SIMPLY MARVELOUS
AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL BY MARA REINSTEIN
perfect musical needle-drops all transport viewers into late-1950s and early ’60s New York (plus Paris, the Catskills and Miami). And comedy icon Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby) is crucial to Midge’s professional and personal growth. “In the 1950s,” Sherman-Palladino says, “comedy was just starting to change a little bit from ‘Take my wife ... please!’ to more political humor, more social humor, more talking about religion and men and women and their roles in the world. It’s an interesting time and place.” History on the screen has translated to history o ff it. In four seasons, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has amassed sixty-six Emmy nominations with twenty wins, including the award for Outstanding Comedy Series in its premiere year. “We always thought we were Game of Thrones without the dragons,” Palladino says. “We wanted to do a really high-quality piece of comedy because writers are often asked to just put two actors on the screen in a two-shot and have them say funny things. We felt that comedy on TV, especially a streaming network, could be like a Sopranos or a Breaking Bad . I’m proud that we proved that.” Now The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is ready to exit the stage. As the acclaimed comedy kicks o ff its fifth and final season (now streaming on Prime Video), here’s a wide-ranging retrospective tribute courtesy of the cast, behind-the-scenes talent and executive producers.
SO, A YOUNG NEW YORK CITY WIFE AND MOTHER DRUNKENLY STORMS INTO A CLUB IN 1958. Charged-up from the discovery of her husband’s a ff air, she takes the stage and delivers an impromptu stand-up comedy rant. It’s not perfect. But it’s hilarious. All right, fine: It’s marvelous. (Cue laughter!) That’s a key scene from the 2017 pilot episode of the dazzling Prime Video comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel . And when Miriam “Midge” Maisel — played with gusto by Rachel Brosnahan — grabs that mic at the Gaslight for the first time, she uno ffi cially finds her voice as a confident, independent woman. Created by Gilmore Girls auteur Amy Sherman- Palladino (who also wrote, directed and executive- produced with her husband, Daniel Palladino), the acclaimed and beloved series has proven to be a stellar showcase for breaking conventions. Not only does Midge find success in a man’s world, her manager, Susie Meyerson (Alex Borstein), leaves a menial Gaslight sta ff er job to guide her into the big time. Her parents, Abe and Rose Weissman (Tony Shaloub and Marin Hinkle), upend their well-to-do lifestyle. Even her suit-wearing ex, Joel Maisel (Michael Zegen), reinvents himself as a nightclub owner in Chinatown. Beyond the narrative, each episode unspools like a graceful period-era film in which no detail is overlooked. The tailored dresses, delicate accessories, rich interior design and furnishings, boxy cars, the song-and-dance numbers and pitch-
SEASON 5
AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO " Occasionally!
I think I harassed Amazon every day telling them to pick it up for all ten episodes. Like, I guaranteed them that people were going to love this show and that they were never going to have this opportunity again. It was a hard sell. We ended up being the first show on the platform to ever go straight to series. Not only that, they allowed us to go out and make the show we wanted with complete creative freedom. DANIEL PALLADINO : During Gilmore Girls , we’d bang our heads against the wall for twenty-two episodes a year because we were sitting behind directors who did not understand what we were after. We spent so much time babysitting. So, for Maisel, we thought, “As long as we’re on the set, we may as well start directing.” We could hone the whole thing from beginning to end. And if a mistake is made, we’re the ones who made it. AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : Dan and I both started as writers, so the way we approach any story is through writing. A lot of the reasons we started directing in the first place was because we wanted to make sure that the thing we had been holding on to in our heads that we worked so hard to get on paper came to fruition. A lot of directing is self-preservation. DANIEL PALLADINO : Yeah, we break the stories in the room together. We often each come up with shots for each other’s shows, too. Like, I’ll say, “You should do this,” and she’ll say, “You can do this.” It would be a huge error for us to just do a cool shot for a cool shot’s sake. We do know how to keep the action within a scene, and the scenes within an episode, so the writing is always dictating camera. AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : Dan’s a nightmare. There’s a lot of cage fighting! (Laughs) You know, because I created it and did the pilot, we established the traditions that I’d start the season. And we innately have di ff erent styles. Fancy shots are fun, but it’s about the scene and what’s going on. When two people are sitting at a table, I don’t need to see swooping overhead of birds flying by. And because I was a dancer, I innately look for physicality and approach things that way. Every “oner” shot goes to the right. At some point people were like, “You can go to the left, too!” It never occurred to me! Dan is more methodical. But our basic approach to directing is very similar.
