Critical Condition: Fosse/Verdon

Fosse/Verdon | SoHo2, 8.30 Wednesday

☆☆☆☆ “Fosse/Verdon follows the romantic and creative entanglement of legendary director/choreographer Bob Fosse and his should-be-equally-legendary muse, Gwen Verdon. They’re played by Sam Rockwell (a recent Oscar winner) and Michelle Williams (a four-time nominee), respectively, two signifiers that this is a real prestige package. Both Rockwell and Williams hold up their end of the bargain, even when the show’s jumbled structure nearly sabotages the whole thing.” — Vanity Fair.

☆☆☆☆ “FX’s series about the lives of the artist and his collaborator and wife, the musical actress Gwen Verdon, depicts the pair’s process with a tactician’s clear understanding of how musicals, and choreography, works … As a reclamation project publicising the influence of Verdon on well-loved pieces of theatre and film, Fosse/Verdon is worthy. As television, it can’t find a rhythm that feels like its own.” — Variety.

☆☆☆☆ “A chorus line of surface pleasures waiting on deeper meaning … If Fosse/Verdon has a wide-reaching or universal theme it wants to explore, it’s the precarious nature of personal and professional collaboration and the struggles of blending the two. Can you be a wretched, draining spouse and yet a nourishing creative partner? Can you be a nourishing creative partner while still being plagued with jealousies and competitive instincts? Can you be a loving spouse and simultaneously sabotage the marriage at every turn?” — The Hollywood Reporter.

☆☆☆☆ “Despite its missteps, Fosse/Verdon is one of the best dramas of the year; musical theater nerds will gorge on the details in the recreations, and laymen can feast on the sumptuous design and the universally appealing tale of two people struggling to make their relationship, careers, and family work. Ignore its distractions and Fosse/Verdon is a savoury, decadent treat, but ignoring Michelle Williams means depriving yourself of a show-stopping performance.” — TV Guide.

☆☆☆☆“Fosse/Verdon, for all its technical panache, puts stage centre an overfamiliar biopic story of a brilliant, difficult artist.This series tap-dances as fast as it can, often stunningly. But look past its sleek moves and what you’re mostly left with, in a #MeToo era, is another #HimAgain? story.” — New York Times.