Rating: 
Summary: Fosse: NOT the Original Cast
Review: I saw the original on Broadway shortly after it opened. I bought the original cast CD at the theater. Much as I like Ann Reinking (saw her in Chicago about the same time), she and Ben Vereen are getting long in the tooth. Vereen, particularly,really messes up some good numbers. Valerie Pettiford was so much better in Blackbird. People should know that they are not seeing the cast that won the Tony award. Even the supporting dancers are inferior.
Rating: 
Summary: Missing some of the magic
Review: I saw this show on Broadway a month after it opened, and Ben Verene was not in the show. This is not the cast that won the Tony. I saw it on PBS last spring and the show seemed to be reworekd to add Verene. On Broadway the show was magic and full of energy and life. Here, the magic has worn off a bit, but it's still worth seeing. I'd reccomend the Original Cast Recoding as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Great show in a high quality DVD
Review: I saw this show twice in New York. This Dvd shows all the excitement of the live show.
The DTS sound is superb, the quality of the image too . Steam Heat is the top number, something really magic. Perhaps, Ben Vereen has lost the Fosse's touch but it does not affect this marvelous musical experience.
Rating:
Summary: They had it coming when they planned this one
Review: I was sorely disappointed after seeing this version of Fosse. I saw the theater version of the show and enjoyed it far more than this video. Ben Vereen and Ann Reinking are indeed legends of the stage, however their presence in this production did little to improve the quality of the show. In fact, I simply did not like their performances.
There are some highlights that are on this video, including "I Gotcha" and "Sing Sing Sing." However, I highly recommend that if you really want to feel the amazing energy from a Fosse performance that you see this show live.
Rating:
Summary: Is it the real Fosse?
Review: I'm reviewing FOSSE from a position of relative ignorance about the man and his achievements. Hey, it's never stopped me before.FOSSE records a live-audience performance of the musical, which is a compendium of selections from various other Broadway productions which Bob Fosse choreographed: "Big Deal", "Liza with A Z", "Dancin'", "Sweet Charity", "Kiss Me, Kate", "Damn Yankees", "Pajama Game", "Chicago", "Pippin", "Cabaret", and "All That Jazz". I've never seen any of them performed live on stage, but only the screen versions of DAMN YANKEES (1958) AND CHICAGO (2002). Obviously, I need to get out more. The musical "Fosse" was, by the way, not choreographed by the great man himself. He's dead. Rather, the dance numbers were re-choreographed by Ann Reinking, Fosse's protege and girlfriend, with the participation of an aging Ben Vereen, one of Fosse's favorite performers. Between acts, the two are interviewed about Bob's style and work ethic. The only production I've ever seen in which Bob Fosse had a hand was the excellent 1979 film ALL THAT JAZZ, an autobiographical piece which he directed. From it, and the Reinking and Vereen recollections, I gather that Fosse was a hard-driving perfectionist, and infer that the musical "Fosse" would not have come up to his exacting standards. In many instances, the dance numbers seemed, to my inexpert eye, sloppily done. Vereen's presence in several of them, while appealing to the nostalgia of the audience, did him no particular credit. But, that's show biz, folks. Two songs from "Chicago" were included in the FOSSE program: "Razzle Dazzle" and "Hot Honey Rag". As performed in "Fosse", both were disappointingly anemic versions of their exuberant equivalents in the blockbuster, Oscar-winning film CHICAGO. This perhaps suggests that a new film version of "Damn Yankees" being produced by Miramax, which released CHICAGO, will be well-worth seeing even if the cost of movie tickets doubles. I'm being wishy-washy and awarding three stars to FOSSE. I suspect it's but a pale reflection of Fosse's original choreography, but I may be wrong. I guess you had to be there.
Rating:
Summary: BROADWAY MAGIC
Review: IF YOU ARE A LOVER OF BRAODWAY AND BOB FOSSE--YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS DVD!!!! I HAD A CHANCE TO SEE THE SHOW WITH BEN VEREEN WHO IS SUPERB--ESP WHEN HE DOES "MR. BOJANGLES"--BRAVO!!!! I COULD GO ON AND ON--JUST GET IT AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: FOSSE -- A MUST-SEE FOR DANCE OR BOB FOSSE FANS
Review: If you enjoy dancing -- classic or non -- this is a must-see DVD. Bob Fosse changed American choreography and this collection of his famous dances is charming and respresents the Fosse style. It is exceptionally well-filmed considering a live stage producion is being filmed. Sound quality is good. If you like to dance -- or watch dancing -- you must see this.
