The Rich Man's Frug

To say that Bob Fosse is my "choreographer idol" is a bit of an understatement.

I was first introduced to Mr. Fosse when my high school did a production of Sweet Charity.  From the first moment of belting behind that bar in “Big Spender” with my arm oddly wrapped around my back, I was hooked.  I even received a fabulous biography of Fosse as a wedding gift from one of my students.  I think that says it all.

I highly recommend this biography.  It is wonderfully written!

The main attribute of Fosse that inspires me the most is that he was able to take his perceived imperfections and shortcomings and turn them into his own dance style that is instantly recognizable: the turned out arms, turned in legs, question mark posture, hat... “yeah” ‘cue jazz hands.’  I will say for the record, that although Fosse did not think much of his dancing, I respectfully disagree, see video. 

While watching our production of Anything Goes, the drama director for the Trabuco Hills High School drama department and I started brainstorming about “next year.”  Somehow we landed on a “Fosse show,” which is no mystery as we are both fans.  We continued to brainstorm and came to Sweet Charity as it had the right amount of cast members, great music, didn’t center on murder (not appropriate for a high school production…Chicago), and was a show we both loved. 

As we continued to brainstorm, we decided to have the choreography be as close to the original choreography as possible.  I was in heaven!  I don’t remember if I thought for awhile, if at all, that I was going to be attempting to recreate professional choreography on high school students, who, on average, had little to no dance experience.  The original choreography needed to be done and that was that. 

"The Rich Man’s Frug” was the ultimate challenge.  A 6 minute, extremely complicated, intricate dance with 22 dancers.  We tackled that dance head on from the hair twirls, tuxedoes, high heels, and even the cigarettes (which weren’t real as we reassured the audience at the beginning of every performance). 

I owe the success to those dancers.  I sat them down before we began rehearsals and showed them a video from the film, Sweet Charity.  I told them that we would be attempting to recreate the dance without changing anything except for perhaps some formations as we were performing on stage rather than for film.  I’ll never forget the dancer’s face who was to play the “lady in the white gloves.”  “That is supposed to be me?” she asked timidly.  “Yep!”   “Oh no…(long pause) OK!”

I told the dancers it was going to be a long, difficult process, but if they were on board, I had all the faith in the world that they could do it.  We all determined together then and there that "The Rich Man’s Frug” would be done the right way. 

Our rehearsals were very structured and aimed at giving students the best understanding of the day’s goals as possible.  I had diagrams and choreography printed out for each dancer.  To give you an idea of what I mean, I have included some pictures of my crude, but effective illustrations from the section of the dance entitled the "Aloof".  ("The Rich Man's Frug" consisted of three sections: the "Aloof," the "Heavyweight," and the "Big Finish.")  

The opening formation in the "Aloof"  

(Fun Fact: A colored in, stick-figure head means they are looking away from the audience.)

A formation also from the "Aloof"

For a little background information:  Musical rehearsals at THHS lasted from about 3pm-5pm every weekday.  I was usually there 3 days a week.  Each dance, that was about 3 minutes long, would take between two to three rehearsals to teach.  These standard parameters were not the case for Sweet Charity.

For “The Rich Man’s Frug” alone, we spent 36 hours learning and perfecting.  (This does not include my time choreographing and learning the dance myself.)  I have never seen so much dedication, hard work, and determination.  This required our rehearsals to be every day, often lasting until 6pm...or longer.  By the end, these students knew this dance so well that they would inform instrumentalists playing in the pit if he/she forgot to do something or made a mistake.  To this day I’m sure they can still hum "The Rich Man’s Frug” as I catch myself and my husband humming it from time to time.    

The success and importance of the production was paramount to me and was the same for those students.  They became professionals, always on time, warmed up, practiced, and in the correct attire.  Did I mention I was in heaven?  I think I already did.  Even the director would move his blocking rehearsals to accommodate these rehearsals. 

The result was worth the extra time and effort and I feel truly blessed to have been a part of that production.  Did I mention that I also split the responsibility of vocal director with the conductor and was planning my wedding all at the same time?!  That was a good year!

To view the final product of "The Rich Man’s Frug,” check out the video!