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[0:00] Mo Brady: You're listening to Fosse and Verdon from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows Broadway from the inside out. Welcome. I'm Mo Brady.

[0:15] Mo Brady: Come on, babe, why don't we paint the town? And all that jazz, I'm gonna move my knees and roll my stockings down. And all that jazz, start the clock.

[0:33] Mo Brady: This spring, FX is airing the limited television series Fosse-Verdon, and as episodes have been released, The Ensemblist is speaking to some of the artists with Broadway cred who helped make the series possible. The sixth and seventh episodes turn their focus onto the creation of Chicago. We see Fosse in the rehearsal room as he begins staging the show before being sidelined with health issues. When he comes back after four months, the show will become much darker, turning the piece into what we know and love today as Chicago. Among the Broadway performers playing those in the rehearsal room are Robyn Hurder, Michael Williams, Fred Odgaard, Alex Wong, and this week's guest, Heather Lang. Heather Lang has performed on Broadway in An American in Paris and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and will be in Jagged Little Pill later this year. In Fosse-Verdon, she plays Sandy, Fosse's associate on multiple projects, from the film of Cabaret to Chicago on Broadway. Here's our conversation.

[1:48] Mo Brady: And tell us what you do on Fosse-Verdon.

[1:51] Heather Lang: Okay, I'm Heather Lang and I play Sandy on Fosse-Verdon.

[1:55] Mo Brady: You do play Sandy. Who is Sandy?

[1:58] Heather Lang: Hey girl, she is Bob Fosse's assistant and it's based off of Catherine Doby.

[2:04] Heather Lang: Oh, loosely. Catherine Doby was Bob Fosse's dance assistant and she was an incredible dancer. She worked on Cabaret as the assistant, also in the film, in Pippin, also in All That Jazz, playing his dance assistant as well.

[2:18] Mo Brady: Oh my gosh, so this is totally meta.

[2:20] Heather Lang: And they also kind of brought up Linda Haberman inside of this too, because Linda Haberman was also Bob's assistant later on Dancing. And what's crazy is I was a Rockette, so I worked closely with Linda Haberman for five years.

[2:32] Mo Brady: Oh, that's fun.

[2:33] Heather Lang: So that was another spooky thing for me, because I'm just like, okay, like, what? I just know her so well. So that was weird.

[2:42] Mo Brady: So how did Fosse-Verdon come to you? Was it an audition, a dance call? Like, what was that experience?

[2:49] Heather Lang: So there was an audition and, you know, I just had a baby a year ago. Well, it's 14 months ago at this point, but you know, that's pretty recent.

[2:56] Mo Brady: Yes. Congratulations.

[2:57] Heather Lang: Thank you. You know, my agent reaches out, oh God, you got to go in for this, you know, and I'm like, oh God, okay, I don't know, you know, because my body is a little bit like, you know, giving you a dislike Frankenstein remix. So I'm just like, okay, let me see if I can pull this together. So yeah, I end up going and Andy Blankenbuehler is running it. We're doing his original choreography. It was so funny. I went in and I knew right away that that wasn't me. I know I'm like, I'm the Haggard doing the cabaret moment, like the elder, you know what I just, or even Sweet Charity, like with a Siggy, like I'm not the supple Jack Cole person, but whatever, we're learning that material and it was awesome and it felt so good to be back in my body because I haven't been in so long.

And then Dana Moore comes in who has been in a ton of things, Fosse, all that stuff. She taught that and that was a real hoot and holler because she's a character. I mean, all these Fosse-Verdon legacy people, it's like they just walk into the room, Valerie Pettiford, Dana Moore, Marianne Lamb. I mean, it's a gag because you just see the history in their bones. You see that they have got stories for days. Week later, called in, then I have to read sides.

[4:09] Mo Brady: Okay.

[4:11] Heather Lang: Yeah.

[4:12] Mo Brady: And what are the sides? Because Sandy's stuff is all like a five, six, seven, eight, brush the leg, kick the foot.

[4:18] Heather Lang: Do the thing and swipe the thing and do, do, do. Well, it was really funny. I'm not going to lie. I remember getting the sides and being like, like they just wrote the sides, I think just to see like, can you hang? Can you just like be in a room and meet people?

