TV Review - Fosse/Verdon

Bob Fosse is an award-winning choreographer and director, born in 1927 and died in 1987 at the age 60. He was the only person to win an Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award all in one year in 1973. He's won nine Tony Awards, three Emmys and one Oscar. He had a 40-year career and worked on dozens of productions. The focus here though is on the last 20 years of his life and his relationship with his third wife, Gwen Verdon, an actress and dancer, born in 1925 and died in 2000 at the age 75. She won four Tony Awards for her performances. Written by Steven Levenson, a Tony Award-winning writer, based on a book by Sam Wasson, a Fosse biographer, this series is a duality between Fosse and his wife Verdon, but the most interesting character in the first, three episodes isn't Fosse who is arguably the most famous and well known person of the pair. The most interesting character is Verdon.

Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Vice) stars as Bob Fosse. The series begins with him as an elderly man, minutes before his death, which occurred in January at a Washington, DC hotel. He's balding and with a cigarette in his mouth. The series then flashes backward, and it's as if the whole series is Fosse looking back at his entire life. The following episodes are structured as flashbacks too. The flashbacks in the first episode reveal what kind of man Bob was. He's been tap dancing since he was a child. He's a frustrated artist who couldn't be a dancer himself, so turned to feeding off other dancers. It turned him into a womanizer, polyamorous and never fully satisfied. He's always pushing the edge and the boundaries of the stage or screen. For example, he wants real, German prostitutes in his show and not actresses.

Michelle Williams (The Greatest Showman and Brokeback Mountain) co-stars as Gwen Verdon, a smart, charming and strong woman who is proven to be just as big a creative force as her husband. Her arc in the first, two episodes is similar to the arcs we've seen in recent films like Colette (2018) and The Wife (2018). It's not exactly the same, which is to this show's benefit. She's a put-upon woman, a woman with talent and power that aren't recognized. In fact, she's eclipsed by her husband's shadow, no matter the depth of that shadow. In fact, the second and third episode feel like she's the lead and Rockwell is just a background character. We get to see her struggles as a woman in the theater business, despite the acclaim and career she's had.

The dialogue here is very strong. Levenson and his writers, including Debora Cahn (Grey's Anatomy and The West Wing) have such perfect emotion, movement and timing. Each moment snaps and engages from scene-to-scene. Williams' performance is incredible, as she flows into those scenes so fiercely or so effortlessly. It's not that Rockwell is bad, but so far Williams is the reason to watch this series. If this series is supposed to be a peek into Fosse's process or insight into his creativity, it reveals less about him than some might want. If anything, it reveals more his dependency on his wife who is like a real, guiding light or cohesive force.

However, it's not all one-sided. Gwen does have a dependency for her husband, but it's not due to a failing in herself but more a failing in the culture and world around her. She loves him and it shows. Yet, when he hurts her or does something hurtful, she can't break away despite wanting to break away. For Fosse fans, the famous musical numbers from his shows are incorporated in powerful ways. The FX network has done several TV series adapting the lives of celebrities. Most of which have focused on criminality like The People v. O.J. Simpson (2016) or The Assassination of Gianni Versace (2018). This one is just as good if not better.

TV-MA-LS.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Tuesdays at 10PM on FX.