Stage West musical a Broadway showcase

Stage West’s upcoming musical And the World Goes Round can be summed up in three words, according to Tim French, the Toronto director and choreographer.

This is Broadway, with the emphasis on is.

And the World Goes Round is a musical revue showcasing the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb, the writing team who gave Broadway such mega-hits as Chicago, Cabaret, Woman of the Year, Zorba, Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Rink, as well as providing the songs for such films as Funny Lady and New York, New York.

“From the late ’70s to the early ’90s, Kander and Ebb changed the sound of Broadway by celebrating, in all the best ways, the great Broadway traditions stretching back to vaudeville.

“Their collaborations with (director/choreographer) Bob Fosse, Liza Minnelli, Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera electrified Broadway. So much of the music of Kander and Ebb screams to be choreographed and that’s what Fosse did and what Liza, Gwen and Chita brought to life,” says French.

And the World Goes Round, which takes its title from a song Kander and Ebb wrote for Minnelli in the film New York, New York, opened off-Broadway in March of 1991 and ran for a year, winning three Drama Desk Awards. It featured a cast of two men and three women.

“And the World Goes Round is the kind of show you could easily stage with 10 actors, but I want to honour the original concept. What’s so joyous for an audience with this approach is they get to be astonished by how much we ask of this quintet. Not only do these actors have to sing, dance and act, but they had to learn to play instruments for the song Me and My Baby from Cabaret and to roller skate for a number from The Rink.”

French, who has won numerous awards for his choreography and is himself a dancer, says what excited him about the prospect of staging And the World Goes Round is that this show was known and praised for its choreography.

“Kander and Ebb’s songs have a real pulse to them that invites the body to move, but there is also a great deal of humanity in the lyrics.”

He said the songs that were chosen for the revue explore specific aspects of relationships from falling in love to emotional loss. This is why so many of their songs have had lives beyond the shows they appeared in, says French, pointing to Maybe This Time from Cabaret, All that Jazz from Chicago, Marry Me from The Rink and How Lucky Can You Get from Funny Lady.

“Kander and Ebb wrote tear-your-heart-out songs that are wonderfully exhilarating. They also wrote great songs and great roles for women. Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera in Chicago, Liza in Cabaret, The Rink and New York, New York as well as Lauren Bacall in Woman of the Year. These are all complex, sophisticated people.”

French says he’s eager to see how Stage West audiences will react to And the World Goes Round. He worked on many of Stage West’s pop rock revues and found audiences to be receptive and appreciative.

“I really think these same people are going to fall under the spell of all these magnificent songs that just drip Broadway.”