Year-end melangery

As we count down the days towards the "Party of the Year" to see 2024 out with a bang - how about a final melange this year of "newer" choons that have caught my ear of late?

Let's get this little "hangover" from the Festering Season out of the way first - probably the best Xmas song never destined to hit our airwaves...

Buckcharpenters - Sleigh Bitch [Carpenters - Sleigh Ride vs Buckcherry - Crazy Bitch: Bill McClintock mash-up]

Next up, everyone's favourite pop-twink Olly's back - with a choon rather reminiscent of Janet ("Miss Jackson" if you're nasty) methinks:

Olly Alexander - Polari

Also making a welcome return - old "house fave" electro-pop combo Parralox, with a cover that is a vast improvement on the Joe Jackson original, in my opinion:

Parralox - Steppin' Out

Mummy! It's the scary lady from Eurovision!

Loreen - Gravity

Taking things down a notch, a rather sublime acapella medley from the midst of the "pandemic lockdown" era:

Zee Machine - Got To Be Mighty Real mashup

And finally, an old familiar choon - but with a rather inventive video mix. It's Quincy vs Sweet Charity!

Quincy Jones vs Sweet Charity - Soul Bossa Nova

As ever, dear reader, let me know your thoughts...

Slick your hair and wear your buckled shoes, and all that jazz

Sad news today - the lovely, leggy Fosse muse Miss Ann Reinking has high-kicked her way off to Fabulon...

Never quite as famous as her predecessor in Bob Fosse's bed Gwen Verdon, nor a top-billed star in the same way as Chita Rivera, nevertheless her legacy as a choreographer has assured her immortality - for it was she, rather than Bob himself, who created the fabulous "jazz hands" routines for the worldwide smash hit musical Chicago...

Ann Reinking and Bebe Neuwirth - Chicago [Tony Awards, 1997]

...not to mention her dazzling performance in Bob Fosse's semi-autobiographical film All That Jazz:

Ann Reinking - There'll Be Some Changes Made

Pizazz!

RIP, Ann Reinking (10th November 1949 – 12th December 2020)

She's gonna shimmy till her garters break

Another day, another fundraiser, it seems...

Following in the footsteps of the utterly superb star-studded Noël Coward extravaganza A Marvellous Party [in aid of Acting For Others/The Actors'Fund] and this week's mass-participation Children In Need blockbuster, I have another genuine jaw-dropper for you.

An impressive exercise in co-ordination that I couldn't even begin to contemplate, no fewer than 150 cast and orchestra members from worldwide versions of Kander and Ebb's masterful musical Chicago - including Ute Lemper, Sally Ann Triplet, Debbie Kurup, Bonnie Langford, Sue Kelvin, Ian Kelsey, Michael Greco, David Hasselhoff, Annette McLaughlin, Gaby Roslin, and many more - have gathered together (inevitably in these times, remotely) to perform a synchronised version of the show's big number All That Jazz in aid of the COVID-19 relief fund of AIDS charity The MAD Trust.

The result is just amazing...

The Make A Difference Trust - All That Jazz featuring 150 performers and musicians from around the globe

Wow! Just wow.

To make a donation, please visit The MAD Trust emergency assistance fund page.

Frugging

After a fabulous weekend that included a surprise ticket to see Marianne Faithfull (and a day of recovery from the very late night afterwards, during which I managed to finally finish my outfit for next Saturday's Gay Pride!), it is now time for another week of unbridled joy in work to commence.

However, it is Tacky Music Monday, and as yesterday marked the birthday of the late, great Bob Fosse - how about something really camp?

Here's the fantastic Rich Man's Frug from one of our fave musicals here at Dolores Delargo Towers Sweet Charity, which certainly fits the bill!

Sweet Charity - Bob Fosse choreography - Rich Man's Frug

Have a good week!

Robert Louis “Bob” Fosse (June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987)

All that Jazz

It's strange how coincidences happen...

