All That Jazz Review

All That Jazz
A successful musical director (Scheider) pushes himself too hard, has recurrent visions of the angel of death, undergoes heart surgery and eventually dies.

by Kim Newman |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1979

Running Time:

123 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

All That Jazz

This fascinating, imaginative and intimate biographical musical drama is a startlingly candid testament from the late Bob Fosse, gifted dancer, brilliant choreographer and Oscar-winning director of Cabaret. Sensational dancing and eye-popping production numbers punctuate the confessional reminiscences of arrogant, satirical theatrical eminence Joe Gideon as he flirts with Death.

Inevitably, comparisons with Cabaret come with every number, but this is a very different animal. There is an indulgent, almost hallucinatory feel to some of the choreography here, and if this isn’t Fosse intentionally trying to display his range, it certainly feels so. Despite this, Jazz is an unmistakable classic in it’s field, full of talent and originality.

Savagely witty on backstage life and audaciously edited, Jazz stands alongside Cabaret as the best “musical” of the last 20 years
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