- All they want to see is that smile.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The only thing I want to do is be with you.
I love you.
Tap, and hip.
Then the turn.
And back to Jill.
Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon were two
amazing dancer-choreographers and directors, too.
They were a married couple and a collaboration that really
spanned from when they met to the last project
they worked on together before Bob Fosse died.
The story of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon
is about two people that found each other
through circumstance.
And once they identified there was a fellow traveler there,
someone that spoke their language,
they wanted to be around that person as much as they could.
And I think that's what we're all seeking in some way.
Bob and Gwen were really at the forefront of this golden
age of Broadway in the '50s and '60s, you know,
with shows like "Damn Yankees," "Sweet Charity"--
Bob and Gwen's story is incredibly unique,
but it's also universal.
It's a love story, and it's a story
of collaboration and creation.
What about this for, um-- for [INAUDIBLE]??
What do I wear underneath?
Um--
Nothing underneath.
Trust me.
She'll be stunning.
When they first got together, it was Gwen who was the star.
It was Gwen who was really the toast of the town.
And Bob was a choreographer.
He hadn't gotten directing jobs yet.
The fact that people think of Fosse
but don't think of Fosse Verdon--
it's a pity.
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
What we think of as this one person's work, this-- this one,
you know, brilliant mind-- we actually
realize these things take collaboration,
and they take partners.
Cut.
[BELL RINGS]
It was really important to us that this show
was not just called "Fosse" but was called "Fosse Verdon."
It was about the two of them.
It had to be about the two of them,
because so much of their work was formed and forged
from their collaboration.
Your against it?
I'm already making it better.
Boop, boop, be doop.
They loved each other in their own ways.
And they also shared a powerful addiction
to the adulation of strangers.
But they each did their best to support one another--
Am I going to be unhappy when I get there?
Why would you be unhappy?
--though that support came with
a lot of conditions and a lot of toxicity along the way.
I couldn't think without you, you understand?
I want to come home.
There's the part where you swear it didn't mean anything.
You were lonely, drinking too much, working too hard.
I'm in love with her.
"Fosse Verdon" is a show about powerful, creative artists
who fell in love and made things together for decades.
It's really ambitious.
Yeah, it's a very ambitious show.
It's four decades, I think.
You know, we're trying to do a biopic in eight parts.
Essentially every show is half a movie.
So that's really like four movies, you know.
What we're hoping to do is to explore as artists what
it's like to make art-- and not only the joy of that
and the triumph when you get it right, but the pain of getting
it wrong, and the sweat and tears
that it inevitably requires to make something great.
That's what we do, though, isn't it?
We take what hurts, and we turn it into a big gag.
Part of what's unique about this story
is that for each moment of destruction that comes
in their struggles they're also in the midst
of this incredible creation.
It's a cautionary tale about the attractions
of show business and the lure of applause and bright lights.
It can be so seductive.
And these were two people who benefited from show business
but were also victims of show business in some ways.
Name one show of yours that didn't nearly kill you, Bob.