DANIEL PALLADINO : So, we’re in the kitchen, and she says to me, “I’ve got this idea for a series.” AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : Our kitchen should be in the Smithsonian. DANIEL PALLADINO : I knew it was a great concept right o ff the bat. It’s a world she knew. It’s a world I knew because her father was my father-in-law. But you could also see it running for years because that journey is going to take time. Even an overnight success in the business takes several years of really hard work. And it’s a woman! AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : The roles were very defined for men and women at the time. Women were supposed to be moderately educated enough to get a husband and make a nice chicken and have kids. The workforce wasn’t necessarily a goal. Certainly, not something like stand-up comedy, where you’re getting up and making jokes about your personal life. There are a lot of roadblocks. Putting a woman smack dab in this moment, there’s our story. DANIEL PALLADINO : We’ve talked to a lot of female comics, and they say that the world has fundamentally not changed. It’s still male- dominated. The women who did do it back then, like Phyllis Diller, had to hide behind a character. AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : I had one of those non-specific meetings with Amazon, and the [execs] sort of said, “Well, what are you thinking is the next thing you want to do?” And I just blurted out this idea. They thought it was exciting and wanted me to go write the pilot. The only other time that happened was for Gilmore Girls, and all I had for that was a mother and daughter being best friends. I was a little more armed for this world. It was a kismet moment, and it worked out. DHANA RIVERA GILBERT (co-executive producer) : So, flashback to 2016. I had been brought on by Amazon to help with this pilot. Amazon is only a few years into the original content game at this point, and they had this whole process of making pilots that rarely went into series. But after I saw the first cut of our pilot, I knew this would be amazing.
SEASON 1
The Creation AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO (creator, writer, director, executive producer) : My father [Don Sherman] was a stand-up comic, and I grew up on his stories of Greenwich Village and touring and Las Vegas and club dates. He and his friends would just sit around smoking the odd-smelling cigarette and make each other laugh for hours and hours. That was my
childhood. Meanwhile, I’m in the San Fernando Valley, where everything’s, like, a di ff erent shade of beige. This lifestyle seemed so colorful and energetic and fun and wonderful and horrible all wrapped up in one package. It also seemed like a rich area for story, so it was always in the back of my mind. DANIEL PALLADINO (writer, director, executive producer) : We like to pitch ideas to each other and boo or throw tomatoes at the ones we don’t like.
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SEASON 4
IN THE LAST SCENE OF SEASON 4, MIDGE IS WALKING DOWN THE STREET IN A BLIZZARD. AMY WANTED TO SPIN HER 180 DEGREES, THEN HAVE HER UMBRELLA FILL UP WITH WIND AND FLY BEHIND HER. WE WORKED WITH A LOT OF DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS FOR IT TO LOOK PERFECT. “
” M. DAVID MULLEN director of photography
RACHEL BROSNAHAN : The fact that it reached so many people right away boggled our minds. We never took it for granted. The accolades that we were fortunate to receive, I mean, at risk of sounding cheesy, they’re really the cherry on top of this extremely decadent sundae. TONY SHALHOUB : I think the second or third year, they took us to Milan to do foreign press. We talked to journalists from all over Europe and even India. It just dawned on me that, unlike networks — or even cable where a show gets sold to foreign markets in syndication — this was a hit around the globe at the same moment. Everybody tapped into this young woman’s story, and it resonated across the board.
M. DAVID MULLEN (director of photography) : Once we get the scripts, I talk to Dan and Amy about what they want to do with a sequence. They have some strong ideas about certain moments. In the last scene of Season 4, Midge is walking down the street in a blizzard with an umbrella. Amy wanted to spin her 180 degrees, then have the umbrella fill up with wind and fly behind her. We worked with a lot of di ff erent departments for it to look perfect. TIM STREETO (editor) : They have an amazing ability to compartmentalize because they’re writing, directing and editing di ff erent episodes at di ff erent stages of the process, and they’re able to just plug right in and figure it out. And they’re always trying to top things they’ve done before. Sometimes you’ll
see this long Steadicam shot, and it’s like a beautiful dance. Or you’ll see a big oner shot. RON BOCHER (supervising sound editor) : Amy and Dan are very precise about what they want. They also let you do your own thing and present ideas, and you always want to please them. It’s an incredibly collaborative experience. And it’s wonderful. AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : Did other people use the word “megalomaniacs” in their interviews? DANIEL PALLADINO : We also love bringing the words alive with the actors. We know when they have a handle on something, when to let them rise and not to just jump in and give them direction.
We know when they’re a little o ff . We know how to nudge without being heavy handed. We love doing that. It’s a very intimate process. Every day we were going in thinking, “How are we going to get this scene? How’s everybody feeling?” RACHEL BROSNAHAN (actress, Miriam “Midge” Maisel) : We’d all been a part of projects that were beautiful and brilliant with talented people, but they just don’t find an audience, so it’s heartbreaking. When we started, we had no idea if we were just going to make this thing that was special to us in a bubble. TONY SHALHOUB (actor, Abe Weissman) : I remember before the first episode even aired, we were plastered all over Times Square. Massive billboards.
