Milwaukee gave a polite welcome to Fosse, the razzle-dazzle musical featuring Bob Fosse's choreography. This isn't surprising, given the fact that the current tour is only a pale imitation of the musical that played at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre. The edginess and sexuality that makes temperatures rise among Broadway audiences is in short supply here; there's energy in the touring show, but not the polished talent that could take Fosse to its heights. Part of the reason is that the touring company employs a younger, less experienced cast. A couple of numbers in the touring show are almost amateurish in their delivery. Others manage to hit the mark, such as "Mr. Bojangles" and the lively finale, to Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing." The biggest disappointment is the "Big Spender" number. The dancers' deadpan delivery, by a chorus line of female dancers dressed as prostitutes, was hilariously staged on Broadway. Here, it falls flat.
Although the tour retains its three-act form (as per the Broadway version), it has jettisoned 15 minutes. The missing songs, "Nowadays" and "Hot Honey Rag," are both from the musical Chicago. In this reviewer's opinion, it was an odd choice to trim these, since they were a highlight of the Broadway production. The tour's production values are topnotch, however. The minimal sets were obviously no problem to recreate for the tour. The elaborate lighting effects, a far trickier enterprise to capture, are also extremely well done.
In general, Bob Fosse's choreography is a wonder. The late choreographer-director was so far ahead of his time that numbers recreated in this retrospective musical look startlingly fresh, almost 50 years later. In the tour, accomplished singer Reva Rice gets the show off to a brisk start with "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries." One only wishes that the rest of the show were as polished, and as satisfying.
