There's a Bob Fosse/Gwen Verdon TV Series In the Works—With the Team Behind Hamilton at the Helm
The news that Lin-Manuel Miranda, Andy Blankenbuehler and Thomas Kail are working together on a new project is almost too wonderful to handle. But the creative team behind Hamilton isn’t reuniting for just any old thing: They’re teaming up for a dance-centric television series about Broadway legends Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, and we cannot contain our excitement.
According to
The Hollywood Reporter, FX has given the green light to an eight-episode limited series that will focus on the romantic and creative relationship between Fosse and Verdon, and how it transformed musical theater. Miranda is attached as an executive producer alongside Nicole Fosse (the subjects’ daughter and an actress and dancer in her own right); Blankenbuehler is a co-producer (and, we hope, will be on hand for the dance sequences); Kail is slated to direct the pilot episode (written by Steven Levensen, who you might recognize from 2017 Tony Awards juggernaut Dear Evan Hansen). Michelle Williams and Sam Rockwell are set to star.
Andy Blankenbuehler performed on Broadway in Fosse before becoming the Great White Way’s go-to choreographer. Photo by Rachel Papo
“Bob Fosse ignited a revolution in American dance, theater and film. But, in contrast to the well-worn myth of the visionary artist working in solitude, Fosse’s work would not have been possible without Gwen Verdon, the woman who helped to mold his style—and make him a star,” said Miranda, Blankenbuehler and Kail in a joint statement.
Calling this a dream team is no overstatement—Blankenbuehler spent a couple of years performing in Fosse on Broadway, and if anyone has a handle on Bob Fosse’s iconic, idiosyncratic style, it’s got to be Nicole Fosse.
Production is scheduled to begin this fall, as FX is aiming for a 2019 release—keep your eyes peeled for casting notices!
Lin-Manuel Miranda at work. Photo by RadicalMedia. Courtesy PBS
And in other “Lin-Manuel Miranda has zero chill” news…well, there’s a lot of it.
This morning, it was announced that the creators of Hamilton—Miranda, Blankenbuehler, Kail and music director Alex Lacamoire—are getting a special Kennedy Center Honor “as trailblazing creators of a transformative work that defies category.” No big deal.
The Cabinet is headed to DC. Honored honored honored.❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/7MTJPhP48X— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin-Manuel Miranda)1532532626.0
It was also recently announced that Miranda will be making his directorial debut with a film adaptation of Tick, Tick…Boom!, a musical by Jonathan Larson (of RENT fame) in which Miranda starred opposite Aaron Burr Leslie Odom, Jr. in 2014 for a New York City Center Encores! production. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that bidding is underway for the rights to a filming of Hamilton made in 2016, before Miranda left the titular role, and might be on screens as early as 2020. (And we didn’t even mention that Miranda is publishing a book of his famed good morning/goodnight tweets, or his announcement that the proceeds from the upcoming Puerto Rico Hamilton performances will be donated to arts organizations in the territory, or this fantastic interview he gave “TODAY,” or his latest Emmy nomination, or…)
