Interview: Gregory Butler of CHICAGO at Broadway In Thousand Oaks

Gregory Butler: The Keeper of Fosse and Reinking’s Flame

When Gregory Butler walked into 8th Avenue Studios on February 10, 1997 for rehearsal, he had no idea that the next three decades of his life would be defined by the sharp jazz lines and sly sensuality of the long running revival of Chicago the Musical. “My first rehearsal was for the first National Tour,” he recalls. “Starring Jasmine Guy, Charlotte D’Amboise, Obba Babatundé, Carol Woods—I mean, it was such an amazing cast.”

At that time, the revival had just opened on Broadway in November 1996. “[The Broadway production] had just opened, and then we started the first national. And Annie [Reinking] and Walter [Bobbie] put it together.”

For Butler, working with Ann Reinking was more than a professional experience—it was life-changing. “She was my friend, she was my mentor,” he says, his voice softening. “She changed my life. She was a part of the puzzle piece that moved my life from here to there.”

Meeting Ann Reinking

Butler’s journey with Reinking began before Chicago. He first encountered her while auditioning for a revival of Applause, choreographed by Reinking and directed by Gene Saks. “Prior to that, I had kind of stopped dancing and was doing roles and trying to be a singer,” he remembers. “I wanted to be like the Joshua Henry before Joshua Henry was probably even born.”

Still, something drew him back. “I saw the audition and was like, okay. So I took a jazz class, just to get myself back. I just needed to be in the room with her—you know, because I had Annie’s posters on my wall.”

But the audition didn’t go as planned. “She cut me,” Butler admits. “After the first combination. I was walking to my dance bag trying not to cry. And she came up to me and said, ‘Excuse me, do you sing?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ And she looked at me and said, ‘No, do you SING?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I DO.’ And she said, ‘Stay.’ And I ended up getting Applause.”

Reinking’s keen eye noticed something in Butler that day. “She was so observant in auditions,” he says. “She can pinpoint anything and everything with everyone. That’s one of her gifts.”

During Applause, she paired Butler with leading lady Stefanie Powers in a small duet, allowing him to help shape the choreography. “Annie was very big on improv,” he recalls. “She would give you the outline, and then you would fill it in.”

When Applause closed, producers Barry and Fran Weissler—who also produced Chicago—told the cast that another show was on the horizon. Butler soon received a call to join Chicago as Harry and serve as Dance Captain. “I said, ‘I’ll do Harry, but I’m going to say no to Dance Captain, because I’ve never done it.’ And he said, ‘When Ann Reinking asks you to dance captain her show, you do not say no.’ It was the best advice I’ve ever been given.”

He accepted—and thrived. “I ended up co-dance captaining the first national along, and I figured it out,” Butler says. “Unbeknownst to me, Annie had tapped into a talent that I did not even know I had.”

Years later, he asked her why she chose him. “She said, ‘I watched you in rehearsals. I watched how you dealt with everyone, and how you handled Stefanie Powers, and the relationship that you built with her. And I thought—whenever I need a new Dance Captain, that’s the man.’”

From the Road to Broadway

After a year on the road, Butler was called back to Broadway. “They moved me to Broadway to swing and dance captain the show,” he says. “I was there for 14 years. And in 2005, Annie asked me to be Associate Choreographer, so I’ve been doing that since 2005—all over the world.”

By now, Butler has spent almost 30 years with Chicago. “Yes,” he laughs. “I’m a professional Chicagan.”

Carrying the Torch

As Associate Choreographer, Butler helps maintain the integrity of Reinking’s Tony Award-winning work while keeping each new tour vibrant. “Everything goes back to Annie,” he says. “Being able to watch her create—to watch her take her own choreography and find out how it fits on the actor in front of her—that was the biggest lesson of my life.”

That lesson, Butler says, extends beyond Chicago. “It’s something I took to The Last Showgirl [the 2024 film drama Butler choreographed for friend, and former Roxie, Pamela Anderson] and everything else I’ve choreographed. Seeing the actors in front of me, understanding the storytelling, and then choreographing from that perspective—that’s what Annie did, and it’s also what Mr. Fosse did.”

Butler had met Bob Fosse years earlier while auditioning for Sweet Charity and Big Deal. “It was a different time,” he says. “We could smoke in rehearsals. There was so much respect in the room for him and for Gwen Verdon. You’d be thinking, ‘That is Gwen Verdon!’ And Bob Fosse teaching me ‘Tea for Two’—because if you couldn’t do that, mmm.”

He laughs remembering the legendary director’s habits. “Bob Fosse would talk to you while you’re peeing—and he had a cigarette in his mouth the whole time!”

The Legacy of Fosse and Reinking

For Butler, his work now is about passing on that legacy. “Since Annie passed, my mission is to pass on everything that Annie gave me, everything that Chita [Rivera] gave me,” he says. “One of the blessings of my life was being in the room with Chita—just Chita and I—for two weeks as I taught her the role of Roxie Hart [For the Vegas production at the Mandalay Bay in 1999.] I thought, how did this little Black boy from Detroit, Michigan, end up in this room?”

He also honors the original company members who worked directly with Fosse. “David Warren-Gibson, John Mineo, Bruce Anthony Davis—these were Mr. Fosse’s boys,” Butler says. “That’s what I get to share with all these young people now, so they understand the legacy that this show has, which is unlike any other.”

Even as younger performers join the cast, Butler finds new ways to guide them into the material. “Chicago is a show where age—and when I say age, I mean experience—is very important,” he explains. “So when the actors are younger, I help them dig as deep as they can to understand the complex issues and the irony of the show.”

Building the Current Tour

Butler has currently choreographed the newest national tour of Chicago, through the American Theatre Guild, which plays the Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks from November 7 to 9th. “Nobody knows this show better than Walter [Bobbie], other than Annie,” he says. “Hearing him share his little nuggets with these young kids—it’s amazing.”

He’s also worked closely with longtime Chicago veterans like director David Hyslop and music director Rob Billig. “Between the three of us, we have decades with the show,” Butler notes proudly.

Still, for all his experience, Butler’s focus remains on the performers. “What always excites me most is when I see the actors own this material,” he says. “By that time, they’ve heard all my stories—they know my experiences—and they’ve taken ownership of it all. Annie continues to live on. Mr. Fosse continues to live on. Gwen Verdon continues to live on. Chita Rivera continues to live on.”

That, for Gregory Butler, is the ultimate “razzle dazzle.”