The most astonishing athletic performance you will see today
February 12, 2023 9:48 AM Subscribe
Without makeup, costumes, or sets, and with minimum orchestration, here is the delirious Act One curtain number from the 2011 production of "Anything Goes," directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, performed in rehearsal by the full cast led by the otherworldly Sutton Foster. You're welcome.
Holy cow. And to think they did that every day, sometimes twice a day, for months. In costumes. Astonishing.
Thanks for posting.
posted by Mchelly at 10:07 AM on February 12, 2023
Thanks for posting.
posted by Mchelly at 10:07 AM on February 12, 2023
You can also see that cast's Tony performance here -- it's cut down a bit, but you get the glitz of costumes and the set they're dancing on.
Also Sutton effing Foster is phenomenal!
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:08 AM on February 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
Also Sutton effing Foster is phenomenal!
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:08 AM on February 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
+1 on favorite videos.
sutton is astonishing (iykyk) because she makes it all look effortless. honestly, that ensemble - my god. she gets a tiny break to catch her breath but they’re literally into singing while still dancing after a FOUR MINUTE DANCE BREAK.
posted by ovenmitt at 10:10 AM on February 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
sutton is astonishing (iykyk) because she makes it all look effortless. honestly, that ensemble - my god. she gets a tiny break to catch her breath but they’re literally into singing while still dancing after a FOUR MINUTE DANCE BREAK.
posted by ovenmitt at 10:10 AM on February 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
And here's Jonathan Groff (and company) at MCC Theater's 2012 Miscast benefit.
posted by fedward at 10:32 AM on February 12, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by fedward at 10:32 AM on February 12, 2023 [7 favorites]
Pardon my ignorance, can someone elaborate what’s special in the video? Obviously everyone involved is talented, and it’s the Act One closing number so it’s a big showstopper, but is there something specific about this cast or this particular dress rehearsal that I should be seeing but I’m missing?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:16 AM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:16 AM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Pluto Gangsta, I for one was blown away by (1) her insane breath control, (2) the exuberant choreography, and (3) her insane fucking breath control!
posted by MiraK at 11:30 AM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by MiraK at 11:30 AM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
"And though I'm not a great romancer
I know that you're bound to answer
When I propose"
The rules for social interactions thread is right over there.
posted by one for the books at 11:38 AM on February 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
I know that you're bound to answer
When I propose"
The rules for social interactions thread is right over there.
posted by one for the books at 11:38 AM on February 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
I've seen this number performed by other artistes and NONE of them have ever sung whole stanzas without taking a breath like Sutton Foster here.
posted by MiraK at 11:39 AM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by MiraK at 11:39 AM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
There’s definitely a virtuoso quality here, in that Sutton Foster does All The Things really well. She sings this song that’s written as a tongue twister, as a challenge to the performer, incredibly well; then she dances brilliantly for five minutes; then she has half a chorus to get her breath back, and she’s singing again.
posted by sixswitch at 11:44 AM on February 12, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by sixswitch at 11:44 AM on February 12, 2023 [6 favorites]
Yeah, that "I don't wanna show off no more" stuff is RIGHT out the window, there. Fucking amazing woman.
posted by rmd1023 at 11:47 AM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 11:47 AM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oh, hey, they’re supposedly doing a “Schmigadoon” season 2 - can we get Foster in that?
posted by rmd1023 at 12:08 PM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by rmd1023 at 12:08 PM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
(Found via the YT comments) Foster, talking about this video:
"This is so funny, again I was coming off a really bad cold, and I was so scared shitless already about playing Reno. I was on levaquin, this antibiotic that sometimes causes leg aches and leg pains—I don't take it anymore because of this day. So I was coming off bronchitis, and the very the first time I had every sung ‘Anything Goes’ and hit the high note without cracking on it was that press rehearsal when everyone had their video camera on it. I remember after the tap dance, I had massive leg cramps; so I had to go around talking to the press and I was hobbling and I had to take my shoes off. I thought I was falling apart. People talk to me more about that video than any other video.
