Today’s edition of the New York Times features an exclusive interview by Valerie Gladstone to Jamie King, the show director, set designer and coreographer of Madonna’s Re-Invention Tour.

The very interesting article contains some facts and trivia and reveals details on how the show has been set up, like why Dress You Up was replaced by Material Girl and how “‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” – the musical Madonna and her children attended to last year in London – worked out as an inpiration for one of the show numbers.

“Who can a star rely on to create a spiritually enlightened, Pilates-inspired, military-saluting, career-extending international road show?

Jamie King has created pop spectaculars for Prince, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez. Still, directing and choreographing Madonna’s Reinvention Tour, whick opened here late last month, made all his previous assignments look easy.

By the time it completes its three-month run, with 55 concerts in the United States, Canada and Europe, it is expected to gross $120 million. Mr. King, 32, has worked with Madonna since she asked him to choreograph her video for “Human Nature” in 1996. He recently talked with Valerie Gladstone.

Click on Full Article to go on reading the interview from today’s New York Times. You can also find a full size scan of the article at www.madonnamegacollection.com. Thanks to Boybulge for bringing this to our readers’ attention.

Valerie Gladstone Describe how you and she come up with ideas.

Jamie King We’ve been working together for a long time, so we don’t have to go
through the whole introductory process. It’s more like “Jamie, I saw this Ninja movie,
and it was cool, and it might be cool to do something like that on tour.” Or, “My kids
have been watching ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,’ maybe we could do something like
the dance with bamboo sticks from that as a transition into ‘Get Into the Groove.'”

VG What happens when you disagree?

JK We had one major disagreement. Only a few weeks ago, I told her I thought she
should replace a song she had already relearned with “Material Girl.” She’d spent a
lot of time learning the other song on the guitar. She’d also said publicly that she would never sing “Material Girl” again. So I had to convince her that it was a bigger hit
and worked much better at the end of a particular sequence.

VG Were you worried that the song wouldn’t go over?

JK If the audience hadn’t responded enthusiastically, I’d never have heard the end of it.

VG What did you do after choosing the 12 dancers?

JK I set up four rooms in the Culver City Studios: the band room where Madonna worked on the songs with the musical director and the musicians; the choreography room where we developed the dances; the technical room, where I had the theatrical props, like the swings for the acrobatic dances.

That’s also where we rehearsed the fire handling and rifle choreography and skateboarding. In another room, I had the entire stage taped out to scale with mock screens and elements of the set, all made of wood. Madonna wants to know exactly what everything will actually look like in materials as close to the finals as possible.

VG The show has a variety of dance styles: tango, popping, a Scottish bagpipe procession and something called the krump. What’s the krump?

JK Madonna likes me to bring her the newest thing. The krump is very in-your face, very angry and confrontational, with the arms spread wide in a threatening manner. My dancers told me about it. It looks like you’re fighting. It’s a way for kids in tough neighborhoods to express their aggression, without really fighting. That’s what she and I like about it.

Article by Valerie Gladstone, New York Times