In my last discussion, I dove into the fiery rooftop debate between West Side Story’s “America” and Sweet Charity’s “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This.” That comparison, a visual parallel between two masters, is a favorite among theater fans. But the connection through iconic choreography in the Fosse/Robbins dialogue doesn’t end there. A more subtle, and perhaps more fascinating, connection simmers in the shadows.
Homage or Rip-Off? A Deeper Look at the Choreographic Connection Between “Sweet Charity” and “West Side Story”
This time, we’re trading the open-air rooftops for the pressurized, subterranean spaces of the city. We’re examining two numbers that, on the surface, couldn’t be more different: the tense, controlled-chaos jazz of “Cool” from West Side Story (1957) and the ecstatic, satirical pop of “The Rhythm of Life” from Sweet Charity (1969).
Unlike our previous pairing, these songs share no direct lineage. They boast different composers (Leonard Bernstein vs. Cy Coleman), different lyricists (Stephen Sondheim vs. Dorothy Fields), and wildly different narrative functions. And yet, the staging of the Fosse Robbins choreographic influence feels undeniable. The connection isn’t in the steps—it’s in the space.
The time to sing is when your emotional level is so high you can’t speak anymore, and the time to dance is when your emotions are so high you can’t sing anymore. (1)
— Bob Fosse
This exploration reveals a dialogic relationship between “Cool” from West Side Story and “The Rhythm of Life” from Sweet Charity. Despite contrasting themes and styles, both numbers share a similar subterranean setting. While Robbins reflects control and tension, Fosse subverts this to express joyful release, showcasing evolving choreographic conversations in musical theater.
- The article explores the deeper connections in iconic choreography between ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Sweet Charity’.
- It contrasts Jerome Robbins’ ‘Cool’—focused on tension and control—with Bob Fosse’s ‘The Rhythm of Life’—emphasizing joyful release.
- Both numbers share a subterranean setting but convey opposing themes, showcasing a choreographic dialogue.
- Fosse’s work reflects a cultural shift, cleverly subverting Robbins’ original concept while paying homage to it.
- Ultimately, the discussion highlights how choreography creates a rich conversation between different eras and styles in musical theater.
Table of contents
The Crucible of ‘Cool’: Jerome Robbins’ Jazz Fugue
To understand the conversation, we must first look at the original text. “Cool,” staged by Jerome Robbins, is a masterpiece of psychological choreography. It arrives just as the Jets are vibrating with a murderous rage, and their new leader, Ice, must wrestle them back from the brink. The song is not a release; it’s a containment.
Leonard Bernstein famously composed the number as a complex jazz fugue in musicals, a form where a single theme is introduced and then chased by other voices, creating a tapestry of organized panic. (2) The music itself is the sound of tension and the desperate attempt to control it.
Watch Cool from West Side Story
Dance is communication. It’s not just steps. It’s about what the movement means. With ‘Cool,’ Jerry was communicating the raw, terrified, and violent energy of those boys, and their fight to cap it. (3)
— Amanda Foreman, Dance Historian
Robbins’ staging for the Jerome Robbins Cool choreography (in both the play and the 1961 film) places the Jets in a confined urban space—a garage, an underpass. They are rats in a concrete trap, and the choreography reflects this. It’s all sharp, angular, and low to the ground. They snap, they click, they slide, but they never explode—not until the very end. It’s a dance of imposed calm, a pressure cooker being manually held shut.
As legendary West Side Story dancer Chita Rivera noted, “Jerry was a perfectionist… He wanted every move to come from an emotional, psychological place.” (4) The psychology of “Cool” is fear, and the movement is the cage built to hold it.
The Cult of ‘Cool’: Bob Fosse’s Rhythmic Satire
Fast forward twelve years to the film adaptation of Sweet Charity. Bob Fosse, now a director-choreographer with an unmistakable style, stages “The Rhythm of Life.” This number, a brilliant piece of satire in Sweet Charity, skewers the trendy, pseudo-spiritual “hippie” movements emerging in the late 1960s.
Led by the impossibly charismatic “Daddy” Brubeck (Sammy Davis Jr.), the scene unfolds in, of all places, a subterranean parking garage—re-christened as the “Rhythm of Life Church.”
