A Brief History of Bob Fosse's Dancin' 

By Danielle Mages Amato

“I have no interest wasting time and energy doing traditional musicals. I like fooling with new forms, seeing what rules I can break if I push a little harder in different directions.” —Bob Fosse, 1978

Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ originally opened on Broadway on March 27, 1978, where it ran for more than four years and nearly 1,800 performances. “The aim,” wrote a Variety reporter in a 1977 article announcing the show, “is to create an entirely new kind of theatrical performance.” It would be the production his later chroniclers would call “pure Fosse, a genre into himself” (Kevin Winkler) and “an autobiography of style” (Sam Wasson). 

In collaboration with music director Gordon Harrell, Fosse built an eclectic evening of pre-existing songs that ran the gamut from Johann Sebastian Bach to Neil Diamond to Oscar Hammerstein. In lieu of a traditional book, it featured only sparse dialogue and spoken introductions to some of the numbers, some of which were written by playwrights Herb Gardner and Paddy Chayefsky.

So when it came time for rehearsals, Fosse had no writer, no composer, no lyricist, and no director to negotiate with—just himself and the dancers he handpicked for the show. For Dancin’, Fosse selected a company based not only on talent, but also on personality and charisma. He jettisoned the usual division between a chorus hired at a lower rate of pay and a small group of principal dancers who earned more. Instead he put together something truly unusual: an entire company of principal dancers. 

The show they created was an endurance marathon that pushed the dancers to their limits. “It’s like playing Monday night football eight times a week,” Fosse said. “It’s really tough on the dancers. We have a cast of 16 with about eight backup people. That’s an extraordinary number of backups, and we need them all.” The range of styles—tap, jazz, ballet, soft-shoe—and the unrelenting pace of the show gave Dancin’ its high-energy appeal, while also making it incredibly challenging to perform.

When Dancin’ finally made its Broadway bow, critics seemed puzzled by Fosse’s unprecedented creation. Reviews were mixed at best. But everything the critics questioned about Dancin’ turned out to be its strengths at the box office. Was there no traditional book to hold the show together? Then it was perfect for tourists to New York who spoke little English. Were there too many styles of dance all crowded into one show? Then Dancin’ included numbers that would appeal to any audience. Did Dancin’ include too much sexuality, too much movement, too much action? Then that was exactly what audiences came to see. Because come they did. Dancin’ became an unqualified box office success. In the end, it would be Fosse’s second-longest-running show of all time, behind only Pippin. And after it closed on Broadway, Dancin’ took off on two national tours, along with runs by international companies. 

“This show is about the sheer joy of dancing,” Fosse said. That joy reverberates through the decades, invigorating this, the first-ever revival of Dancin’. 

1978 Tony Award Nominations

(winners marked with an asterisk)

* Best Choreography (Bob Fosse)

* Best Lighting Design (Jules Fisher)

Best Musical

Best Direction of a Musical (Bob Fosse)

Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Wayne Cilento)

Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Ann Reinking)

Best Costume Design (Willa Kim)