Rating:
Summary: Fosse for adults
Review: If you've read all 37 reviews so far, I guess you're a Fosse fan. You will know who's in the DVD and what numbers they do, but I think it will be the most helpful here to say what not to expect. Except for nostalgic short appearances by Reinking, (way past her brilliant prime) and embarrassing interferences by Vereen, there are no original cast performers. Don't yearn for something you may have seen on Broadway years ago or even this show when it was fresher and live on stage.
What you will see is Fosse's work done better than even he could do it. These are professionals at their finest, tireless, versatile, energetic and able to show to best advantage all the subtleties and drive of Fosse's limitless invention. The lighting is perfect and the camera work magical. I don't know they did it with a live show with no chance for retakes. I've danced in Musicals in Hollywood in the 50's and later directed television and in my opinion this is the best you'll ever see of Fosse's work.
Rating:
Summary: And all that jazz...
Review: It's an unfortunate rule of thumb that by the time an enterprising producer gets around to filming a Broadway play or musical, the show has neared the end of its run. Usually, that means performers who are tired, sometimes visibly bored, or perhaps suffering from vocal problems. Unfortunately, FOSSE is no exception to either the rule or the usual consequences thereof. Nor, in this instance, did the producers help matters by reshaping the show around Ben Vereen. Now in his mid-50s, Vereen has lost nearly all of the technical virtues--the strikingly fluid hips, high extension, and apparent weightlessness--that made him one of the quintessential male Fosse dancers. While still a charismatic stage presence and reasonably strong singer, Vereen's performance here is painful to anyone who has recently watched PIPPIN, ALL THAT JAZZ, or the recently released SWEET CHARITY. The rest of the cast, while reasonably energetic, often lacks both definition and expression. There are some elegant and technically assured performances scattered throughout, most notably from Ken Alan, Shirley Maclaine look-alike Meg Gillentine, Edwaard Liang, and Fosse veteran Dana Moore. The vocals, alas, are usually weak--most annoyingly so in "Crunchy Vanilla Suite," where the two male singers can barely be heard, let alone understood. (Gillentine is probably the evening's strongest singer.) As a general rule, the dancing appears at its best in small-scale numbers like "Steam Heat" or "Cool Hand Luke"; the big ensemble pieces are often weak, with dancers falling out of sync or "softening" the choreography. The most notable offender is probably "The Rich Man's Frug": most of the male dancers don't bother to "hinge" forward; dancers keep their knees straight when they should be in demi-plie; the isolations, well, aren't; and the arms are sloppy (especially in the punching train that concludes "The Heavyweight"). Rather better are the "Shoeless Joe Ballet" and "Sing! Sing! Sing!" The widescreen picture is crisp, although the director's choices are not necessarily what they should be. Despite its flaws, however, musical theater aficionados will no doubt want to add this DVD to their collection.
Rating:
Summary: BEN EMBARASSES HIMSELF !!!
Review: Let me say that since FOSSE! was filmed live on Broadway and is the only archive of these Fosse numbers in existance (other than the original numbers performed in the various movies), it's certainly worth having in any collection, however, Ben Vereen's pitiful performance (singing and dancing) proves once again how rare it is to see people well past their prime unable to see what the rest of the world sees, namely that they are indeed past their prime and should step aside and let dancers and singers who are in their prime do justice to the material. Now I know that Ann R. and Ben V. were simply stupendous in THEIR prime, but sadly, that time is long past. If they had been in the production strictly as a conduit to the Bob Fosse years and been limited to stories told about Bob Fosse, then that would have been welcome, but sad to say I was literally embarassed whenever Ben V. sang or danced. Obviously, the production numbers were downsized and re-choreographed to allow him to be a part of the numbers (he must have been in his 50's when this was made). And that is THE problem. He certainly was one of the greatest dancers ever in his PRIME, but those days are long gone for him, and I wish that he and Ann R. would have realized this. I did enjoy all the numbers with the young dancers who were in their prime, and I felt that were very good, but not great (they were a little sloppy in their movements in several numbers) as they most certainly would have been had Bob Fosse himself been in charge of this production. This production proves yet again that YOU CANNOT GO BACK to what was!!! If you want to see these brilliant Fosse numbers performed the way he envisioned them and performed by dancers in their prime, then you have but one option: Get the DVD movies themselves and enjoy!
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