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DHANA RIVERA GILBERT : Dan and Amy always had a five-year arc on Maisel. They knew where it was going to start and end. AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : We like a show to have a road map. We did it on Gilmore , even though we fulfilled it belatedly. So, we knew where we wanted Midge to end emotionally from the very beginning, and it was just a matter of how many seasons it was going to take to get us there. It’s a good way to remind ourselves of why we fell in love with the project in the first place, and where it’s going. Not that you can’t veer o ff a little bit. But in general, it worked out the way we wanted. DANIEL PALLADINO : It used to be that if you did a TV series, it would disappear for a long time. Sometimes it didn’t even repeat. What’s great about Maisel is that people will continue to discover the show. The comedy in it warrants multiple viewings because it’s packed with so much stu ff . The Casting CINDY TOLAN (casting director) : Maisel is nothing without its incredible ensemble that Jeanie Bacharach and Meredith Tucker put together. I came on board after the pilot, and the three of us won the Emmy collectively for that first year. DANIEL PALLADINO : When you write someone complex like Midge Maisel, you’re lucky if there’s maybe two people to choose from. Jeanie said, “I’m going to give you a name. She’s a great actress, but she has no comedy reel.” We knew Rachel because we had watched House of Cards, but… AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : …We were like, “The girl who got thrown in a ditch? That’s the next comedy star?!” RACHEL BROSNAHAN : I spent the first ten years of my career crying and dying. I was looking to move more into film and maybe theater, so it took me a little while to read the script that had come across my desk. I finally picked it up, and by the bottom of
the first page, I was like, “I want to be a part of this.” Midge delivering a speech at her wedding was one of the smartest character introductions I’d ever seen. TONY SHALHOUB : I got a call from my agents. They said, “Look, this is a pilot for Amazon. They’re interested in talking with you, and we thought you’d like the material.” It was from the same couple who did Gilmore Girls, and my wife and daughter always watched Gilmore Girls. I loved that style of writing. So, I said, “I don’t know Amy and Dan, but I’m happy to talk to them.” And we hit it o ff . ALEX BORSTEIN (actress, Susie Myerson) : I’ve known the Palladinos for years. Dan was my boss on Family Guy in the writers’ room, and he was like, “You should read for my wife’s pilot.’” It was Gilmore Girls. It didn’t work out, but that’s how I came into Amy’s world. She is loyal, and she remembers people. CINDY TOLAN : The connections that Amy and Dan make, they stay true to them because they just love the people that they collaborate with and want them to come back. It’s magical, in a way. That’s how Amy and Dan can get someone like Milo Ventimiglia [who appeared in Season 4.] It’s like, “Who can we get? We love Milo, maybe he’ll do it for us.” Kelly Bishop is another one. It’s so nice to be able to pull from that Gilmore Girls world. We even got Wallace Shawn because he did an episode of The Return of Jezebel James for them in 2008. ALEX BORSTEIN : So, I moved to Barcelona. I was frustrated and done with show business. And Amy was like, “Are you really moving, because I have this script.” I read it and was like, “Damn it, I gotta do this.” It was such a great part. She wasn’t a mom or a non-necessary sidekick or the fat best friend. It was a fully realized, interesting, unique female character. Amy has said she wrote the part with me in my mind, but that may be revisionist history. I think Susie was part me, part Amy and many parts women she’s encountered in her life. MICHAEL ZEGEN (actor, Joel Maisel) : I’ll be honest: I’ve never seen Gilmore Girls. I had a friend auditioning for Midge, and she wanted me to help her with the audition. I’m rehearsing the breakup scene from the first episode with her, and I was just like, “I want this. I could do this.” I called my agents right away.
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MIDGE DELIVERING A SPEECH AT HER WEDDING WAS ONE OF THE SMARTEST CHARACTER INTRODUCTIONS I’D EVER SEEN.
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RACHEL BROSNAHAN actress, Miriam “Midge” Maisel
SEASON 1
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LUKE KIRBY : I needed a job. But I was playing someone who had been this iconoclast. Everybody inside a certain generation had an opinion about him. Then, I picked up a book in which somebody had transcribed Lenny’s routines onto paper. And the introduction was like, “Let’s focus on the words and not people’s idea who he was.” But, just critically, I still felt doomed for slaughter with this role even though it’s a good habit not to be worried what people think of you in any capacity. It turned out really, really nicely. People reached out in a way that was so special. CAROLINE AARON (actress, Shirley Maisel) : Shirley and Moishe weren’t in the pilot. But I got a call saying that Amy Sherman-Palladino was thinking of me for a new series. My daughter and I had spent the past year watching episodes of Gilmore Girls. I was thinking, “It doesn’t matter what the role is; my currency will go so far up with my daughter!” KEVIN POLLAK (actor, Moishe Maisel) : I came up as a stand-up comedian. Then I did a movie called A Few Good Men , which changed the course of my career. I learned how to underplay and that less is more. When I was told that Moishe was verbose, loud and obnoxious, I realized that I’d spent my whole career trying not to do that! CAROLINE AARON : Tony and I had been friends for thirty years. We lived around the corner from each other in L.A., and I remember when he told me he was moving to New York to do a new series. During my first costume fitting, I said, “Who’s playing my husband? Tony?” They said, “We can’t tell you.” When they finally said that it was Kevin, I was thrilled. I’d done a movie with him years ago called House Arrest. We had a blast. KEVIN POLLAK : Lo and behold, I get the best notices of my career. Maybe I completely blew all my career choices for the past thirty years. TONY SHALHOUB : My chemistry with Marin and Rachel fell into place almost immediately. These kinds of things you can’t plan or predict. I was not familiar with Rachel’s work, but just that level of skill, that level of professionalism and discipline and confidence! God, I wish I had a tenth of that confidence when I was coming up. Seriously. She inspired us all.
