‘Fosse/verdon’ biopic disappoints
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Dancer-choreographer Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and dancer-actress Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams) were Broadway superstars, married from 1960 to 1987, when he died. But their marriage was fraught nearly from the start, because of his womanizing, and they spent many of those years apart, some of which were the most productive for both. This eightparter — produced by Tony-winner Thomas Kail (“In The Heights,” “Hamilton,”), along with Steven Levenson, Joel Fields and Lin-manuel Miranda — covers five tumultuous decades in their lives.
MY SAY: There was a time when Fosse was nearly a household name, and not just in theater households. The most acclaimed choreographer in the world had become the most acclaimed director, and in the event that acclaim hadn’t sufficiently sunk in, Fosse produced his own Oscarnominated biopic (“All That Jazz”) which gilded the legacy.
By contrast, Verdon’s glory years and most of the Tonys seemed behind her. It wasn’t fair, and it isn’t fair, but the word “fairness” never appeared on any Equity card. By the early 1970s, she had been the greatest. The world had moved on, as it brutally tends to do for actresses who had arrived in middle age.
Enter “Fosse/verdon,” which corrects the record, then over-corrects it. Williams gets the better role and gives the better performance. Poor Sam Rockwell gets the beast of Broadway. His Fosse is an inconsequential bore, with the libido and bedside manner of an orangutan and the charisma of a wet noodle. A wispy comb-over completes the desolate portrait. No one will confuse this with hagiography.
For that reason and others, “Fosse/verdon” can be hard to watch, harder to like. The production insists the audience arrive with impressions already formed, and command of Broadway history, at bare minimum, adequate. It helps to know that “Can-can” was one of Verdon’s first smashes, better to know Fosse came afterward; Michael Kidd was choreographer.
Because Fosse and Verdon hooked up in the middle of their respective careers, “Fosse/verdon” begins in the middle, too. Under any circumstance, that’s a challenging starting point, as much for producers as viewers, and to fill in the back story, the first few episodes tend to be supercuts — flash-forwards, flashbacks and the occasional flash-sideways.
“Fosse/verdon” is a claustrophobic series as opposed to an epic one. What’s mostly missing is the thrill of opening night, the chorus line, the music, the whole glorious space of the theater. That’s what made these two such vital personas in the first place.
FX offered the first five episodes for review (and “Chicago” is still to come). This could get better, and in fact does. The best episode easily is the fifth — a long, rainy night spent in a Southampton beach house. Unfortunately, to get to this you’ve got to get through a long, rainy night first. BOTTOM LINE: Disappointing.