Get to Know the Real People Behind FX’s ‘Fosse/Verdon’ (PHOTOS)
Liza Minnelli (Kelli Barrett)
The 1972 film version of Cabaret, shot in Germany, would bring both star Minnelli and director Fosse Academy Awards. In its depiction of the production, the series notes Verdon’s many contributions, including securing the gorilla costume used in the infamous “If You Could See Her” number.
Chita Rivera (Bianca Marroquin)
Verdon and Rivera slayed when Chicago opened on Broadway in 1975 (Fosse cowrote the book). But, as executive producer Joel Fields says, you don’t have to be a theater buff to enjoy this eight-episode TV drama: “You’ll be interested because of what the stakes are for these people.”
Cy Feuer (Paul Reiser)
For scenes of Fosse butting heads with Cabaret movie producer Feuer, Rockwell sought out performance advice from Fosse and Verdon’s now-grown daughter, Nicole Fosse, who was a creative consultant for the series. “There’d be a text from Sam saying, ‘When [Bob would] get really mad, what would he do?’ And then I would recount stories of 10, 15, 20 different times I saw him angry,” she says.
Nicole Fosse (Blake Baumgartner)
Nicole was key in getting the visuals right. “She provided photographs so we could re-create Bob and Gwen’s apartment down to the wallpaper and their wardrobe down to the exact [pieces],” Fields says. But she also contributed “memories that tell us what her emotional state was.”
Neil Simon (Nate Corddry)
He and Fosse collaborated on the ’60s Broadway musicals Little Me and Sweet Charity, but the series reveals personal links too: When her marriage falters, Verdon leans on the playwright’s wife, Joan (Aya Cash).
Iconic choreographer-director Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and legendary dancer-actress Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams) take center stage in Fosse/Verdon, the high-stepping FX drama tracking their tempestuous relationship through three decades.
But their names aren’t the only ones you may recognize. Click through the gallery above to meet the real people behind the series.
Fosse/Verdon, Series Premiere, Tuesday, April 9, 10/9c, FX
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