MARIN HINKLE (actress, Rose Weissman) : I read the pilot and was taken by it. There was this incredible description of Rose entering a room, and it was something like, “She’s in a feather-trim satin dressing gown, like something out of an MGM musical.” And then she criticizes her daughter and the size of her grandkid’s forehead. I remember thinking, “This is a person not like me, but it would be so much fun to play her.” I had never done any period work. LUKE KIRBY (actor, Lenny Bruce) : It was like, “You want to come in and audition for this day of work?” I had to read Lenny’s “Airplane Glue” bit. He did it on Steve Allen’s show, so I could watch it on YouTube. I crammed for forty-eight hours. RACHEL BROSNAHAN : I did not think for a single second that I had it. One of my best friends, who’s a casting director, was like, “It’s a long shot, but shoot your shot!” After my first audition, I thought I failed so miserably that I did some intense retail therapy. When I finally got the call, it was the shock of my life. The very same day I found I had lost another part for a film because they didn’t think I was funny. AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : Rachel was the only one who knew instinctively to step into the microphone. You don’t move around and pretend it’s not there. At the very least, she showed us right there that she’s got balls. MICHAEL ZEGEN : An audition can make you crazy because you’re nervous out of your mind. I remember seeing all these guys with suitcases that they had flown in from L.A. to test with Rachel. Like, what kind of chance do I have? But Rachel and I had crossed paths years ago when she was still in college. We read for a play, and we ended up walking back to the Village together. So, I did know her. Then she came out of the audition room and went up to me and said, “Can we run this scene together beforehand?” I was ecstatic. And by the time we read together, I think people in the room felt our chemistry. MARIN HINKLE : I really embraced the audition process. I’m not a fashionista, but I didn’t want to wear my jeans or sweatpants. So, I went to a costume shop and bought velvet robes and feather boas. I have fine hair, so I wore a wig. Every time I had a new audition, I wore more interesting period clothes from the 1950s.
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AMY HAS SAID SHE WROTE THE PART WITH ME IN MIND, BUT THAT MAY BE REVISIONIST HISTORY. I THINK SUSIE WAS PART ME, PART AMY AND MANY PARTS WOMEN SHE’S ENCOUNTERED IN HER LIFE.
clockwise from top: GIDEON GLICK AND ALEX BORSTEIN, TONY SHALHOUB, LUKE KIRBY, MICHAEL ZEGEN, KEVIN POLLAK, CAROLINE AARON, MARIN HINKLE
” ALEX BORSTEIN actress, Susie Myerson
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MICHAEL ZEGEN : Rachel could have chemistry with a bar of soap. She’s just incredibly talented. CINDY TOLAN : Jane Lynch was the linchpin when it came to lining up guest stars. Before the first season was even written, there was this character, a fictional female comedian named Sophie Lennon. We had the idea of Jane, but there was nothing to show her. Amy and Dan set up a meeting with her and had a conversation, and she said yes without seeing the material! When she did that, I knew this was going to be great. Then, once the series started airing, it became easier. I had known Sterling K. Brown for almost two decades, and we connected at an Emmys party after that first season. He literally said, “I love the show. Will you please try to get me on it?” I brought him in to meet with Amy and Dan, and they wrote the part of [singer] Shy Baldwin’s manager for him. KEVIN POLLAK : Moms Mabley was very big on television when I was a kid. I thought she was executed so brilliantly by Wanda Sykes. CINDY TOLAN : Moms was a historical figure, but we wanted her to have a contemporary feel. Who could do it and make it a surprise? There’s no one better than Wanda Sykes. She knows how to land a line. I think Wanda knew about the show, but that in that situation, Alex Borstein and Wanda shared an agent. He o ff ered to talk to her. ALEX BORSTEIN : Because of the comedy angle, Susie was like her own little entity for a while. I had a scene with Marin in a tearoom, and I was like, “We have never worked together before!” What Amy does so well is create a huge world and keep that world interesting. CINDY TOLAN : When it comes to casting, I like to say that you must have “The Palladino Pace.” The writing is so quick and requires you to be funny and dramatic. So, I tapped into a lot of New York theater because those actors can have a mastery of the language. Gideon Glick, who played Alfie in Season 4, started with Spring Awakening . Max Casella, who plays an attorney, comes from theater. And look at [Joel’s love interest] Stephanie Hsu! She was nominated for an Oscar [for Everything Everywhere All at Once ]. I would say humbly that she got her big break on Maisel. She had been in SpongeBob the Musical and Be More Chill.
MICHAEL ZEGEN : It’s amazing what happened with Stephanie! It couldn’t have happened to a better person. CINDY TOLAN : What I loved most about the job was working with Amy and Dan and that core ensemble. They’re all amazing human beings. I hope in the future they continue the path and appear on Amy and Dan’s next show. ALEX BORSTEIN : Amy and I are still very close. After we wrapped, we went shoe shopping and had a nice meal. That was our bon voyage to each other. AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : We feel so lucky with this cast and how they treated each other and how gracious and generous they were to each other. They’d show up on days o ff just to do o ff -camera dialogue to give each other the best possible opportunity to perform. It felt like a traveling group of players in a summer stock company with, like, better snacks. JANE LYNCH WAS THE LINCHPIN WHEN IT CAME TO LINING UP GUEST STARS. BEFORE THE FIRST SEASON WAS EVEN WRITTEN, THERE WAS THIS CHARACTER, A FEMALE COMEDIAN NAMED SOPHIE LENNON. WE WANTED JANE, BUT THERE WAS NOTHING TO SHOW HER. AMY AND DAN SET UP A MEETING WITH HER, AND SHE SAID YES WITHOUT SEEING THE MATERIAL! “
clockwise from top: ALEX BORSTEIN AND JANE LYNCH, STERLING K. BROWN, WANDA SYKES, MILO VENTIMIGLIA, STEPHANIE HSU
WE FEEL SO LUCKY WITH THIS CAST AND HOW THEY TREATED EACH OTHER AND HOW GRACIOUS AND GENEROUS THEY WERE TO EACH OTHER. “ ” AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO creator, writer, director, executive producer
” CINDY TOLAN casting director
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lungs but be deeply devoted to each other. But I was impressed that Amy and Dan had such Mensa-level attention to detail in that everything was already there on the page. MARIN HINKLE : It was a huge surprise to me that Rose’s family came from Oklahoma. So, I studied all the people who were brought up like Rose, which was such a delight as an actor. She had some fragility and neuroses, but I liked that she was the backbone of the family and had a firm sense of her own opinion. DHANA RIVERA GILBERT : I loved all those big family scenes, whether it’s Yom Kippur dinner or the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island. The ensemble really worked together seamlessly. KEVIN POLLAK : The Ferris wheel scene was remarkable. I’m a West Coast Jew who had never been to Coney Island. But they loaded us all into this 100-year-old contraption! Then they recreated it on a soundstage, and our characters all yelled at each other sixty feet up in the air in their separate cars. It was a three-ring circus to pull it o ff . TONY SHALHOUB : We were screaming the lines. People behind the scenes had to walk away because they were laughing so hard. CAROLINE AARON : You know, there’s a di ff erence between clichés and archetypes. I do not think in any way our characters were clichés. I did a lot of reading about that period. My husband’s grandfather was one of those peddlers of pots and pans downtown who ended up with a house and a middle-class life in a short amount of time. Shirley and Moishe were very close to that. AMY SHERMAN ! PALLADINO : You also have to remember that in the 1950s, comedy was just starting to change a little bit from “Take my wife … please!” to more political humor, more social humor, more talking about religion and men and women and their roles in the world. It’s an interesting time and place. RACHEL BROSNAHAN : One of the original descriptors was that Midge was one of the first female stand-ups. So, when I started researching the role, I found YouTube clips of this lesser-known comedian named Jean Carroll. She was absolutely
brilliant, and I became convinced that she was the person who inspired the show. I went down a real rabbit hole and studied a lot of her gestures and cadence. She was a fast talker, too. TONY SHALHOUB : I loved that there was a cultural shift for women and families during that period from the 1950s into the ’60s. And here’s this woman swimming upstream. That really appealed to me. KEVIN POLLAK : It was a great thrill for me that Moishe was Midge’s biggest critic. He just didn’t get what she was trying to do and says it to her face at the family dinner! I’ve directed a documentary about comedy, and every funny person’s trajectory starts with someone telling them that they couldn’t do it. ALEX BORSTEIN : I was never a road stand-up comic like Midge. I’d work on material and go in spurts. And even back then, women would be used as a spice — promoters would just sprinkle us around the guys on any given night at a club. KEVIN POLLAK : Most of Midge’s monologues are testimonial, which is a style that’s become very, very popular over the past ten years. Certainly, here in America. But back in the 1950s, this didn’t exist. Lenny Bruce didn’t even start out that way — he was a very clean-cut comic at first. Then he became edgier by talking about things in life that were troubling and tackled very stressful aspects of humanity. He was raging against the machine. ALEX BORSTEIN : Midge was like a female Lenny Bruce in the sense that she’s stream-of-consciousness and talking about her day-to-day. She’s also a divorced woman raising kids. She’s extremely forward-thinking in her actions and her words. LUKE KIRBY : In my early research, my first resource was Lenny’s [1965] book, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People . He talked about being out at sea during World War II and seeing the stu ff that belonged to dead soldiers floating by him. It hit him pretty hard. So, I wanted to explore that feeling a bit. He was so happy to be in this world of comedy and be with people, but there’s love and pain. He’s the person who said, “Damn the people that would keep lovers apart.”