[4:31] Heather Lang: They're not words that are actually going to be in the script on the show.

[4:34] Mo Brady: Exactly.

[4:35] Heather Lang: They're like dummy scenes.

[4:36] Heather Lang: It's a dummy scene. And you know, and not to do a critical, but like it's, it's hard almost. It's almost harder because you're just like, hey guys, get in a line. Like, I mean, those are some of the lines literally. And so that was really hard, I have to say. And I remember going in and the casting director, she was very generous.

[4:56] Mo Brady: Is this Amelia from Telsey?

[4:58] Heather Lang: Yeah. I gotta write her a letter. Girl, it's coming soon. No, really it is. Cause she was really generous. She just was very specific. And she was the one that told me it was based off of, you know, loosely based off of Catherine Dobie. And she just gave me all these little nuggets. The character's not necessarily on the page. So how do you bring truth? And so that was really cool. And I got to do it like, I feel like six times and it was great. Like the first two were probably complete trash. The third one I think was the good one. And then, then she let me play. She was like, do it like, you know, be more bitchy. Do it this time where you're just like, you know, like that dance captain. That's like that one. That's just like a comrade, you know, a boo, a friend, you know, like, so we have different levels and layers and...

[5:36] Mo Brady: You're in a lot of episodes.

[5:38] Heather Lang: Okay.

[5:39] Mo Brady: You've been doing...

[5:40] Heather Lang: No, it's cool. It's, I mean, I'm totally gagged. I can't even tell you. I'm like, this is unreal, but yes.

[5:47] Mo Brady: What is the initial offer? Is it for one episode and we'll see what happens? Is it, or is it like, you're going to be in one, four, six, seven?

[5:55] Heather Lang: It was, at first the offer is just like, you're going to be a recurring role.

[5:59] Mo Brady: Cool.

[6:00] Heather Lang: And very blurry. That's it. Like, okay. And it's like, oh my God, this is so cool. What is, you know, what does this mean? And then slowly, you know, over time it kind of morphed in. I originally actually thought I was going to be in all of them. And I think they, they didn't really know. I mean, this is what's so crazy. My understanding of the TV world, which is so, I'm not totally familiar with, right?

[6:21] Mo Brady: Right.

[6:22] Heather Lang: It's, it's, it's ever morphing. So they're writing things and they're like, boom, switch it. We're going to do this. Boom, boom, boom. So there's always, it's, there's a lot of, I think, copy pasting and switching and rewriting, tons of rewrites. So I think originally they were like, okay, for now we're just going to say you'll be in all of them. You have to be available because we have no idea.

[6:41] Mo Brady: Right.

[6:42] Heather Lang: And then it sort of shaped, okay, so we're going to do one, two and three and they're cross-bordered. You're just shooting these scenes and they kind of don't know like, ah, this might, this little part, this beginning of the scene might be used in episode two and the end of this scene will be used in episode one. And it was kind of like that. They really chopped it up. So you just don't know where things are going to land. So you're like, okay, so one, two and three.

[6:57] Mo Brady: So they said just be available for how long? One month?

[7:09] Heather Lang: Oh, six months.

[7:11] Mo Brady: Six months?

[7:12] Heather Lang: Yeah. Cause I'm trying to, I think September, October, November, December, January, February. Cause they wrapped in March, mid-March.

[7:20] Mo Brady: That is so long to be just like chillin'.

[7:23] Heather Lang: Chillin' out. Yeah.

[7:25] Mo Brady: And so how often are you going in? Is it like one week on, two weeks off? Or is it like one day on, two days off?

[7:31] Heather Lang: It was, at first, September and October were very much like rehearse three days, off two days, shoot two days, off two days. Like this kind of thing, which was really great for childcare and being away from the kid was so hard. So it was like the perfect kind of, I don't know, working, you know, for me personally. But yeah, it was, it was interesting too, because remounting the dance sections. Oh my God. I mean, you know, it has, it's very thorough. I mean, if the Fosse-Verdon people could have had, you know, three weeks to really develop it in like they would have, but they had only four days.

