TV Times – 27 July 2019

(Barré) #1

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,


  1. ‘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
Free download pdf