USA TODAY International Edition
Go back in time on the marvelous ‘ Mrs. Maisel’ set
The Emmy- winning series returns Friday, and we party like it’s 1954.
NEW YORK – Nonplussed New Yorkers are streaming down Eighth Avenue, eyes glued to their cellphones, barely noticing the two- time Golden Globe winner in a stiffly curled brunette wig hanging out at a local diner. ❚ If they’d peeked inside the doors of Greenwich Village’s La Bonbonniere, passersby would spy a time warp: phones still attached to cords, corn flakes stacked in vintage boxes, a potato knish for 20 cents. ❚ It’s 1954. And Midge just told Joel that she’s pregnant.
In reality, it’s late August 2019, and filming is nearly complete on Season 3 of Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” ( streaming Friday). And no, that pregnancy news is not a spoiler, but a flashback to the days before Midge discovered stand- up comedy and watched her marriage implode. The new season picks up as onetime happy housewife Midge ( Rachel Brosnahan) is packing for her first major nationwide tour with manager Susie Myerson ( Alex Borstein) and crooner Shy Baldwin ( Leroy McClain).
The period series, steeped in a rainbow of designer gowns and informed by midcentury American comedy, has won 16 Emmy awards for its bold and brash depiction of female empowerment in an era when that was a rarity.
This season, Midge must reckon with the fact that, as a working mother on the road, she’s missing key milestones in her children’s lives while also being “confronted by the reality of performing for new audiences,” Brosnahan says. No longer in the safe confines of downtown’s Gaslight comedy club, “her audience isn’t just young New Yorkers. Life on the road is tough for a lot of reasons. She’s learning more and more what the real world looks like.”
But Midge hasn’t left her old life far behind. On this autumn- infused day, series co- creator Amy Sher
man- Palladino is directing Brosnahan and Michael Zegen ( Joel) in the season finale, which includes the aforementioned flashback scene from the beginning of their since- fractured marriage. The “Marvelous” couple is closing a late night out with runny eggs and weak coffee at their favorite West Village haunt.
“When we have kids we’re going to have to go home at night,” Joel tells Midge, spearing a strawberry on his fork.
Brosnahan smiles slyly. “You know...” she begins. “We have the apartment now. Plenty of space. You’re doing great at work. Money’s coming in. You think maybe it’s time?”
Joel hedges. “It might be time to get serious about trying,” he winks. Midge tosses down her napkin and hops up. “By the way, I’m pregnant. Ooh, a cab. I’ll get it!” she says, running out the door, as Joel chokes.
Each time they shoot the scene, cops blow whistles to stop traffic, and instead of Ubers and taxis trawling the street, a parade of vintage cars roars by. Later, technicians will digitally erase any contemporary elements still visible through the diner’s windows ( including stray paparazzi, who get remarkably close to the actors on the public street).
It’s common knowledge here that the red fedora- clad Sherman- Palladino, who wrote and directed the finale, expects the same rapid- fire dialogue she pioneered on “Gilmore Girls” – and exact line readings. “It’s got to be faster,” she says, peering through a camera.
Occasionally, Brosnahan trips over a word, or Zegen asks a crew member for a forgotten line of dialogue, a curse word flying. No ad- libbing is allowed on this set: Even asides like “well,” “oh” and “um” are written into the script. And getting it done perfectly while traffic is held up outside is “a little nerve- wracking,” says Zegen during a break. “But at the same time, it’s kind of nice not having to improvise and go, ‘ What can I think of that’s funny for the next ( take)?’’
Between scenes, Brosnahan and Zegen chat like old friends, debating movie musicals ( including one they agree is a “flaming pile of garbage”) and sneaking peeks at their smartphones.
A watchful aide keeps replacing the slice of strawberry on Zegen’s fork. “I don’t mind eating strawberries. I’ve eaten worse,” he says, including last year’s scene in which Joel and Midge ate mac ’ n cheese after a kids’ birthday party.
“I almost threw up doing that scene,” Brosnahan confesses.
“It was vegan mac and cheese because of her!” Zegen says. (“I can’t eat dairy,” she explains. “And so I was like really, Amy? Mac ’ n cheese? There is footage of me running and having to spit it out.”)
At 1: 30 p. m., Sherman- Palladino wraps the first scene of the day. “That might be our winner winner chicken dinner,” she calls out.
During lunch, everything in the diner changes to mark a six- year time jump: new half- eaten food on the tables, higher prices on the menus, fresh cakes on the trays. The camera angles are exactly the same, but the now- divorced pair are bickering about where their kids will go to school, with financial pressures and Midge’s new showbiz schedule complicating former plans.
Midge’s mom Rose, played by Marin Hinkle, evolves in the new season, too. Finally looped in about her daughter’s comic aspirations, she faces the aftermath of Abe’s ( Tony Shalhoub) decision to quit his tenured professorship, which forces the couple to find new housing.
“This season I found myself able to understand Rose in different ways,” says Hinkle, who dropped by the set dressed casually in jeans and a longsleeve tee. “Because she has her reasons and her judgments – sometimes they can seem a little harsh – but she really wants her daughter to be safe in the way that Rose understands.”
At nearly 6 p. m., Sherman- Palladino is finally satisfied with the day’s work. “I have everything I need,” she tells her actors. “So if you want to ( mess) around. ...”
“Bullsh-- take!” Brosnahan sings out excitedly.
Freed from the proverbial leash, Brosnahan flies through the diner scene’s dialogue while adding a few new gestures, playing with the timing of her delivery while hitting every beat of the required dialogue.
“Super good!” declares ShermanPalladino. And just in time. It’s 5: 59 p. m.