NEW YORK — Bob Fosse’s legacy will come alive again on Broadway next spring with a revival of one of his most storied shows.
“Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ ” is scheduled to begin performances at the Music Box on March 2 — some 45 years after becoming a smash hit that ran for four years.
Producer Joey Parnes, who made the announcement Thursday, said the new staging “brims with a level of warmth, emotion, and color seldom seen in modern interpretations of Fosse’s influential style and features some of his most inventive and rarely performed choreography.”
The original show was conceived in the same era as “A Chorus Line,” the hugely successful original version of which opened in 1975 and ran to 1990. “Dancin’ ” features demanding dance performances and is built around classical and modern music.
Fosse’s choreography for “Dancin’ ” won a Tony — and the show had a good run from 1978 to 1992 at the Broadhurst and Ambassador theaters.
With the blessing of Nicole Fosse, the late actor, director and choreographer’s daughter, the revived show will be led by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento, who was featured in the original 1978 Broadway production.
“Bob achieved immortality through his work, and I consider it both the responsibility and honor of my life to steward his legacy for a new generation” Cilento said in a statement. “None of Bob’s shows exemplified the fullness of his spirit quite like ‘Dancin’ ’ and bringing it back in this fresh way is how I hope to keep that spirit alive.”
Award-winning playwright Kirsten Childs, whose credits include “The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin” and “Bella: An American Tall Tale,” has been tapped to bring text consultation and additional material to the revival.
Last spring, the show — described as “a full-throated, full-bodied celebration of the art form (Fosse) loved, practiced, and changed forever” on its website — played San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre for three months.
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