where she comes into the saloon and meets the father she hasn’t seen in years, took more out of her than anything else she had ever done. It left her so exhausted that her back ached. This is because the character was such an emotional mess as well as being physically weak after having been sick and just gotten out a hospital. Trying to show the strain that Anna was under became a terrible strain on any actress playing the role. Verdon demonstrated this with small touches like making her lips tremble when she drank a glass of port.
Fosse developed a whorehouse ballet for the sequence where Anna dreams of her past life. Abbott wasn’t sure about the idea but he decided to see what reaction it received. The number was controversial since it involved Verdon in flesh-colored tights, garter belt and a brief corset. In rehearsals one of her breasts would occasionally pop out when she was being carried up a great staircase to an upstairs bedroom. Another part of the ballet had Anna flirting with a young man (played by Harvey Evans, who was then known as Harry Hohnecker) brought into the whorehouse. Evans first met Verdon when he was fifteen and had waited at the stage door for her after a performance of Can-Can . In the number his leg shook and rose like an erection in reaction to Anna’s flirting. Producer Harold Prince found the ballet revolting and described it as “crotch dancing” and a “Vegas, Crazy Horse in Paris number.”
The show had a preview in New Haven on April 8, 1957. Reportedly members of the audience averted their eyes and some even shrieked in horror. The number was deemed too dirty and had to be cut. The police came and padlocked the stage doors and posted a Do Not Enter sign which was discovered by the dancers when they arrived the next day. Sources differ as to how this came about. Some say that the police had acted after having read reviews of the show. One claims that “the police” was actually one crossing guard, summoned by the mother of a teenage girl. Harvey Evans says the producers were responsible for the lockout. He says they went to the city officials, claiming that the ballet material was pornographic, which led to the police action.
When the company moved to Boston in May, the controversy continued. Abbott and Prince wanted the number out but Fosse and Verdon refused. Three arguments were proffered against the dance. Dream ballets in general were overused. It glamorized the bordello by making Anna’s former life as a prostitute appear far more appealing than her present circumstances. And it didn’t belong in the show because Anna was not a dancer. Perhaps the most important and persuasive argument was that audiences hated the ballet. They reportedly felt nervous about how it was done without music except for a drum beat, and they expressed their displeasure by not applauding at the end of the number. Fosse and Verdon considered the ballet high art and said that they didn’t care what the audience thought, citing how an audience had thrown fruit at Stravinsky. Abbott commented that the act of throwing fruit at a project was not proof of its being high art. Ironically the number drew attention away from the fact that the show was otherwise thought to be mediocre with a weak book and undistinguished songs. The show also suffered by comparison with West Side Story which had tryouts in February and which would open on Broadway on September 26, 1957. Another factor that provided an imbalance to the show was the casting of Thelma Ritter in the supporting role of Martha. Since her part was a comic one and Verdon’s was more serious, Ritter was getting more attention from the press.
Jack Cole is said to have visited. He had onced warned Verdon against working with Fosse, but now he approved. Fosse’s whorehouse ballet presumably got Cole’s approval because he too liked whorehouse ballets, akin to the “Harlequin Odyssey” he had done with Verdon in 1953. Fosse devised an alternate
Fosse developed a whorehouse ballet for the sequence where Anna dreams of her past life. Abbott wasn’t sure about the idea but he decided to see what reaction it received. The number was controversial since it involved Verdon in flesh-colored tights, garter belt and a brief corset. In rehearsals one of her breasts would occasionally pop out when she was being carried up a great staircase to an upstairs bedroom. Another part of the ballet had Anna flirting with a young man (played by Harvey Evans, who was then known as Harry Hohnecker) brought into the whorehouse. Evans first met Verdon when he was fifteen and had waited at the stage door for her after a performance of Can-Can . In the number his leg shook and rose like an erection in reaction to Anna’s flirting. Producer Harold Prince found the ballet revolting and described it as “crotch dancing” and a “Vegas, Crazy Horse in Paris number.”
The show had a preview in New Haven on April 8, 1957. Reportedly members of the audience averted their eyes and some even shrieked in horror. The number was deemed too dirty and had to be cut. The police came and padlocked the stage doors and posted a Do Not Enter sign which was discovered by the dancers when they arrived the next day. Sources differ as to how this came about. Some say that the police had acted after having read reviews of the show. One claims that “the police” was actually one crossing guard, summoned by the mother of a teenage girl. Harvey Evans says the producers were responsible for the lockout. He says they went to the city officials, claiming that the ballet material was pornographic, which led to the police action.
When the company moved to Boston in May, the controversy continued. Abbott and Prince wanted the number out but Fosse and Verdon refused. Three arguments were proffered against the dance. Dream ballets in general were overused. It glamorized the bordello by making Anna’s former life as a prostitute appear far more appealing than her present circumstances. And it didn’t belong in the show because Anna was not a dancer. Perhaps the most important and persuasive argument was that audiences hated the ballet. They reportedly felt nervous about how it was done without music except for a drum beat, and they expressed their displeasure by not applauding at the end of the number. Fosse and Verdon considered the ballet high art and said that they didn’t care what the audience thought, citing how an audience had thrown fruit at Stravinsky. Abbott commented that the act of throwing fruit at a project was not proof of its being high art. Ironically the number drew attention away from the fact that the show was otherwise thought to be mediocre with a weak book and undistinguished songs. The show also suffered by comparison with West Side Story which had tryouts in February and which would open on Broadway on September 26, 1957. Another factor that provided an imbalance to the show was the casting of Thelma Ritter in the supporting role of Martha. Since her part was a comic one and Verdon’s was more serious, Ritter was getting more attention from the press.
Jack Cole is said to have visited. He had onced warned Verdon against working with Fosse, but now he approved. Fosse’s whorehouse ballet presumably got Cole’s approval because he too liked whorehouse ballets, akin to the “Harlequin Odyssey” he had done with Verdon in 1953. Fosse devised an alternate
Similar Books
