'Marriage Story' Wins the Night at the Gotham Awards

by Murtada Elfadl

Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach’s LA has nothing on New York except space divorce story, fittingly dominated the Gotham Awards last night. It won every award it was nominated for - feature, screenplay, actor - plus the audience award. Awkwafina won best actress for The Farewell over Indie Spirit nominees Alfre Woodard, Mary Kay Place and Elisabeth Moss. She is not nominated for the LA counterpart to the Gothams. We doubt they’ll fall for Baumbach as hard as the New Yorkers did. They’ve seen the film and know which city he prefers.

Tributes were given to Laura Dern, Sam Rockwell, Ava DuVernay and producer Glen Basner. Baumbach and his partner Greta Gerwig came out in Raf Simmons designed sweaters adorned with Dern pictures to present her award. 

Here is the evening’s full list of winners...

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Fosse/Verdon - Finale!

by Eric Blume

Michelle & Sam as Gwen & Bobby

Fosse/Verdon wrapped its 8-episode run this Tuesday, and here’s a quick recap on the final three episodes, and some overall thoughts on this captivating mini-series.

Episode Six, “All I Care About is Love” 
Episode six concerned Fosse’s heart attack during the editing of Lenny (1974) editing and rehearsals for Chicago on Broadway.  It was one of the weaker episodes of the series, especially coming off the previous episode, the almost-staged-play episode with the characters locked in a Hamptons house, arguably the show’s high-water mark.  That episode gave director Thomas Kail (who went from Hamilton to TV with graceful ease) the opportunity to put in the nails early on and keep screwing tightly, with all the actors laser-focused on their objectives and obstacles.  Episode Six, on the other hand, contained some material handled directly in All That Jazz, and it felt more like a transitional episode for the final narrative haul of the show...

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Fosse/Verdon - Ep. 5: “Where Am I Going?”

previously on Fosse/Verdon

by Dancin' Dan

Figures that the episode randomly assigned to the resident dance expert of Team Experience is the only episode of Fosse/Verdon so far that hasn’t had even the tiniest bit of dancing in it. I seem to be enjoying the show more than some of the rest of the team, and i've particularly marveled at the series’ recreations of some of Fosse’s best known pieces, some of which I have had the good fortune to dance myself. One of the choreographers who taught me told our ensemble that most of Fosse’s choreography is defined by tension - you must always be holding tension in your body somewhere in order to make it look and feel right. To that end, when we were dancing movements that were supposed to be more fluid, she told us to imagine that we were dancing through peanut butter. It’s an image that I now always associate with Fosse’s work, and I found it particularly apt for this episode. Even though there’s no dancing, there’s plenty of tension. Every character looks like they’re moving through peanut butter, pushing and straining to get what they want.

Bob Fosse had his unprecedented year of glory, and ended up in the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic for his troubles...

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Fosse/Verdon - EP 4: "Glory"

previously on Fosse/Verdon

by Murtada Elfadl

I was looking forward to episode 4 of Fosse/Verdon because the trailers showed that it would mark the introduction of Margaret Qualley as Ann Reinking. Maybe Michelle Williams would get a real sparring partner to act against, as Sam Rockwell was not rising up to the occasion. That's mostly because the material he’s given is repetitive. How many notes can an actor ring out of tortured genius? Not many. Little did I know the actor who would actually match up fantastically with Williams wouldn’t be Qualley but rather Aya Cash as her best friend Joan Simon.

But before we get to that we have to deal with Bob Fosse’s mega year of 1973. This is the year he won an Oscar (for Cabaret), 2 Tonys (for Pippin) and 3 Emmys (for Liza with a Z)...

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Fosse/Verdon - EP 3: "Me and My Baby"

Previously: Episode 1 and Episode 2

by Eric Blume

Fosse/Verdon certainly isn’t flawless, but it’s very strong out of the gate in these first three episodes.  Hamilton director Thomas Kail guided the first two episodes with an assured hand, throwing us headfirst into the theater world with little set-up, allowing audiences to feel their way into the environment, and trusting that his two star performances will keep people hooked.  His instincts were right on, and despite some awkward editing and temporal shifts, the show is arresting, absorbing, and intelligent.

Episode Three is directed by Adam Bernstein, a very talented guy who won an Emmy for 30 Rock and was nominated for Fargo...

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