#tbt: Bob Fosse on Ditching Emulation for Individuality

February 6, 2019

In the February 1969 issue of Dance Magazine, we talked to Bob Fosse about taking Sweet Charity from stage to screen. Though he already had a string of Tony Awards for Best Choreography and had spent plenty of time on film sets as a choreographer, this adaptation marked his first time sitting in the director’s chair for a motion picture.

“When I started out, I wanted to be a Fred Astaire,” he told us, “and after that a Jerome Robbins. But then I realized there was always somebody a dancer or choreographer had to take orders from. So I decided I wanted to become a director, namely a George Abbott. But as I got older I dropped the hero-worship thing. I didn’t want to emulate anyone. Just wanted to do the things I was capable of doing—and have some fun doing them. By this time I’m glad I didn’t turn out to be an Astaire, a Robbins or an Abbott.” He would go on to become an Academy Award–winning director, indelibly changing musical theater in the process.