SEASON 2
The Culture DHANA RIVERA GILBERT : Maisel introduced us to the zeitgeist of Jewish families in 1950s New York. The humor and the irreverence are entryways to appreciating how deeply connected we are to our own families even as we set out to define our own paths free from the expectations of our traditional roles. We loved and laughed a little more deeply after each episode.
TONY SHALHOUB : I have all these fond memories of my father and grandfather and uncles and the clothes and the cars during that time. I saw a lot of my father in Abe. And I’m a father of two daughters around Midge’s age. KEVIN POLLAK : You’ve got Abe Weissman, who’s buttoned down and studied and trying to maintain his faith. Moishe was much more scrappy and self- made. Based on my own experience, I already had a feel for Jewish fathers and grandfathers in the 1950s and ’60s. They’d yell at each other at the top of their
ALEX BORSTEIN : It was a time when people
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I REMEMBER AMY SHOOTING ME A CASUAL TEXT THAT READ, ‘OH, BY THE WAY, THE USO SCENE HAS 850 BACKGROUND [PLAYERS].’ “ ” RACHEL BROSNAHAN actress, Miriam “Midge” Maisel
SEASON 3
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I HAD ONE PRIVATE REHEARSAL WITH LUKE, BUT THERE WAS NO TIME TO WORK WITH RACHEL. WHEN THE TWO OF THEM GOT TOGETHER, IT WAS MAGIC.
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MARGUERITE DERRICKS choreographer
SEASON 3
couldn’t pull out a cell phone and record your act. You didn’t have to be responsible for what happened in the moment. Lenny and Midge were arrested in the first episode after she performs at the Gaslight. Now, because of cancel culture, they’d be policed by the audience instead of actual o ffi cers. RACHEL BROSNAHAN : In terms of recreating performances from that time, it was highlight after highlight. In the first episode of the third season, Midge and Shy Baldwin [LeRoy McClain] perform for the troops on a USO stop. I remember Amy shooting me a casual text that read, “Oh, by the way, the USO scene has 850 background [players].”
the middle of Long Island. The hangar is full of planes and exhibits, which were all nicely cleared out for us. Actually, they left a few planes for us. There was an uninterrupted three-minute shot that started in the airfield and continued into the hangar and then onto the stage. RACHEL BROSNAHAN : To be on that stage with LeRoy McClain was unlike anything I could possibly describe. It’s the closest I’ll ever feel to being a rock star. LUKE KIRBY : To me, one of the really special things about the show was how we moved into these worlds. That was Miami.
on the town in Miami. She goes to an After Dark taping with Lenny. It was based on Hugh Hefner’s Playboy After Dark that he shot in Chicago in his penthouse. So, we recreated a fictionalized version of that set in Miami. We actually filmed in a house that had been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural firm. RACHEL BROSNAHAN : We were there in June! Pounds of makeup melted o ff our faces every day. But the storylines were so fun, and it was fun to get to perform at di ff erent clubs and basically do the beginning of the Midge and Lenny thing. MARGUERITE DERRICKS (choreographer): They have a very sexy dance. I had one private rehearsal with Luke, but there was no time to work with
Rachel. When the two of them got together, it was magic.