Today would have been the 80th birthday of the late Roy Scheider, he of Jaws and French Connection fame.

Today is also the 63rd birthday of that marvellous Bob Fosse muse (and the great man's one-time lover), the choreographer, dancer and actress Ann Reinking - who was, tantalisingly, scheduled to appear with Chita Rivera for a charity gala in the West End last year which we were geared up to go to, until the thing fell through, dammit.

Miss Reinking and Mr Scheider, of course, famously collaborated on the semi-autobiographical Fosse musical film All That Jazz, and to mark the birthdays of these two great stars, here is a fantabulosa number from that very movie:

Ann Reinking - There'll Be Some Changes Made

Fantabulosa!

All That Jazz on IMDB

They only live to service you

It has been ages since we've had a bit of "glossy Fosse" here at Dolores Delargo Towers - and discovering the fact that the elastic gymnastic dancer Sandahl Bergman celebrates her 59th birthday today is enough of an excuse to feature some, methinks...

On this Tacky Music Monday, why not Take Off with them? If only EasyJet flights were like this!

Bob Fosse All That Jazz - Take Off With Us

Have a good one!

Glossy Fosse

One of the greatest choreographers the modern world ever saw was born on this date 83 years ago.

Without him, where would the likes of Miss Minnelli, Miss Rivera and Miss MacLaine be?

Bob Fosse produced sassy "jazz hands" dance numbers for just about every musical that is dear to my heart (and much much more) - Cabaret, Sweet Charity, Chicago, Pajama Game, Liza with a Z, Pippin, All That Jazz and even Damn Yankees... His influence is everywhere (most notably in Michael Bennett's A Chorus Line).

Here is Mr Fosse with his former wife and long-term dance partner Gwen Verdon:

Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon - Who's Got the Pain

This is a spectacular number from the tribute revue Fosse, produced after his untimely death in 1987:

Sing! Sing! Sing!

And here is his Tony award-winning ensemble number for the Broadway (flop) musical Big Deal - stunning!

Big Deal

RIP, a spectacular genius!

Take a "step-by-step tour" of the great man's most famous dance poses.

At once fluid and angular

That master of the extravagant dance moves, the ultimate godfather of the kind of show we theatrical queens love today, Bob Fosse would have been 80 years old today.

The talent behind such magnificent shows as Cabaret, Sweet Charity and Chicago, some of our greatest showbiz ladies such as Shirley MacLaine and Liza Minelli owe much of their success to his exquisite eye for a show-stopping number. A magnificent talent, and, even twenty years after his death, still a huge influence on the renaissance of musical theatre today...

In the words of one of his biographers Fernando Zaremba, a major contributor to Bob's tribute website:

"When Bob Fosse died on September 23, 1987, many, many people were saddened by his untimely passing. But few, if any, were surprised by it. Fosse had always been a man who fully embraced life, and his death at the relatively young age of sixty came as a shock to almost no one. Indeed, many of his associates were amazed he lived as long as he did.

"Possessed of both unbridled energy and tremendous artistic gifts, Fosse was one of this century's great choreographers. Though he forged his craft on the Broadway stage and on film, he was as much an artist as Nijinsky, Balanchine, or DeMille.

"He was also one of our era's most indulgent personalities, for he applied the same frenetic pace to his personal life as he did to his artistic efforts. A fan of drink and drugs, Fosse eventually tempered his habits after his first major heart attack in the early 1970s. But he never slowed down when it came to women. Married three times, Fosse had an almost endless list of dalliances.



"As an artist, Fosse was known for his thoroughly modern style, a signature one could never mistake for anyone else's. Snapping fingers are omnipresent, so are rakishly tilted bowler hats. Both hip and shoulder rolls appear frequently, as do backward exits. Swivelling hips and strutting predominate, as do white-gloved, single-handed gestures.

"Fosse himself often called the en masse amalgamation of these moves the "amoeba", and that word as much as any describes his particular style, at once fluid and angular."

Read more on the Fosse website