Musical theatre fans, I know you might have been disappointed that this episode didn鈥檛 include the flash of Fosse and Verdon鈥攅specially after last week鈥檚 Pippin spectacular.
No rehearsal scenes. No 鈥渉ow they made it鈥� scenes. But because of that we get to see these A+ talents act their faces off. Margaret Qualley as Ann Reinking is revelatory. And Michelle Williams...if that scene between the two of them doesn鈥檛 clinch her the Emmy nom (if not the award itself), then what are we doing here?
Once again director Thomas Kail delivers, this time in a sensitive, grounded, close-up way (here鈥檚 to seeing more screen work coming his way) with an episode written by Charlotte Stoudt.
But let鈥檚 take this baby from the top.
STEP BY STEP: WHAT HAPPENED IN THE STORY OF BOB AND GWEN THIS WEEK
The episode begins with flashes of blank faces, one after the other after the other. Do we know these people? Are they flash forward versions of characters we鈥檝e met? No. When we see Bob as the final face, we realize they are all patients at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic and there are 鈥�14 years left.鈥�
Gwen and Nicole are visiting a catatonic Bob and, honestly, it鈥檚 terrifying. Was Bob Fosse once actually reduced to a nonverbal, unresponsive patient? Yes. He pushed himself way too far. But that doesn鈥檛 stop Gwen from verbally committing her and Bob to make Chicago next season.
(Side note: Can I just say how much I love at the title card of this show is different every time? Always fits the exact story of the week and I dig it.)
We鈥檙e now in Southampton: 3 months later, 7 weeks after Joan Simon鈥檚 death. Not gonna lie, I had to pause and rewind after seeing Bob just hopping around the porch of his beach house and make sure this was a flash-forward and not a flashback because I couldn鈥檛 understand how someone in such a catastrophic mental state could now be the man before us. But alas, three months later鈥�
Bob, Paddy, and Neil鈥攁s in Simon鈥攈ave begun a weekend getaway. It seems Annie (a.k.a. Ann Reinking is fully in the picture now) and Nicole are there and Annie is nervous because Gwen is about to arrive with Ron. But Bob assures her. 鈥淕wen鈥檚 gonna be on her best behavior tonight, believe me. No one puts on a show like she does.鈥�
The conversation turns to Bob鈥檚 latest project: the movie Lenny about comedian Lenny Bruce, and Dustin Hoffman is interested in starring. Gwen arrives with Ron, Ron compliments Ann on her show (Pippin), and it鈥檚 hugs all around. Bob and Gwen rib each other about their younger companions. But enough of that, Gwen wants to 鈥渟it down with Bobby and Joey, maybe John and Freddy, too鈥� to talk about Chicago. (For those of you keeping tabs that鈥檚 producers Robert Fryer and Joseph Harris and composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb.) Gwen鈥檚 secured the 46th Street Theatre for the production for a year from now. Remember when you could make a musical in a year?
Meanwhile, Ann and Paddy are talking about Bob. Paddy assures her that she鈥檚 different. But it鈥檚 not reassurance about her relationship she鈥檚 really after. Turns out, Bob鈥檚 health is as bad as we thought, but worse than his friends did. He checked out of the clinic after six days when the doctors wanted him there for a month. They want him to take a year off. 鈥淭here are only two people in the world that he listens to and the other one, I can鈥檛 talk to her about this,鈥� she begs Paddy.
But Paddy鈥檚 not worried. Or he at least lives in the reality of Bob鈥檚 stubbornness. 鈥淭hat man is going to do exactly what he wants to do whether we want him to or not. I鈥檝e known him a long time and you gotta trust me on this. OK? Don鈥檛 worry so much. He鈥檚 got nine lives. He always figures it out one way or another.鈥�
In the corner, Nicole sneaks some of Paddy鈥檚 beer鈥攁nd later in the episode she smokes a cigarette (sans filter) before getting ill. But the grown-ups are reminiscing about Joan and arguing about Bob鈥檚 career: Lenny or Chicago. And now it鈥檚 Gwen鈥檚 turn to push.
Gwen: We鈥檝e been talking about doing Chicago for the last decade but now we finally have the rights
Bob: One more year isn鈥檛 the end of the world
Gwen: But we鈥檒l lose the theatre.
Bob: There鈥檚 always another.
Gwen: That鈥檚 our theatre
Bob: I have to respect Dustin鈥檚 schedule.
Gwen: What about my schedule?
Bob: It鈥檚 Dustin Hoffman.
Priorities. Clear. But Gwen hasn鈥檛 given up yet. She鈥檚 trying to bring Ann over to her side, but Ann doesn鈥檛 want Bob working at all. But Gwen has the last word: 鈥淭he best thing for Bob Fosse to do is work. Trust me.鈥�
Meanwhile, the guys are swapping 鈥渉ow I lost my virginity stories.鈥� (The one-upping with these kinds of stories is the poster symptom of raising men in a misogynistic society鈥攋ust saying.) And Bobby has 鈥渢he best鈥� story. [TRIGGER WARNING] He was 13 and working in a burlesque house in Chicago and the women took a liking to him. And one night, that liking turned physical. Bob lost his virginity as a teen to rape. But at the time of Bob鈥檚 adulthood, he鈥檚 seen as the big man, the one with the most experience, the man the women couldn鈥檛 resist. 鈥淭aught me everything I know, you know what I mean?鈥� Bobby mumbles. And the sadness of that hits you in the gut.
