All That Jazz
This week we’ll see what All That Jazz can tell us about storytelling. When All That Jazz debuted in 1979 it was greeted with a mixture of responses. Bob Fosse who directed and wrote the script was himself a dancer and a choreographer, so this movie was very personal. Although it is classified as a musical comedy, it has a very dark and abrasive tone as it follows the last months in the life of a drug taking, womanizing broadway choreographer and film director played by Roy Scheider.
the death extravaganza
How can a study of this film help with presenting? There is the smashing beginning and the over the top ending. There is the story arc that is brilliantly paced and relentless. There is the humor and the pathos. There is the uses of imagery and music. There is the intercut transitions from tragedy to comedy. There is the color and light. In all the movie is a masterclass in story telling and design and a masterclass in brilliant storytelling techniques.
In particular, I’d like to analyze an element of the ending sequence and see what we can learn from it. Three and possibly even four dance numbers accompany Joe Gideon to his end. Joe watches them all from his hospital bed in ICU. As NY Times critic Vincent Canby said in his review, “funerals are only wasted on the dead”.
Many of the songs used in All That Jazz are familiar. We can hum along with many of them from the music that accompanies Joe’s morning routine (Concerto alla rustica – Antonio Vivaldi) to On Broadway the music for the amazing opening audition number. Every song is transformed from the meaning or the intent of the original. The most astonishing reworking of both the meaning and the lyrics of a popular song is one of the numbers sung and danced to at the funeral. It is Bye Bye Love an Everly Brothers pop tune about teenage angst and hopelessness after a break up. Here it is transformed into Bye Bye Life. What a stroke of genius. A pop trifle becomes a bouncy elegy to lost opportunities and life mistakes while death waits in the wings.
What is the presenting lesson?
As you know if you follow this blog, we are always looking for interesting ways to wake an audience out of its complacency by using a unexpected photo in the course of your story. This is one of the greatest jolts I’ve ever seen. How could you not be disturbed and laughing at the same time by the absurdity and comedy of this musical choice of Bye Bye Life.
Another terrific example of breaking audience expectations is a dance number about midway through the movie. This piece is the only truly happy number in the entire movie. Erzsebet Foldi and Ann Reinking, Joe’s daughter and lover respectively, have choreographed Everything Old is New Again. Together they dance for an audience of one – Joe. We’ve talked about flow and story arc repeatedly on this blog, and here is an example of the power of breaking the flow. All That Jazz is, wth this one exception a break-neck firestorm of nervous energy, relentless drug abuse and ego. Finally we get some relief with this number. Joe sits and watches with a big smile on this ravaged face while Michelle and Katie take over his usual choreography task and deliver a knockout number for him. Think about trying something like this in a presentation.
All That Jazz won Oscars and Golden Globes but none for director Bob Fosse who put his life into this raw examination of ego, selfishness, and brilliance. If you’ve never seen it or haven’t seen it in years, I recommend that you do.