I remember when Kathleen Marshall started teaching it to us the little girl in me said, ‘My god, this is what I dreamed of my entire life. This is what I love about musical theatre.’ That day was the first time we put it up, and I think there’s something exciting about the first time you do something before anyone has any opinions on it—it’s really pure. So that rehearsal video is incredibly pure. We don't really know what we are doing and there’s an essence of joy and naiveté of what that number would be or what we were about to embark on. We were all just trying not to f up."
https://www.broadwaybox.com/daily-scoop/sutton-foster-reacts-to-six-youtube-videos-from-her-past/
posted by ntk at 12:14 PM on February 12, 2023 [18 favorites]
"This is so funny, again I was coming off a really bad cold, and I was so scared shitless already about playing Reno. I was on levaquin, this antibiotic that sometimes causes leg aches and leg pains—I don't take it anymore because of this day. So I was coming off bronchitis, and the very the first time I had every sung ‘Anything Goes’ and hit the high note without cracking on it was that press rehearsal when everyone had their video camera on it. I remember after the tap dance, I had massive leg cramps; so I had to go around talking to the press and I was hobbling and I had to take my shoes off. I thought I was falling apart. People talk to me more about that video than any other video.
I remember when Kathleen Marshall started teaching it to us the little girl in me said, ‘My god, this is what I dreamed of my entire life. This is what I love about musical theatre.’ That day was the first time we put it up, and I think there’s something exciting about the first time you do something before anyone has any opinions on it—it’s really pure. So that rehearsal video is incredibly pure. We don't really know what we are doing and there’s an essence of joy and naiveté of what that number would be or what we were about to embark on. We were all just trying not to f up."
https://www.broadwaybox.com/daily-scoop/sutton-foster-reacts-to-six-youtube-videos-from-her-past/
posted by ntk at 12:14 PM on February 12, 2023 [18 favorites]
The Pluto Gangsta, some context that makes this more exciting for me is in one of the comments, taken from this article where Foster reflects on some video clips of her performances (ETA: oops, ntk added the quote while I was writing, never mind.)
Also some other background: this was the third time Anything Goes had been done on Broadway, and the first Broadway revival since the 1987 multi-award winning revival starring legend Patti LuPone – those are huge shoes to fill, so having an open rehearsal where it goes off not only without a hitch, but good enough to foreshadow the production's very successful performance at that year's Tony Awards, is pretty thrilling. This is something the cast did 521 times in just over one year, which is also pretty remarkable in terms of physical and vocal health. Foster also played this role a decade later in the West End revival last year!
posted by wakannai at 12:25 PM on February 12, 2023
Also some other background: this was the third time Anything Goes had been done on Broadway, and the first Broadway revival since the 1987 multi-award winning revival starring legend Patti LuPone – those are huge shoes to fill, so having an open rehearsal where it goes off not only without a hitch, but good enough to foreshadow the production's very successful performance at that year's Tony Awards, is pretty thrilling. This is something the cast did 521 times in just over one year, which is also pretty remarkable in terms of physical and vocal health. Foster also played this role a decade later in the West End revival last year!
posted by wakannai at 12:25 PM on February 12, 2023
I came here to say what ntk did. ;-)
Though I’ll add that I think these lyrics are the opposite of tongue twisters. Maybe they’re a bit of a memory exercise, but that’s not uncommon with lyrics in musicals. Porter filled them with rhymes and rhythm that keep them flowing. When he writes a tongue twister you know it. (Let’s Not Talk About Love)
Pluto, if you’ve never tap danced it can be deceptive how much athleticism is involved. The parts of the dance where the torso stays basically still but the feet are producing fast rhythms are already burning calories like whoa. By the time you get to the parts where the whole body is bouncing or the dancer is moving across the stage, you might as well be running hurdles!
posted by clauclauclaudia at 12:44 PM on February 12, 2023 [6 favorites]
Though I’ll add that I think these lyrics are the opposite of tongue twisters. Maybe they’re a bit of a memory exercise, but that’s not uncommon with lyrics in musicals. Porter filled them with rhymes and rhythm that keep them flowing. When he writes a tongue twister you know it. (Let’s Not Talk About Love)
Pluto, if you’ve never tap danced it can be deceptive how much athleticism is involved. The parts of the dance where the torso stays basically still but the feet are producing fast rhythms are already burning calories like whoa. By the time you get to the parts where the whole body is bouncing or the dancer is moving across the stage, you might as well be running hurdles!
posted by clauclauclaudia at 12:44 PM on February 12, 2023 [6 favorites]
100% correct that I have never tap-danced. :-D
Thank you everyone for the extra context and perspectives!
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:11 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Thank you everyone for the extra context and perspectives!