As Bobby leaves the room to gather himself, he鈥檚 sucked into the conversation between Ann and Gwen. And here comes what I鈥檓 calling the 鈥渂ecause he鈥檚 doing it for his art鈥� speech. Gwen has reached the end of her rope. All the waiting. All the cheating. She reaches her boiling point and the frustration comes out as she warns Ann. (Familiar to that scene with Joan McCracken? You decide.)
After Annie walks out, Bob tells her she鈥檚 different and that he just wants to be with her. But Ann isn鈥檛 sold.
Downstairs, they鈥檙e huddled around the piano and Neil asks Gwen to sing. She lands on Joan鈥檚 favorite, 鈥淲here Am I Going?鈥� In a brilliant turn of storytelling through song, Gwen sings the final line straight to Bob: 鈥淲here am I going? You tell me.鈥�
Bobby鈥檚 sleeping on the couch and Gwen is trying one last time for Chicago. She doesn鈥檛 want to wait. They throw soft insults at each other, but they fall into each other, a mess of passion and frustration. These two are inseparable.
Still he wakes Annie the next morning telling her he wants to make her happy and he is so damn convincing I don't know what to do!
At the breakfast table, Gwen tells Ann what to do: keep him alive 鈥渂ecause he鈥檒l give you what he gave me.鈥� 鈥淵ou mean Nicole,鈥� Ann says. 鈥淵es. But not just Nicole. Lola. Charity. Roxie.鈥� And that鈥檚 where we learn that she has just as much drive as he does. She wants. She鈥檚 ambitious. It might also be that whatever Gwen wants, Gwen gets.
So where does that leave us? Southampton: 1973, 13 months before Bob Fosse鈥檚 heart attack, a man barreling towards his own death but helpless to stop it because the thing that will kill him is also the thing he lives for.
NAME-DROPPING: FILLING IN THE BLANKS BEHIND THE REFERENCES
Oh Lenny. This movie would mark Bob鈥檚 third feature directing credit after Charity and Cabaret. The story of the 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose boundary-pushing comedy often landed him in jail for public obscenity. But Fosse believed there was a human story there, about a man railing against the Establishment and being punished for it. Guess who plays Dustin Hoffman in an upcoming episode? Brandon. Uranowitz. (Yes, that three-time Tony nominee.)
The 46th Street Theatre really was Bob and Gwen鈥檚 Theatre. They did Damn Yankees in 1955, New Girl in Town (starring Gwen and choreographed by Bob) in 1957, and Redhead (starring Gwen and directed and choreographed by Bob) in 1959 all under that roof, and all three earned Gwen Tony Awards. The 46th Street Theatre has since been renamed the Richard Rodgers. That is where both In The Heights and Hamilton have bowed鈥攂oth collaboration between Lin-Manuel Miranda and director Thomas Kail. Miranda is an executive produce on Fosse/Verdon; Kail is an EP and director on the show. Coincidence? Perhaps.
For those keeping track of the times, Adam-12 was a buddy cop show starring Martin Milner and Kent McCord. It ran from 1968鈥�1975.
Gwen keeps talking about the rights to Chicago. While the production was an original musical, it did have source material. The Kander & Ebb musical is based on the eponymous 1926 play by reporter Maureen Dallas Watkins, based on the actual criminals she reported on. Gwen had seen a movie made of the play in the 1940s starring Ginger Rogers as Roxie Hart鈥攖hat鈥檚 where her idea to make it a stage musical came from. In the 1960s, Watkins rebuffed Bob and Gwen鈥檚 offers of a musical adaptation. It seems that over the years, Watkins realized her play had gained sympathy for one of the women and she was disturbed that her work may have helped acquit a murderer. But Watkins passed in 1969, at which point C.R. Leonard was appointed the trust officer of her estate. He is the one who negotiated the rights to the play, which is why 鈥渁fter ten years鈥� they were available for Gwen and Bob.
As we see, Bob doesn鈥檛 want to do Chicago. Gwen says she鈥檒l just get Hal鈥攁s in Prince鈥攖o direct it because 鈥渉e鈥檚 been on a hot streak recently.鈥� It鈥檚 summer 1973 here, so if you鈥檙e doing the math that means that Hal hit big with Cabaret in 1966, Zorba in 1968, and then Company in 1970 and Follies in 1971. He did a couple of smaller play revivals in 1972 and then made a splash with A Little Night Music in February 1973. A hot streak, indeed.
When Bob asks Paddy 鈥淲here are you with that TV news script?鈥� he鈥檚 talking about Network, the 1976 Oscar-winning film that would cement Chayefsky's reputation.
Fun fact: Bob never lived nor rented a home in Southampton, it was actually The Village of Quogue, according to Nicole Fosse's longtime manager.
For more Fosse/Verdon recaps:
Episode 8