[8:09] Mo Brady: Right.

[8:10] Heather Lang: And knowing that they would probably only shoot the first 20 seconds.

[8:14] Mo Brady: Right.

[8:15] Heather Lang: Out of a three and a half minute number. So, but we're learning the whole number just in case.

[8:19] Mo Brady: Now, because you're sort of intricate into this scene, you're not, you're sometimes a dancer, you're sometimes not a dancer. Are you in any table work? Is there table work? Is that a thing?

[8:27] Heather Lang: I think the thing that I love about Fosse is that he was so innovative and he really pushed the boundaries of what dance could be in musical theatre. He had this incredible ability to tell a story through movement, and every little detail mattered.

[8:47] Heather Lang: I remember when I was in the rehearsal room for "Chicago," just watching how he would break down each moment and really focus on the intention behind every step. It was fascinating to see how he would work with the dancers and pull out their strengths.

[9:07] Heather Lang: And the way he would create these characters through dance was just brilliant. You could see the personality of each character come to life in the choreography, and that’s something that really sets him apart from other choreographers.

[9:27] Heather Lang: I also think it’s interesting how he incorporated elements of jazz and even some of the darker themes into his work. It made everything feel so much more raw and real, which is something that audiences really connected with.

[9:47] Heather Lang: Working on "Fosse/Verdon" was such a unique experience because we got to dive deep into his process and see how he collaborated with Gwen Verdon. Their relationship was so integral to his work, and it was amazing to explore that dynamic.

[10:07] Heather Lang: I think one of the most memorable moments for me was when we were rehearsing a scene that depicted the creation of "Chicago." It was a real challenge to capture the essence of what Fosse was trying to achieve while also bringing our own interpretations to the table.

[10:27] Heather Lang: The rehearsal process was intense, but it was also incredibly rewarding. You could feel the energy in the room, and it was clear that everyone was there to create something special.

[10:47] Heather Lang: I loved being able to work with such talented performers and to learn from the creative team. It was a true collaboration, and I think that’s what made it so successful.

[11:07] Heather Lang: I also appreciated how the show highlighted the struggles that Fosse faced, both personally and professionally. It added a layer of depth to the story that I think audiences will really resonate with.

[11:27] Heather Lang: There’s a lot of heart in "Fosse/Verdon," and I think it’s important to remember that behind all the glitz and glamour of Broadway, there are real people with real challenges.

[11:47] Heather Lang: I’m excited for audiences to see the show and to experience the magic of Fosse’s work through this new lens. It’s a celebration of his legacy and the impact he had on musical theatre.

[12:07] Heather Lang: And I think it’s also a reminder of the importance of collaboration in the arts. Fosse and Verdon were a powerhouse duo, and their partnership is a testament to what can be achieved when you work together.

[12:27] Heather Lang: I hope that people walk away from "Fosse/Verdon" feeling inspired and with a greater appreciation for the art of storytelling through dance.

[12:47] Heather Lang: It’s such a beautiful art form, and I think Fosse really showed us how powerful it can be when done right.

[13:07] Heather Lang: I’m really looking forward to seeing how audiences react to the show and to the performances. It’s going to be a thrilling ride!

[13:27] Heather Lang: And I can’t wait to share this experience with everyone. It’s been such a joy to be a part of this project.

[13:47] Heather Lang: Thank you for having me on the podcast to talk about this incredible journey.

[14:07] Heather Lang: I hope everyone tunes in to watch "Fosse/Verdon" and enjoys it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

[14:27] Heather Lang: It’s a celebration of Bob Fosse’s genius and the incredible talent that brought his vision to life.

[14:47] Heather Lang: I think it’s going to resonate with a lot of people, and I’m excited for the world to see it.

[15:07] Heather Lang: Thank you again for having me, and I look forward to sharing more stories from the rehearsal room in the future!

[15:27] Heather Lang: It’s been a pleasure to chat with you about this amazing experience.

[15:47] Heather Lang: I hope everyone enjoys the show and continues to support the arts!

[16:07] Heather Lang: Thank you!

[16:27] Heather Lang: Bye!