Via YouTube
Here is the first peek at Fosse/Verdon, the FX miniseries, with yummy Sam Rockwell as Bob Fosse and lovely Michelle Williams as his muse Gwen Verdon. The series promises to focus on Fosse’s professional and romantic relationship with Verdon. The trailer dropped during the Golden Globes on Sunday night. With the tag line:
He was a visionary. She made him a star.
The eight-episode series marks Williams’s first regular television role since her debut role in Dawson’s Creek 21-years ago. Rockwell won the 2018 Academy Award for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and hosted SNL last year.
Norbert Leo Butz, a two-time Tony Award-winner portrays playwright/screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. Margaret Qualley, best known for HBO’s The Leftovers, will play actor/dancer/choreographer Ann Reinking. The large supporting cast includes Aya Cash as Joan Simon, Nate Corddry as Neil Simon, Kelli Barrett as Liza Minnelli, Evan Handler as legendary director/producer Hal Prince, Laura Osnes as Shirley MacLaine, Ethan Slater (best known for his Broadway title role in SpongeBob SquarePants, and Bianca Marroquín as the great Chita Rivera.
Hamilton‘s and Mary Poppins Returns‘ Lin-Manuel Miranda and his frequent collaborator, Thomas Kail, both executive produce. The series is based on Sam Wasson‘s biography Fosse (2013). See my review of this must-read book here.
The Fosse and Verdon’s daughter, Nicole Fosse, serves as a co-executive producer, saying:
My mother and father have one of the greatest love stories ever known. Finally, we have a creative team with the talent and wisdom to tell the story.
“Damn Yankees” via YouTube
Fosse/Verdon focuses on their ill-fated romance plus their boundary-breaking creative partnership. Together, they created such Broadway Musicals classics as Damn Yankees (1959) New Girl In Town (1958), Redhead (1959) and Sweet Charity (1966), and Chicago (1975). The producers said in a joint statement:
Bob Fosse ignited a revolution in American dance, theater, and film… but Fosse’s work would not have been possible without Gwen Verdon, the woman who helped to mold his style – and make him a star.
Production is wrapping up this month and the series is slated to air later this year.
Below is a clip of the couple in the 1958 film version of Damn Yankees. Let’s hope Rockwell and Williams’ chemistry is as good as this:
