Line #29 Series/FosseVerdon


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5810516.jpg]]
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3	''[=Fosse/Verdon=]'' is a {{biopic}} miniseries that premiered on Creator/{{FX\|Networks}} in April 2019. It was created by Thomas Kail, who previously co-created ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' with Creator/LinManuelMiranda, who also serves as one of the series' producers.
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5	It recounts the story of the rocky relationship between dancer, choregrapher and director Creator/BobFosse (played by Creator/SamRockwell) and his long-time creative partner and wife, Gwen Verdon (played by Creator/MichelleWilliams, also one of the series' producers).
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7	!!This series contains examples of:
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9	* BlackComedy: Bob in his fourth-wall breaking moments of doing a stand-up routine about the stress he’s under, bends double coughing his guts up, a sign of his impending heart attack. He straightens up and drawls "I have no idea why that keeps happening."
10	* BottleEpisode: "Where Am I Going", which takes place entirely within a beach house at the Hamptons over the course of a single night.
11	* BreakingTheFourthWall:
12	** In "All I Care About Is Love", Bob explains his problems to the audience by way of a Creator/LennyBruce-style stand-up routine.
13	** In "Nowadays", Gwen performs "Razzle Dazzle" directly for the audience.
14	* BrokenAce: In this series, Bob Fosse is portrayed as a brilliant choreographer who is constantly haunted by his failure as a professional dancer and as a movie director.
15	* CareerEndingInjury:
16	** Joan [=McCracken=]'s acting career came to a sudden end because of complications from diabetes.
17	** In "Nowadays", Gwen is already facing the prospect of retirement from stage acting because she can't keep up with Bob's exacting choreography, but her stage career ends even sooner after she damages her vocal chords, forcing her to undergo surgery and then take six weeks off, during which Bob replaces her with Creator/LizaMinnelli.
18	* CreatorCameo: Producer Creator/LinManuelMiranda appears in the show as Creator/RoyScheider.
19	* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Cy regard Gwen as being this for Bob; left to his own devices, Fosse does things like replacing trained actors with prostitutes or deliberately keeping the set under-lit.
20	* DanceOfDespair: [[spoiler:Bob tries to perform a soft-shoe routine for Paddy's funeral, but he's too heartbroken.]]
21	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Bob tells the story of how he was raped at 13 by two strippers, and Paddy and Neil, who’ve heard it before, react like he’s the luckiest guy in the world. Ron doesn’t seem to think so, and having told the story, Bob has flashbacks and goes straight in search of a stiff drink.
22	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Bob dies suddenly on the way to the opening for the ''Sweet Charity'' revival, leaving Gwen and Nicole to deal with their grief. Nicole spends years mired in drug and alcohol addiction.]]
23	* DrivenToSuicide: At the end of "Glory", Bob attempts suicide because of the stress of trying to "fix" ''Pippin''.
24	* DueToTheDead:
25	** "Where Am I Going?" sees the Fosses and their friends reuniting to remember Joan Simon, who died earlier that year.
26	** [[spoiler:In "Providence", Bobby tries to perform a soft-shoe routine at Paddy's funeral, but gives up halfway through and kisses Paddy's coffin.]]
27	* GoneHorriblyRight: Throughout "Where Am I Going?" Gwen tries to convince Bob to join her in working on ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'', eventually resorting to the nasty trick of invoking their daughter Nicole and their mutual fears that they won't be able to provide for her. This finally convinces Bob to do ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}''... while he's also working on ''Lenny''.
28	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The series portrays Gwen Verdon's first husband, James Henaghan, as a rapist.
29	* ImagineSpot:
30	** Early in the first episode, Bob imagines himself jumping off a balcony after seeing the reviews for ''Film/SweetCharity'', his cinematic directorial debut.
31	** In the opening of "Me and My Baby", Fosse imagines his interns all performing "Wilkommen".
