Special Reports

Inside Episode 5 of Fosse/Verdon, Titled "Where Am I Going?"

The show’s latest installment explores the aftermath of a tragic loss in the lives of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon.

Sam Rockwell as Bob Fosse and Norbert Leo Butz as Paddy Chayefsky in episode 5 of Fosse/Verdon, titled "Where Am I Going?"
Sam Rockwell as Bob Fosse and Norbert Leo Butz as Paddy Chayefsky in episode 5 of Fosse/Verdon, titled "Where Am I Going?"
(© Michael Parmelee/FX)

The fifth episode of FX's limited series Fosse/Verdon premiered this evening, and it is set in the near-immediate aftermath of a tragic loss that affects the lives of our central characters.

Joan Simon (Aya Cash) has recently died at the age of 41 from bone cancer. Her grieving husband, playwright Neil Simon (Nate Corddry) has joined Bob (Sam Rockwell), his new girlfriend, dancer Ann Reinking (Margaret Qualley), Gwen (Michelle Williams), her new boyfriend, Ron (Jake Lacy), and Paddy Chayefsky (Norbert Leo Butz) at the Fosse beach house for a memorial weekend.

But our protagonists find themselves at a crossroads. Gwen is coming off Children! Children!, a Broadway flop that closed in one night. Bob was recently released from an institution following a nervous breakdown. Both are looking for their next hit, and Gwen sees it in the form of a musical version of the Maureen Dallas Watkins play Chicago, for which they've finally managed to secure the rights. Bob, however, has his sights still set on the silver screen, particularly a biopic about the comedian Lenny Bruce.

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the title of this week's hour is "Where Am I Going?," the eleven o'clock number from Sweet Charity. As we all know, that show was one of Fosse and Verdon's biggest hits — and they're desperate the magic.

Check out photos in the gallery below.