The Theater Lovers React To "Who's Got The Pain" from Damn Yankees

Who’s Got The Pain? How can anyone got the pain when they’re watching a musical sequence this great?!

Here’s some excellent advice from Bob Fosse: “If you want to make a reputation as a choreographer, you don’t do solos; you do group dances—[for] three or more [people]. If the audience sees that solo number, they come away saying, ‘Ah! Wasn’t he a great dancer?’ With [three or] four people they say, ‘Wasn’t that great choreography!’” Quote pulled from Sam Wasson’s absolute tome of a biography Fosse. “Steam Heat,” a dance trio from 1955’s The Pajama Game, put Fosse on the map as an exciting new choreographer to watch.

Meanwhile, in that same moment, Gwen Verdon was still enjoying newfound fame as the breakout star of the musical Can-Can. Her numbers stopped the show, clocking an insane seven minutes of just applause after the Apache number on opening night. To again quote Wasson, “[Verdon] had a stage persona that was complex enough to be unique to her, but basic enough to be instantly understood.” Audiences couldn’t get enough of her. Because she was so swarmed by fans at the stage door, Verdon had to ride to the Can-Can opening night party on the back of a policeman’s horse.

When Fosse and Verdon combined forces, they both cemented their reputations as brilliant artists while elevating the impact of each other. With this number from Damn Yankees (and the aforementioned “Steam Heat”), Fosse was breaking from the ubiquitous ballet choreography popularized by Agnes de Mille and Jerome Robbins through the 40s and 50s. This new style was jazzy, angular, humorous and American. Gwen Verdon became the face of it, winning four Tony Awards in six seasons, three of them for Fosse shows.

This number is a prime example of how the two epitomized Broadway dance in the 1950s and how the theatre world could produce gigantic stars.

Thank you to @cutiepuppyfire for recommending that we revisit this number!

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