TIM STREETO : I loved Miami because of the beautiful lighting and music and backdrop to that romance. There’s not a ton of dialogue in their romantic scene, and they even comment on that; you just feel the chemistry. You had to balance that out with the comedy. RACHEL BROSNAHAN : Just when we thought we’d been spoiled enough, we got to perform inside Carnegie Hall at the height of the global pandemic. I have terrible stage fright, but at least I get do-overs and try to explore things in di ff erent ways and spend hours perfecting it. It’s not quite the same as doing live theater, but the nerves are
M. DAVID MULLEN : We shot it near an airport in
M. DAVID MULLEN : Lenny and Midge have a night
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still there for sure. But thankfully the burden of that venue was on Luke to recreate Lenny Bruce’s iconic routine. MATHEW PRICE (sound mixer): One thing that was fun: Before the real Lenny went on that stage, you can hear on the original recording an announcer introducing him. We had a little speaker backstage, and we played that same introduction before Luke came out. We wanted him to get in the mode. LUKE KIRBY : A funny thing happened at Carnegie Hall. As an actor, I never had a dream of getting there. The space meant nothing to me. And I knew Lenny’s concert very well because I had bought it on CD in 2003, so I was very familiar with it already. But when I got on stage, I heard the angels singing. I mean, it really was cool. Like, all the lungs that have passed through this place are still breathing there. The sound waves were all still there; they just moved into a slow ripple. I had to kind of steel myself a bit and find my feet again. But with that sensation under me, I felt close to freedom. RACHEL BROSNAHAN : Filming in the Apollo Theater was another highlight. Wanda Sykes, oh my God! I remember standing in the wings watching her with a stupid smile on my face. I couldn’t believe she brought Moms Mabley back to life in this iconic state. DHANA RIVERA GILBERT : When you look at Rachel, she was Midge no matter where we were. She took on that role in a way I couldn’t believe. Her skills, her discipline. Emotionally, vocally. She embodied female empowerment. MICHAEL ZEGEN : Midge was incredibly brave and ahead of her time. This is a woman abandoned by her husband, yet she doesn’t just sit down and sob. She charts a path and sees it through and becomes something nobody ever expected, including herself. And, yes, Joel is the catalyst. But I think his cheating was the best thing that could have happened to both of them. ALEX BORSTEIN : Midge blends the perfect woman, in my opinion. She’s stunning. She’s sharp as a fucking tack. She’s insightful. She’s able to own when she’s terribly wrong and not afraid to fall. And she falls a lot. She’s just an interesting creature.
“
ONE THING THAT WAS FUN: BEFORE THE REAL LENNY WENT ON THAT STAGE, YOU CAN HEAR ON THE ORIGINAL RECORDING AN ANNOUNCER INTRODUCING HIM. WE HAD A LITTLE SPEAKER BACKSTAGE, AND WE PLAYED THAT SAME INTRODUCTION BEFORE LUKE CAME OUT. WE WANTED HIM TO GET IN THE MODE.
” MATHEW PRICE sound mixer
SEASON 4
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ELLEN CHRISTIANSEN : We did a lot of shopping to get the furniture right. I’d go to antique centers in Connecticut and the Hudson Valley in New York and into New Jersey. I like seeing things in person to really get a sense of it. In many cases, I had things re-upholstered or changed the color to enhance them. Of course, Midge loves pink, so we sourced dining room chairs and upholstered them with pink silk and pink buttons on the back to give it a fresher look. Gradually, I’d change things up a bit over time. I love the cabinet with a set of drawers and glass doors from Season 4. CAROLINE AARON : My husband would say to me, “Do you think the set decorator would come up to our apartment?” BILL GROOM : For the downtown look, I would say we looked through thousands of pages of research, either in books or from the Library of Congress or people’s photographs. It was very bohemian, and the look was not that much di ff erent from today. So, for the Gaslight, we worked from the photographs that existed and made it a little bigger. ALEX BORSTEIN : When we’re filming in all those clubs sets like the Gaslight, you could tell that people had done their homework. Everyone who worked for that show was an artist and a historian. We always felt transported. BILL GROOM : Joel’s club was my favorite. I based the space on an old room that I had seen years ago in Queens that had once been used for Democratic rallies. The place was a former button warehouse in the story, and we managed to find a button warehouse that had been out of business and bought a bunch of buttons and used them as decoration. ELLEN CHRISTIANSEN : I love Joel’s club. There’s so much atmosphere, and I love the glass with metal detailing. I actually found the big arch between the two rooms in an antique store. We hung lights over the bar and got tabletops with old iron bases from a few di ff erent vendors. The chairs look like they’ve been there for a while, but they’re not shabby in any way. It’s all very downtown-looking. MICHAEL ZEGEN : It was so cool having my own set. And each episode, you could see it get a little more de- tailed. Eventually this old warehouse is a thriving club.
