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chapter one Editing Choreography in an Autobiographical Film All That Jazz All That Jazz is a musical with intricate song and dance numbers choreo- graphed in the iconic style of director Bob Fosse. The film dissects every part of the dancer’s body, which maintains often-changing tempos. There are also nonmusical sequences that help drive the narrative in a different way. The protagonist, film director Joe Gideon, has pushed his health to the maximum with his carousing and womanizing, as well as his unhealthy lifestyle includ- ing smoking incessantly. Gideon is in postproduction on a motion picture and preparing a large-scale stage musical (both of which reference real Fosse works), while he carries on affairs and relationships with women and deals with a beautiful angel-of-death character. Gideon has a heart attack, is hospi- talized, and sees his life pass before him in the form of a theatrical extrava- ganza of which he is the star. On Broadway, the choreographer wields great power over the content of a musical. Director and choreographer Gower Champion dominated old- fashioned musical comedies for 20 years, from 1960 with Bye Bye Birdie to 1980 with 42nd Street. He was a craftsman who may never have created a distinctive personal style like some others, but his legacy is solid in the his- tory of the contemporary American musical. His traditional approach that developed over the decades led the way to great experimentation for others. In the arts the mavericks who experiment with the nature of their craft use the norm as a platform for discovery. Director and choreographer Jerome Robbins revolutionized the field of contemporary American musicals in 1957 with West Side Story, applying his