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:11 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
clauclauclaudia you’re not wrong! There’s something syncopated in the lyrics tho and the precision enunciation required at velocity
posted by sixswitch at 1:50 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by sixswitch at 1:50 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm also impressed with the choreographer.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 2:12 PM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 2:12 PM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
"Pardon my ignorance, can someone elaborate what’s special in the video?"
It's also pretty unusual for tap dance numbers to be longer than about 3 minutes of continuous dancing, and rarely that long, and almost always with dancers shifting places (like front line/back line) to get breaks -- it's exhausting. Championship Irish step dancers, in a similar fast-tappy style, rarely dance for more than a minute at a time, and when they come off stage, they're panting. Tap dancing is the dance equivalent of sprinting rather than distance running. It's astonishing for someone to dance that long and then sing, let alone sustain that high note!
This is like a 400m sprinter casually dashing the 1500m at 400m pace and then belting out some Kelly Clarkson at the end.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:15 PM on February 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
It's also pretty unusual for tap dance numbers to be longer than about 3 minutes of continuous dancing, and rarely that long, and almost always with dancers shifting places (like front line/back line) to get breaks -- it's exhausting. Championship Irish step dancers, in a similar fast-tappy style, rarely dance for more than a minute at a time, and when they come off stage, they're panting. Tap dancing is the dance equivalent of sprinting rather than distance running. It's astonishing for someone to dance that long and then sing, let alone sustain that high note!
This is like a 400m sprinter casually dashing the 1500m at 400m pace and then belting out some Kelly Clarkson at the end.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:15 PM on February 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
I thought this would be the other Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" (performed here by Michael Palin).
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:34 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:34 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
While we're talking virtuoso performances, I will never pass up a chance to link the Nicholas Brothers tapdancing to Cab Calloway's orchestra. (The actual dancing begins at around 1:32, but I didn't start it at the timestamp because it would be criminal to skip over Cab Calloway.)
I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but...keep an eye out for the staircase.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:34 PM on February 12, 2023 [12 favorites]
I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but...keep an eye out for the staircase.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:34 PM on February 12, 2023 [12 favorites]
Just saw her in “Music Man.” *sigh*
posted by Melismata at 2:49 PM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 2:49 PM on February 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Pardon my ignorance, can someone elaborate what’s special in the video?
Imagine you happened upon a tape of Savage and Steamboat doing their final rehearsal before WMIII and seeing everyone else realize what they were about to witness.
posted by Etrigan at 3:04 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Imagine you happened upon a tape of Savage and Steamboat doing their final rehearsal before WMIII and seeing everyone else realize what they were about to witness.
posted by Etrigan at 3:04 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Everything gets clearly more interesting when you turn up the video speed to 5x the original.
posted by Roverlaw at 6:19 PM on February 12, 2023
posted by Roverlaw at 6:19 PM on February 12, 2023
It's also pretty unusual for tap dance numbers to be longer than about 3 minutes of continuous dancing, and rarely that long,
When my theater did Mary Poppins, the chimney sweep number was 9 minutes....and then another two minutes of MORE "step in time" while they adjourned the family's living room.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:53 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
When my theater did Mary Poppins, the chimney sweep number was 9 minutes....and then another two minutes of MORE "step in time" while they adjourned the family's living room.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:53 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
While we're talking virtuoso performances, I will never pass up a chance to link the Nicholas Brothers tapdancing to Cab Calloway's orchestra.
It is just criminal that the Blu-ray of Stormy Weather was some limited-release thing that now costs ~US$150.
This is something that should get a proper Criterion restored-with-bonus-stuff release, but I'm guessing the rights are locked up somehow.
posted by Ayn Marx at 7:57 PM on February 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
It is just criminal that the Blu-ray of Stormy Weather was some limited-release thing that now costs ~US$150.
This is something that should get a proper Criterion restored-with-bonus-stuff release, but I'm guessing the rights are locked up somehow.
posted by Ayn Marx at 7:57 PM on February 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
I thought I knew this song pretty well, but there's a couple of verses inserted at the 2:30 mark which I can't remember hearing in any other version.