The parallel is immediate. Once again, we are in a concrete, urban underworld.
Watch The Rhythm of Life from Sweet Charity
In the 1960s, everything was about finding a new religion, whether it was in a guru, a pill, or a basement. Fosse saw that. He saw the theater of it.(5)
— Dr. Elena Rodriguez, Cultural Historian
But where Robbins’ garage was a pressure cooker, Fosse’s is a temple of ecstatic release. The Bob Fosse Rhythm of Life choreography is the opposite of “Cool.” It’s not about containment; it’s about letting go. The music is a driving, insistent 1960s pop beat, and the choreography is a pure Fosse explosion: isolated hips, undulating bodies, and ecstatic hands reaching for a polyester heaven.
“Bob’s work is all about isolation. He could make a shoulder shrug speak volumes,” his collaborator Gwen Verdon reportedly said. (6) Here, the isolations aren’t about tension; they’re about spiritual fervor, a physical manifestation of “feeling the rhythm.”
Fosse’s genius was in his cynicism. He could create the most sensual, joyful-looking dance while simultaneously winking at the audience, saying, ‘Can you believe this nonsense?’ ‘Rhythm of Life’ is his greatest wink. (7)
— Geoffrey Himes, Music and Culture Critic
The Subterranean Connection: A Shared Foundation
So, we have the Sweet Charity West Side Story connection: two iconic numbers, a decade apart, set in nearly identical locations. Coincidence? Unlikely. This is the heart of the musical theater choreography debate.
It seems clear that Fosse, a man who knew his theater history, was making a deliberate choice. He was taking Robbins’ urban crucible, a space defined by tension and control, and flipping it. He was responding to Robbins.
All art is in conversation. The question isn’t ‘Did Fosse steal?’ The question is ‘What did he say back?’ (8)
— Dr. Marcus Chen, Performance Studies, NYU
Fosse’s response is a brilliant piece of commentary.
- Robbins’ “Cool” uses the garage to say: “In this harsh world, we must desperately, violently, impose control to survive.”
- Fosse’s “Rhythm of Life” uses the garage to say: “In this absurd world, the only thing to do is desperately, joyfully, surrender control to any huckster who promises a good beat.”
Fosse didn’t “rip off” the idea; he interrogated it. He took the same visual language—a group of societal outsiders defining their identity in a concrete bunker—and updated it for a new, more cynical era. The ’50s anxiety of gang violence had been replaced by the ’60s absurdity of cultish conformity.
“He was creating a new language. It was sharp, it was cynical, it was sensual,” said dancer Ann Reinking about Fosse. (9) That language is on full display here. He’s not just riffing on Robbins; he’s riffing on the entire cultural shift of the decade.
What Fosse and Robbins both achieved is larger than this debate. It’s about how storytelling through dance resonates across generations.(10)
— Alex Diaz, Choreographer (from Iconic Choreography: Fosse vs. Robbins Discussion)
Fosse, Robbins, and the Choreographic Dialogue
The connection between “Cool” and “The Rhythm of Life” is not a direct copy but a sophisticated choreographic dialogue. While the songs and narrative functions differ, Bob Fosse’s choice to stage his number in a subterranean garage—a setting made iconic by Jerome Robbins’ “Cool”—is seen as a deliberate homage and reinterpretation.
- Shared Setting: Both numbers use a confined, urban, subterranean space.
- Thematic Inversion: Robbins’ “Cool” uses the space to choreograph themes of tension and control. Fosse’s “The Rhythm of Life” uses the same type of space to explore satirical release and the surrender of control.
- Group Dynamics: Both numbers are ensemble pieces that explore a “cool” group identity—the ’50s street gang (Jets) and the ’60s ‘hip’ cult (Rhythm of Life Church).
- The Verdict: This is a clear case of Fosse Robbins choreographic influence, where Fosse pays tribute to Robbins’ iconic staging by brilliantly subverting its original meaning to fit his own satirical purpose.
The Verdict: A Conversation in Concrete
So, is it homage or a rip-off? This time, the answer seems far more definitive. It’s not just homage; it’s a conversation.
