It’s about the life of its creator, Bob Fosse, the filmmaker who best understood how stage musicals could work as movies (“Sweet Charity” is great, too). “All That Jazz” is an original creation. Make that a wildly original creation that uses existing songs (“Who’s Sorry Now?,” the thrilling “On Broadway”) to show how life is a musical and musicals are life.
Fun fact: “All That Jazz” took inspiration from Federico Fellini’s “8 1/2,” which also is about a filmmaker reckoning with his life choices. And “8 1/2” was musicalized as “Nine.” It’s god awful.
American dancer, musical theatre choreographer, director and film director Bob Fosse (1927 - 1987), UK, 2nd November 1973. (John Downing/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
