TV Times – 27 July 2019

14 TV TIMES

G

lossy, star-

studded and

packed full of

musical hits, new

drama Fosse/Verdon

chronicles the troubled personal

and professional relationship

between Bob Fosse, the lauded

director of 1972 movie Cabaret and

stage show Chicago, and his musical-

theatre icon wife, Gwen Verdon.

Spanning five decades, the eight-

parter, which starts with a double

bill, jumps back and forth in time

to follow their heady partnership,

rocked by Bob’s infidelities, as well

as his absentee parenting, self-

doubt, drug-taking and depression.

Leading the all-star cast are

Michelle Williams (Gwen), who’s

returning to TV for the first time

since Dawson’s Creek ended in

2003, and Sam Rockwell (Bob),

who takes on an all-singing, all-

dancing change in direction after

his Oscar-winning role in the hard-

hitting 2018

film Three

Billboards

Outside

Ebbing,

Missouri.

‘It’s a dense,

complex story,’

explains Sam,

50. ‘Someone
    said Bob and Gwen
    were almost like twins
    in a way. They’re lovers
    and there’s a love story there,
    but they’re kind of Siamese
    twins, emotionally.
    ‘They had a thing like June
    Carter and Johnny Cash, and Ike
    and Tina Turner. There’s an artistic
    love. It’s a beautiful relationship.’
    The couple married in 1960 and
    separated in 1971 but famously
    never divorced, with Gwen
    continuing to support her estranged
    husband in both his life and career.
    It’s 1969, however, when the
    drama kicks off on BBC2 this
    week as Bob, having lost Universal
    Pictures millions of dollars with
    his musical flop Sweet Charity,
    gets offered the chance to direct

Liza Minnelli in Cabaret – the

now-classic 1972 musical for which

both Bob and Liza won Oscars.

Meanwhile, dancer Gwen, a

four-time Tony winner, is taking

a career backseat to raise their

daughter, Nicole (now an executive

producer and choreographer on

the series, and played by Blake

Baumgartner and Juliet Brett).

But on set in Munich, Bob

suffers a major crisis of confidence,

falls out with the producer Cy Feuer

(Paul Reiser) and ends up having

an affair – one of many – with

a German translator.

The effect on the ever-supportive

Gwen is, of course, devastating,

especially when she catches them

together in Bob’s apartment.

‘The producers [spent a lot

of time] thinking about how to

include Gwen’s perspective and

Gwen’s side of the story, and to

make her visible,’ says Michelle, 38.

‘There’s this big gap in her

career that was intentional because

she wanted to stay at home, she

wanted to be a mother, and she

wanted to be present for Nicole.’

Although Sam (George

W Bush in the film Vice) and

Michelle (Marilyn Monroe in the

movie My Week with Marilyn)

have played real-life people before,

Michelle admits it took more than

just dance lessons to portray Gwen.

‘I had to start meditating,’ she

explains. ‘I needed to expand my

consciousness to be able to grasp

her. There was all kinds of stuff

in terms of research and physical

preparation and reading, and the

watching and listening.

‘I would listen to her all the

time, I would watch her all the

time, she was always in my ear or

in front of my eyes. I wanted to be

faithful to who she was and faithful

to the people who knew her.’

Hannah Davies

lThe entire series will be on BBC

iPlayer after the first episodes air

PHOTOS: ALAMY, BBC, COLUMBIA TRI-STAR, DISNEY/TOUCHSTONE, FX, GETTY, UNIVERSAL PICTURES

of their lives...

Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell on playing

Broadway great Gwen Verdon and director Bob Fosse

FOSSE/VERDON IS PREVIEWED

ON PAGES 80-

Partners: Sam and

Michelle as Bob and Gwen

NEW DRAMA

Fosse/Verdon

FRIDAY / BBC2 / 9PM & 9.50PM

The

The real deal:

Bob and Gwen with

daughter Nicole

(centre) in 1985

Unique style: Bob

instructs a dancer