Fosse/Verdon
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Simons smash-hit Broadway comedies contextualized 60s and 70s middle-class neuroses in the voice of a top TV gag writer.
Meanwhile, Chayefskys live television plays made stern social drama punchy enough for Middle America.
In other words: Either one of them couldve written something like this weeksFosse/Verdonepisode.
And then they mightve called in their buddy Bob to add the flash.
Where Am I Going?
This is also a story about how Verdon exerts her power at a party dominated by dudes.
Without the force of nature that was Joan Simon by her side, Verdon drafts Reinking as an ally.
Yet the outcome was always inevitable.
He would, as we know, do both anyway.
While revealing more about the glorious and insidious sides of the Fosse-Verdon dynamic, Where Am I Going?
makes cases for and againstLennyandChicago.
Even while talking upLenny,he admits he never found Bruce to be that funny as a comedian.
She understands that the real downside toChicagofor Fosse is that it would be a shared triumph.
Watching these two separated spouses give each other the needle is way more entertaining than it ought to be.
Theyre the same age.
(To which he responds, Hows Ron enjoying junior high?
Hes excelling, Verdon says with a smile, not missing a beat.)
When Fosse starts getting pumped aboutLenny, she deflates him, asking, Whos writing the musical numbers?
Hey, hes on a hot streak with all those Tony-winning Sondheim musicals.
(And if he had a hit with a Kander/Ebb/Verdon show?
Maybe the press would start wondering whether Fosse was the real genius behindCabaretorSweet Charity.)
Where Am I Going?
These are complicated emotions and motivations, conveyed mostly in conversation and reaction and packaged as entertainment.
Butzs brusque, argumentative portrayal should be familiar to anyone whos seen that Oscar clip.
And Simon is in the audience during the segment!
As near as I can tell from my research and memory, Lacys Ron isnt a real person.
), to a scene in the wee hours when she casually removes and shakes out her ponytail extension.
Like Bob says: Gwen puts on a show.