Porter's original lyrics were full of topical references which would make no sense to modern listeners so, having cut those verses out, I guess this production slipped in the grandma and tennis pros ones to compensate. I assume these must be sourced from an earlier or alternative draft of the song in Porter's archive - either that or someone's managed to mimic his style remarkably well.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:37 AM on February 13, 2023
Porter's original lyrics were full of topical references which would make no sense to modern listeners so, having cut those verses out, I guess this production slipped in the grandma and tennis pros ones to compensate. I assume these must be sourced from an earlier or alternative draft of the song in Porter's archive - either that or someone's managed to mimic his style remarkably well.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:37 AM on February 13, 2023
I assume these must be sourced from an earlier or alternative draft of the song in Porter's archive
After more than 30 years (eek) my memory is spotty on the details of exactly how many verses were in the rental score, but I recall that there was picking and choosing. Sadly "Anything Goes" isn't in either volume of Music and Lyrics By Cole Porter (which include pages of "additional verses" for other songs) and Reading Lyrics only includes three verses. So I'd assume that Cole Porter wrote those verses simply because there's so much evidence of how many verses he wrote for everything else.
posted by fedward at 7:18 AM on February 13, 2023
After more than 30 years (eek) my memory is spotty on the details of exactly how many verses were in the rental score, but I recall that there was picking and choosing. Sadly "Anything Goes" isn't in either volume of Music and Lyrics By Cole Porter (which include pages of "additional verses" for other songs) and Reading Lyrics only includes three verses. So I'd assume that Cole Porter wrote those verses simply because there's so much evidence of how many verses he wrote for everything else.
posted by fedward at 7:18 AM on February 13, 2023
I agree - You're the Top has far more verses than one normally hears performed too. I once read that Porter would amuse his guests at after show parties by performing his own songs in a rewritten form, full of the most outrageous sexual innuendo imaginable. That's the lyrics collection I want to find!
posted by Paul Slade at 8:13 AM on February 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Paul Slade at 8:13 AM on February 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I get the impression that Cole Porter wrote so many alternate lyrics to all his songs so that there were lots of options to tailor each number to the demands of its production. For instance, the 2011 version (with Sutton Foster) revived a verse that had been in the 1962 Off-Broadway revival ("They think he's gangster number one / So they've made him their favorite son / And that goes to show / Anything goes"), presumably written by Porter, who died two years later in 1964. (The restored verse reinforces the mistaken identity element that takes us into Act Two, just in case anyone is watching for the plot.)
I still remember seeing this on stage with the original cast -- sets, costumes, full orchestration -- and the escalation during the four minute tap sequence that climaxes with the dancers going to the raised level of the set (at 6:40 in the rehearsal video) was absolutely insane. It was without a doubt the best first act curtain I've ever seen live, and (unlike the rehearsal video) not a single dancer, including Sutton, looked like they were breaking a sweat.
posted by How the runs scored at 9:07 AM on February 13, 2023
I still remember seeing this on stage with the original cast -- sets, costumes, full orchestration -- and the escalation during the four minute tap sequence that climaxes with the dancers going to the raised level of the set (at 6:40 in the rehearsal video) was absolutely insane. It was without a doubt the best first act curtain I've ever seen live, and (unlike the rehearsal video) not a single dancer, including Sutton, looked like they were breaking a sweat.
posted by How the runs scored at 9:07 AM on February 13, 2023
I had a similar experience at the National Theatre's production here in London a few years ago. The sheer energy of this number and the length of time they maintained that energy was absolutely exhilarating, and produced a huge roar of applause from the audience at its conclusion. Blew the roof off the place.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:27 PM on February 13, 2023
posted by Paul Slade at 12:27 PM on February 13, 2023
So we're all just gonna ignore Joel Grey, huh?
posted by Dokterrock at 11:31 PM on February 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Dokterrock at 11:31 PM on February 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
I came here to post the Jonathon Groff, version but since I've been beaten to the punch, here's Blow, Gabriel, Blow from that same production. Also absolutely worth a watch.
posted by Karmeliet at 5:04 AM on February 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Karmeliet at 5:04 AM on February 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Damn, Dokterrock, my first, okay maybe second thought when watching that was HEY THAT’S JOEL GREY! I love Joel Grey SO MUCH! Glad I wasn’t the only one to notice.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:40 AM on February 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by kinnakeet at 5:40 AM on February 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
I get the impression that Cole Porter wrote so many alternate lyrics to all his songs so that there were lots of options
I sometimes think he was just having so much fun he couldn't stop. He seems to be constantly challenging himself to find ever more difficult rhymes and pulling it off every time.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:08 AM on February 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I sometimes think he was just having so much fun he couldn't stop. He seems to be constantly challenging himself to find ever more difficult rhymes and pulling it off every time.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:08 AM on February 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
« Older We're an empire now | How to correctly exist in polite society. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by knile at 9:50 AM on February 12, 2023 [3 favorites]