Lessons in "Hopping": The Dance of Death and the Chester Mystery Cycle

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 249-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Oosterwijk
Author(s):  
Kevin Winkler

This chapter looks at Bob Fosse’s most ambitious film, the autobiographical All That Jazz. All That Jazz follows Joe Gideon, a director and choreographer very much like Fosse who is at a personal and professional crossroads as he prepares to direct a Broadway musical much like Chicago while simultaneously editing a film that looks a lot like Lenny. Following graphic footage of open-heart surgery and a series of metaphoric musical comedy turns by the women in his life, All That Jazz concludes with Gideon presiding over a combined funeral and wake for himself: a glamorous, high-energy floor show to end all floor shows. Here Fosse took the movie musical further than anyone had dared—not only in subject matter, but also in structure and pacing. Fosse tells this “putting on a show” musical in nonlinear fashion, with surprising juxtapositions, fragments, and time leaps.


1955 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 354-356
Author(s):  
Johns H. Harrington
Keyword(s):  

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-411
Author(s):  
Alex Murray
Keyword(s):  

1969 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-171
Author(s):  
R. M. Lumiansky (introducer, first book) ◽  
David Mills (introducer, first book) ◽  
A. C. Cawley (introducer, second book) ◽  
Martin Stevens (introducer, second book) ◽  
Alexandra F. Johnston (review author)

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