32	** In the climax of "Glory", Fosse experiences a hallucination in which Gwen, Paddy, and the ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'' cast are urging him to jump out his window.
33	* ItWillNeverCatchOn:
34	** Bob's reaction to hearing the premise of ''[[Theatre/CompanySondheim Company]]'' in "Life is a Cabaret".
35	** Throughout "Glory", Bob almost literally drives himself crazy trying to come up with a better ending for ''Pippin'', convinced that the play's MindScrew ending would cause it to fail.
36	** In "Where Am I Going?", Bob and Gwen argue about whether they should collaborate on ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'' or whether Bob should focus on making ''Film/{{Lenny}}'', with Gwen convinced that ''Lenny'' will fail, and Bob convinced that nobody wants to see ''Chicago''.
37	* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: [[spoiler:"Nowadays" strongly implies that Nicole Fosse's father was someone other than Bob Fosse.]]
38	* MissingMom: Gwen abandoned her first child in order to pursue her acting career.
39	* MoodDissonance: The re-enactment of "Who's Got the Pain" is intercut with a scene of Gwen being confronted by Joan [=MacCracken=], Bob's wife, who knows that Gwen slept with him.
40	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Gwen is horrified when she finds out that Bob's wife is disabled.
41	* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Both played straight and inverted with Gwen and Joan. On the one hand, Gwen owes a significant debt to Bob Fosse for helping her become famous. On the other hand, Bob himself might never have never gotten anywhere without his famous second wife, Joan [=MacCracken=], and once he divorces her, he soon finds himself dependent upon Gwen to help him as he moves into directing.
42	* NoMedicationForMe: Following his suicide attempt, Bob is prescribed lithium, but he refuses to take it because it kills his sex drive.
43	* OddFriendship: Gwen Verdon and Ann Reinking become close friends in spite of the fact that Ann is Bob's mistress.
44	* ThePerfectionist: Both Fosse and Verdon are perfectionists when it comes to their crafts.
45	* RapeAsBackstory:
46	** Gwen was raped when she was a teenager, which makes her paranoid about leaving her daughter Nicole alone with men.
47	** Bob was raped by a pair of showgirls when he was 13. It screwed up his sex life for the rest of his life.
48	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gwen delivers a blistering one to Bob in "Nowadays" when he moves to turn her closing number in ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'' into a duet, pissed off that after years of carrying his ungrateful ass, he refuses to give her this one moment in the spotlight for what everyone realizes will be her last stage role.
49	* RomanceAndSexualitySeparation: Bob Fosse was raped by a pair of older women when he was 13 years old. The trauma badly screwed up his sex drive, causing him to have difficulty being intimate with anyone he actually loves, which in turn leads him to constantly cheat on each of his wives.
50	* ShowWithinAShow: Multiple famous film and theatre productions are portrayed in the show, including ''Film/{{Cabaret}}'', ''Theatre/DamnYankees'' and ''Film/SweetCharity''.
51	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: In the first episode, Bob Fosse and Cy Feur have a strained relationship after Fosse convinced Feur's boss to hire him to direct ''Film/{{Cabaret}}''.
52	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: As a preteen, Nicole Fosse pilfers her dad's drugs and cigarettes, hoping to get her parents' attention. As a teenager, she graduates to openly drinking and drugging. The epilogue reveals that she would go on to spend years mired in drug and alcohol addiction before getting sober in 1995.
53	* VomitIndiscretionShot: Ten-year-old Nicole, bored out of her mind at a house party at the Hamptons where there are no other kids, smokes a cigarette, with this result.
54	* WorkingWithTheEx: The show jumps back and forth in time, including to periods where Fosse and Verdon had broken up but still continued their professional relationship.
55	* YoungFutureFamousPeople: The miniseries, being historical in nature, shows several actors who would go on to be famous, including Creator/LizaMinnelli, Creator/JerryOrbach, Chita Rivera and Creator/NeilSimon.

Context Series / FosseVerdon