Fosse/Verdon looks at the life of the choregrapher and his muse(s)

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When the FX Network created their TV show FEUD, they had two aces in the hole to ensure success – Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were two of the biggest stars in the history of filmmaking, guaranteeing an audience. So when they decided to follow up that limited series with another it was interesting that they chose Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon as their subjects. Two of the greatest members of the New York City theatrical community, Fosse and Verdon definitely made their mark in show business, he as a director/choreography and she as the greatest Broadway dancing actor who ever lived. And though they are certainly well known and loved by musical theatre devotees, they are not widely remembered by today’s masses, particularly the younger set, to whom all show business demographics seem to targeted. So when producers are creating a cinematic story for television about two stars from the last century, what is a surefire way to get people to tune in?

Hire the best, the most famous, the most lauded actors of the age in which we are living.

Fresh off of an Oscar win for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, the genius Sam Rockwell was hired to portray Bob Fosse, and with 17 major award nominations (four of them the Oscar) Michelle Williams is, simply put, the Meryl Streep of her generation, and a perfect fit for the role of Gwen Verdon. With these two powerhouses in place, Fosse/Verdon was poised to be the perfect limited series for FX in 2019 – and the debate over its quality was instantaneous and heated. The show garnered supporters and detractors alike, but the true test of biography filmmaking is one simple question: Will this story compel a person who never heard of these people before to watch?

It did. It does. It will.

The characters in Fosse/Verdon are complex people, rich with emotion and rife with desperation. Each of them needs something furiously and that need propels their course of action. The show moves swiftly and unapologetically back and forth between times, demanding that watchers keep up with the action, offering a little assistance by announcing macabre timelines based on the day that Fosse would eventually die of a heart attack. During these five decades, viewers are shown the day Gwen Verdon met Bob Fosse and the tumultuous life the married couple and creative partners shared until that fateful day. We see how she inspired him and how he raised her to artistic heights, we learn how they hurt each other and how they needed each other. Famous happenings in their lives are put on display, from their artistic triumphs to their turbulent extra-marital affairs, and all is told with compelling cinematic choices that make audiences ask themselves who ARE these people, how did they survive each other and what will be their next impassioned torrent? Scenes of breathtaking accuracy appear before our eyes as we glimpse into history and see Sweet Charity, Cabaret, Chicago, Lenny, Pippin and All That Jazz in their creation stages, scenes designed to make the mouths of Broadway aficionados water as, wide-eyed, we see our idols come to life. It is glitzy, glamorous grit and it is impossible to look away, even at its most manic depressive and moody.

What amazes about Fosse/Verdon is that the main protagonist, Mr. Fosse, is almost completely unlikable, and yet he never loses us, in much the same way as he never lost Miss Verdon. This is a man who was famously unfaithful to his much-loved wife, a man who industry legend still tells was a notorious tyrant as a director, and he is presented in this series as a whiny, needy, petulant, selfish prick who cares about nobody but himself. It is clear that he has love for his family, for his wife, his child, his mistress, his best friend, but at the top of the list, his name is first. Fosse is presented as a man who cares only about his work and getting his way, and when that doesn’t happen he begs, cajoles, pleads and ultimately throws tantrums and storms out. He uses his power to get women and if they do not respond in the affirmative he punishes them for it. He ignores his family until he needs them but when they need him he is defiantly not there. This character is presented in a most unflattering light, with almost no appeal whatsoever, making you wonder how a charm-free, balding, chain-smoking, needy, whiny, titty baby like this was able to get so many people to fall in love with him, even as you, yourself, are falling in love with him. Clearly, all the credit goes to Sam Rockwell because Sam Wasson, who authored the source material Fosse, and Thomas Kail & Steven Levenson, who developed the series, were confident enough to present Mr. Fosse this way because it was authentic to who he was, without worrying about alienating their audience. And to further validate that authenticity, Mr. Fosse’s daughter Nicole is credited as a Co-executive Producer. When a real-life person is recreated on screen in so disagreeable a fashion, and yet the audience still responds to that person, the accolades for that response land squarely in the lap of the actor bringing the cad to life.

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Like a white glove next to a black bowler, Michelle Williams’ Gwen Verdon is a polar opposite to Rockwell’s Fosse. Presented as a woman and a star who is beloved by all who know her, see her perform or just pass her on the street, the sympathetic character has the audience in the palm of her hand for the entire show, even when it is her turn to lose her temper, be neurotic or even act mean. It is easy to see, in Williams’ hands, why Verdon was so well-liked. In scene after scene, she exudes such warmth and sincerity that we the audience wish for her to land a role for which she is aging out, get support from her man-baby of a husband and live a life that is free from all disorder and drama. Viewers familiar with Verdon’s work are treated to a scary recreation of her persona, complete with her inimitable voice and dance moves, all of which Williams captures with the supremacy of skill for which she has come to be known. With one raised eyebrow and quivering vocal exclamation, she is able to move us to tears and with a laugh and flourish of her head she causes us to cheer and applaud from our sofa in the living room. She is defenseless and contumacious in simultaneous moments of dazzling acting ability, drawing to her an audience that will go with her over a cliff. This is an actress who transforms and disappears into every character she plays, making it possible to be sad that you won’t see them anymore when the story is over. Many will miss Gwen Verdon after these credits roll.