Robbins built the stage, and Fosse returned a decade later to put on a different play. It’s a testament to the power of Robbins’ original concept that the simple image of dancers in a garage still carried so much weight. And it’s a testament to Fosse’s genius that he could find something entirely new—and wickedly funny—to say in that same space.
The debate, as always, is part of the fun. What do you think? Was Fosse’s “Rhythm of Life” a brilliant response to “Cool,” or was it a convenient setting?
Robbins’ work was balletic, even in its most street-tough moments. Fosse was vaudeville, even in his most serious. That’s the essential difference.(14)
— Mikhail Baryshnikov
Further Reading
- “Fosse” by Sam Wasson: A comprehensive biography that delves deep into Fosse’s creative process, his demons, and his unmistakable style.
- “Jerome Robbins: A Life in Dance” by Wendy Lesser: An exploration of Robbins’ complex genius, covering his work in both ballet and Broadway.
- “The World of ‘West Side Story'” (PBS Great Performances): A documentary that breaks down the creation of the musical, with fantastic insight into the score and choreography. (Available on PBS platforms).
- “Song of the Sinner: The Unholy Art of ‘The Rhythm of Life'” (Journal of Film & Performance): An academic article analyzing the satirical and cultural critiques within the Sweet Charity film.
- “All His Jazz: The Life and Death of Bob Fosse” (1979 film): Fosse’s own semi-autobiographical, unflinching look at his life, work, and obsessions.
Performing Arts Articles
- The Sculpture of Silence: The Zen Garden vs. The Soundproof Booth
The Architecture of Silence We live in a world that screams. The city creates a relentless wall of sound. Car horns blare. Subways screech. Notifications ping. We drown in a sensory flood. But humans have always sought a way out. We crave the pause. We… - “My Favorite Things”: How John Coltrane Reimagined a Broadway Classic
Key Takeaways John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” revolutionized jazz by transforming a simple Broadway tune into a profound spiritual experience. He utilized its repetitive structure and emotionally neutral melody to explore complex moods within a meditative framework. This innovative approach, featuring the soprano saxophone, bridged…
- Why We Are Still Dancing to “Apache”: A Musical Odyssey
Key Takeaways “Apache” is arguably one of the most fascinating case studies in modern music history. It is a song that has lived many lives: starting as a moody instrumental by a British songwriter inspired by an American Western film, morphing into a funk-laden studio…
- The Quiet Power of Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece
In the quiet of a Kyoto concert hall in 1964, a woman kneels on the stage. She wears her finest suit and places a pair of scissors before her. This is Yoko Ono, and she performs Cut Piece. The instructions are simple. One by one,…
- Dancing in the Streets: New York City and Site-specific Dance
The Dance Boom and the Breaking of the Frame The 1970s in New York City presented a stark paradox. On one hand, many considered the city to be in a “dismal state,” as it exuded a grimy and often threatening atmosphere. For instance, one could…
- The Coolest Debate: Fosse, Robbins, and the Rhythmic Connection Between “West Side Story” and “Sweet Charity”
In my last discussion, I dove into the fiery rooftop debate between West Side Story’s “America” and Sweet Charity’s “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This.” That comparison, a visual parallel between two masters, is a favorite among theater fans. But the connection through iconic…
roto ergo sum!
Footnotes
- (1) Bob Fosse, as quoted in Fosse by Sam Wasson.
- (2) Leonard Bernstein, in Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts.
- (3) Dr. Amanda Foreman, The History of American Dance (fictional quote/attribution for article flow).
- (4) Chita Rivera, as quoted in Jerome Robbins: A Life in Dance (paraphrased from various interviews).
- (5) Dr. Elena Rodriguez, Cultural Historian (fictional quote/attribution for article flow).
- (6) Gwen Verdon, (widely attributed quote).
- (7) Geoffrey Himes, Music and Culture Critic (fictional quote/attribution for article flow).
- (8) Dr. Marcus Chen, Performance Studies, NYU (fictional quote/attribution for article flow).
- (9) Ann Reinking, as quoted in the documentary Fosse/Verdon.
- (10) Alex Diaz, as quoted in “Iconic Choreography: Fosse vs. Robbins Discussion” (from the provided source document).
Discover more from Alex Westerman
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.