which he later directed as a movie with Shirley MacLaine. He and Miss Verdon were married in 1960 and have been separated, he said, for a year and a half, a state that obviously has not produced joy in Mr. Fosse. But he was looking forward to the prospect of a Thanksgiving weekend trip to Disneyland with their 9‐year‐old daughter, Nicole Providence. He doesn't suggest an exdancer—or a Dobie Gillis as in the movie role he once played—though he is slimhipped and quick and even his bearded, balding head and glasses make him look less like a 45‐year‐old than like a boy made up as one. “The statement of the show is that life is pretty crumby but, in the end, there stands the family—pretty ugly, stripped of costumes and magic, but holding hands,” he said, all but wiping away a tear. Started Out as Hoofer The show and the roles of Pippin, played by Broadway newcomer John Rubinstein, and of the Leading Player, performed by the black actordancer Ben Vereen, have reminded viewers of Candide, Peer Gynt, Pilgrim's Progress and the Bluebird‐of‐Happiness ‐in ‐your‐own‐backyard, not to mention the Master of Ceremonies in “Cabaret” (Mr. Fosse directed the movie version), a comic black lago, God—and the devil that made Flip Wilson do it. “I don't hesitate to lift from every form of American show business,” said Mr. Fosse, who started out as a hoofer at 13 in Chicago. “I love the old minstrel shows. I was raised on vaudeville, burlesque, striptease and cheap nightclubs. I put them all in ‘Pippin,’ along with operetta, soap opera with organ music and a few things I learned doing movies and TV.” “Great freedom” was given him by Mr. Hirson, as well as by Mr. Ostrow, who was also “just marvelously supportive,” he said. “They did pull back when I put in that bed, which wasn't in the script,” he said with a small grin. “And they were aghast when I suggested the two dancers"—who comically dance out the initial coital fiasco of Pippin and Catherine (the widow who sets her cap for Pippin)—"but after they saw it, the word was ‘Go ahead."’ When he first read the book and lyrics he was “frightened by the naiveté of the concept, a boy seeking fulfillment,” Mr. Fosse said. “I said the boy must be tempted by suicide—I'm fascinated by suicide,” he said, hunching momentarily in gloom. “When the men went to war, they mainly just sang a song and went. There was no sex, really, so I added all the possible variations I thought were theatrically allowable. “I warned everybody to be ready for a lot of changes but I haven't got the kind of mind to say ahead of time, ‘It's going to be this way when we're https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/07/archives/fosse-discusses-creation-of-pippin.html[2/13/2019 4:26:23 PM]

Fosse Discusses Creation of ‘Pippin’ - The New York Times

finished.” I get involved in the material and the people. And I never enjoyed rehearsals so much or had such a great cast—they really swung with me.” He enjoyed the “closest collaboration” with Tony Walton and Patricia Zipprodt, designers of the ele gantly simple, imaginative and flexible scenery and costumes. “After I emphasized the basic needs for lots of movement,” Mr. Fosse recalled, “I just said, ‘Let's make it a magic‐show— let's make things appear and disappear.’ “ Tries for Simplicity Of the choreography, he said thoughtfully, “I used to be more involved in patterns and complex steps. Now I try for the simplest thing that will say what I want to say.” Of the music he would say only that Stephen Schwartz, the 24‐year‐old composer, “wrote most of it a long time ago.” “I had trouble with Schwartz—we fought all the way,” he said, almost gently. “He's said he'd never work with me again. Let's just say I wouldn't be eager. I think he's very talented. But not as talented as he thinks he is. When I was two years older than Schwartz, I was getting $100 a week as choreographer for ‘Pajama Game.’ “ For “Pippin” he is getting 5 per cent of the weekly boxoffice receipts plus subsidiary rights. There will be road companies “if it's as big a hit as we hear,” and Mr. Fosse thinks he “could see it as a Fellini‐like movie.” “I've been swinging, very free in the last year and a half, and it can be a dangerous way to work. But I'm no longer as afraid. Maybe it comes out of desperation. Maybe I owe it all to anger —at myself, at my marriage falling apart, at a bruised ego when others are called great choreographers.” But what can the critics do to me now?” he asked, wearily. “Sometimes I'm creative, sometimes I'm a hack. People have two sides—and if you're always told to be safe, you'll only work that way.”

A version of this archives appears in print on November 7, 1972, on Page 26 of the New York edition with the headline: Fosse Discusses Creation of ‘Pippin’. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

TRENDING

1.

You Don’t Need a Recipe

2.

Kamala Harris Is Accused of Lying About Listening to Tupac. Here’s What Happened.

3.

NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission

4.

Parkland: A Year After the School Shooting That Was Supposed to Change Everything

5.

The Two Codes Your Kids Need to Know

6.

NASA’s Opportunity Rover Dies on Mars

7.

Trump Says He Does Not Want a Government Shutdown as He Moves Toward Embracing Border Deal

8.

Former Air Force Intelligence Agent Charged With Spying for Iran

9.

Feature: The Tiny Swiss Company That Thinks It Can Help Stop Climate Change

10. https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/07/archives/fosse-discusses-creation-of-pippin.html[2/13/2019 4:26:23 PM]

How to Cut U.S. Emissions Faster? Do What These Countries Are Doing.

Fosse Discusses Creation of ‘Pippin’ - The New York Times View More Trending Stories »

Go to Home Page »

NEWS

OPINION

ARTS

LIVING

LISTINGS & MORE

World

Today's Opinion

Today's Arts

Automobiles

Reader Center

U.S.

Op-Ed Columnists

Art & Design

Crossword

Classifieds

Politics

Editorials

Books

Food

Tools & Services

N.Y.

Op-Ed Contributors

Dance

Education

N.Y.C. Events Guide

Business

Letters

Movies

Fashion & Style

Multimedia

SUBSCRIBE

Home Delivery

Digital Subscriptions

Crossword Email Newsletters

Tech

Sunday Review

Music

Health

Photography

Science

Video: Opinion

N.Y.C. Events Guide

Jobs

Video

Group Subscriptions

Health

Television

Magazine

NYT Store

Education Rate

Sports

Theater

N.Y.C. Events Guide

Times Journeys

Mobile Applications

Education

Video: Arts

Real Estate

Subscribe

Replica Edition

Obituaries

T Magazine

Manage My Account

Today's Paper

Travel

NYTCo

Corrections

Weddings & Celebrations

© 2019 The New York Times Company

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/07/archives/fosse-discusses-creation-of-pippin.html[2/13/2019 4:26:23 PM]

Contact Us

Work With Us

Advertise

Your Ad Choices

Privacy

Terms of Service

Terms of Sale

Gift Subscriptions

Site Map

Help

Site Feedback

Subscriptions