In spite of the prowess of the actors playing the titular roles, the real star of Fosse/Verdon is Fosse/Verdon. The creators of the show held nothing back in their attempt to tell a true story of love, loss, creation, and addiction in which the addiction goes beyond booze and drugs because the true addiction Bobby and Gwen had was for each other. The show business setting for the story is created to detail-oriented perfection with choreographers Andy Blankenbuehler and Susan Misner (along with others) presenting Fosse’s acclaimed dances through mirror image recreations of film and stage artistry so famous that experts and fans alike delight in their perfection. Eight writers are credited for the series and four directors but it is clear that Thomas Kail is leading the charge here, with directing credit on five of the eight episodes.

Every episode of Fosse/Verdon is its own play, named after a work of art that Fosse created, including his daughter Nicole Providence Fosse, for whom the final episode is named. Each of these one-act plays that last an hour or less has an individual feel based on the story being told, usually, a story centered around the work. Episode 1, ‘Life is a Cabaret’, emulates exactly the Oscar-winning musical film upon which it is focused, full of color and style and mood lighting; while Episode 5, ‘Where Am I Going’, has only muted earthy tones, one not-at-all-flashy emotionally charged musical number and reflects Fosse’s least flashy film Star 80. Episode 6, ‘All I Care About Is Love’, might as well feature footage from Lenny and Chicago, that’s how specific it is. With every new episode comes a new mood, a new look, a new style. It is truly auteur television at its best, made better by the fact that it is only eight episodes, an hour or less each, perfect for binge watching.

There is an added bonus in watching Fosse/Verdon if you are a Broadway devotee. It’s a little game called Spot the Star, for throughout the series there are appearances ranging from supporting role to cameo for some of today’s great Broadway talents, the Gwens and the Bobs of today. Tony nominees walk across the screen or appear on the monitor in Fosse’s editing room. Note Laura Osnes (Cinderella) as Shirley MacLaine, Ethan Slater (SpongeBob SquarePants) as Joel Grey, Tyler Hanes (Cats) as Jerry Orbach, Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park) as Joe Hardy, Brandon Uranowitz (An American in Paris) as Lenny Bruce and Santino Fontana (Tootsie) as Verdon’s first husband James Henaghen. With meatier roles that show them off more, we can spot Susan Misner (A Funny Thing Happened…) as Joan McCracken, Bianca Marroquin (Chicago) as Chita Rivera and two-time Tony award recipient Norbert Leo Butz turning in a passionately nuanced performance as Paddy Chayefsky. Then, for a special treat, executive producer Lin-Manuel Miranda turns up in the final episode in a completely unexpected cameo as Roy Scheider (how they kept this a secret until the episode aired was nothing short of a miracle). Television regulars appear throughout in the persons of Peter Scolari, Jake Lacy, and Byron Jennings, with Nate Corddry standing out as Neil Simon and Evan Handler wowing as Hal Prince. And though newcomer Margaret Qualley is far too petite to pass as Amazonian Ann Reinking, she delivers in her performance, especially when comparing her voice and eyes to the famous voice and eyes of Tony winner Reinking. For the fans of the Great White Way, this game of theatrical Where’s Waldo is a Who’s Who of musical theatre history.

During the television run of Fosse/Verdon, the internet chatterati were up in arms, challenging the factual validity of many events presented for inspection, bemoaning the lack of carbon copies of stars so unique and famous that no such copy exists, and demanding absolute accuracy at every turn. There was doubt that things happened in real life the way they were being presented in the serial drama, and the fact of the matter is that nothing in life ever happens the way it is presented in cinematic storytelling. Life isn’t interesting enough for filmmaking, there must be a heightened sensibility, and it is a mistake to let the truth stand in the way of a good story – that is the reason for the invention of the two magical words: ‘Based on’. People’s names get changed, events condensed and timelines consolidated in order that a story can be told in sixty minutes or less, and nitpicky fans of the real-life people have to suck up and suffer, accept the vision of the story being offered to them, and be happy that Fosse/Verdon exists because enough time has passed since Mr. and Mrs. Fosse died that people who remember them are either dying off or forgetting them. Thanks to the creative team behind Fosse/Verdon, thanks to popular actors of this era, not only are people who heard of them being reminded of them, but new people who never heard their names are learning that there was a Gwen Verdon and a Bob Fosse. And we are the richer for their having been on this planet. Now their story is out there for all to see and watch and remember, forever.

That alone makes Fosse/Verdon a worthwhile artistic venture.

What did you think of this series? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.