The Look RACHEL BROSNAHAN : From its inception, the show felt like a love letter to New York. We got to time-travel to a city that I live in and love so dearly. And to bring back the most beautiful parts of New York in the 1950s and ’60s was such a dream. It was totally surreal to walk out of the trailer and look and own a street and see nothing but vintage cars and women in beautiful dresses and men in smart suits. It never got old. MICHAEL ZEGEN : When you read a script, you never know what the production is going to look like. Then I showed up for the first episode — it was all these rows of old cars and this apartment that looked quintessential 1950s to a T. BILL GROOM ( production designer) : We found our look in the pilot and just went from there. It’s funny — with these projects, you don’t necessarily impose an idea; the idea sort of reveals itself. So, you find colors and fabrics and furniture and interiors and locations that just seem right for the show. It’s not like Amy and Dan would call out colors in the script. It just becomes clear. I once heard Tony Shalhoub refer to the process as “collaboration by shared sensibilities.” ELLEN CHRISTIANSEN (set decorator) : I’d describe the original look as lots of rich color and classic furniture mixed with 1950s modern. BILL GROOM : In the pilot, we didn’t have the time or budget to build anything, so we started looking for an apartment that just felt right for Joel and Midge. We found it in a well-established building on Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side, and it was perfect. Amy and Dan thought so, too. Coincidentally, the Weissmans’ apartment is in the same place. CAROLINE AARON : We have really good friends who live in that building. And my husband is a real estate broker. The original apartment has been chopped up into three along the way. Oh, my God, they’re all so gorgeous. BILL GROOM : Once we went to series, we spent about eight weeks building the apartment on a soundstage. It’s cheaper to do that, and you have total control.
“
JOEL’S CLUB WAS MY FAVORITE. I BASED THE SPACE ON AN OLD ROOM THAT I HAD SEEN YEARS AGO IN QUEENS THAT HAD ONCE BEEN USED FOR DEMOCRATIC RALLIES.
”
BILL GROOM production designer
SEASON 3
2 1
SEASON 4
DHANA RIVERA GILBERT : From a production standpoint, the most challenging scenes were the ones in the Catskills. The Grossinger’s Resort Hotel did not exist anymore. It took us four months to figure out how we could piece together the location so that viewers could connect with that authentic look, smell and feel. We ended up shooting in three di ff erent places — including a resort in Deposit, New York that had gone into bankruptcy. BILL GROOM : It was still in operation, but it had been greatly reduced in size. But one cottage just seemed right, and Amy and Dan were happy with it and wrote to that. It required a lot of di ff erent work. An engineer had to come in and put in a couple of steel beams, and we had to repair some docks. We left the place better o ff compared to how we found it. MARGUERITE DERRICKS : There’s a big dance in the Catskills that’s like eight or nine pages of dialogue, and we filmed it in Brooklyn. I think there were thirty or forty dancers in the scene, and Rachel danced with eleven of them, all during a oner. The crazy thing is that the cast went away to Deposit to shoot, and we didn’t get back to the scene for another month. Rachel hadn’t rehearsed it in so long, and she had to do it all in one take! She looked at me and was like, “Oh my God!” But the first shot, she was perfect. That’s Rachel. RACHEL BROSNAHAN : It almost feels like I can’t see the character until I’m putting on that corset. It changes the way you stand, and wearing those heels changes the way you walk, and your hair changes the way you use and move your head. Midge’s fashion is her armor, and it’s also the way she expresses herself, so it’s a reflection of her personality. DONNA ZAKOWSKA (costume designer) : The directive I got from Amy and Dan was that this is a character who’s never depressed and always sort of ready for the moment in her own special way. I had an idea of a pink coat in the beginning — because she still sees the world through rose-colored glasses — and the concepts bloomed into a wardrobe with a very heightened sense of color and mixture of couture. But I loved her performance dresses because I love working with blacks. Amy always knew to end that pilot with Midge in a black dress and pearls because it corresponds to the idea of housewife-becomes-performer.
“
MIDGE LOVES PINK, SO WE SOURCED DINING ROOM CHAIRS AND UPHOLSTERED THEM WITH PINK SILK AND PINK BUTTONS ON THE BACK TO GIVE IT A FRESHER LOOK.
” ELLEN CHRISTIANSEN set decorator
2 2
RACHEL BROSNAHAN : Midge is thoughtful about fashion. There’s a line in one of the earlier seasons that for her, everything starts with an accessory. She only likes driving because of the gloves. In this new season, there’s a scene where she spends a lot of time debating what to wear because it’s the first day of work. And there are hats, hats, hats and more hats. DONNA ZAKOWSKA : I’d say ninety-nine percent of Midge’s clothes were designed and built and tailored, so it was really a venture. I could never buy off the rack because the clothes really have to fit, and the fit of clothing is a really important principle of costume design. So, I used Dior and Jacques Fath as inspiration and distilled their designs into believable looks. The other important thing is that the fitting process made the actors feel very special. They loved I was doing this for them. CAROLINE AARON : Shirley had to look gift- wrapped from head to toe, no matter what time of day. I remember going in one day and asking, “Do I have to put the girdle on?” Yes! Every single costume! And the panty hose and pointy shoes and bras. The bras back then don’t resemble the bras of today. They were cotton and very pointy. It was all extremely uncomfortable. I think women had a lot of bladder infections in the 1950s. But I think the process made me miss my mom, you know? ALEX BORSTEIN : When I found out I got the part, I was adamant about having keys around my neck and a hat and suspenders and a belt. I auditioned with trousers and a button down shirt. Donna found these great sweaters. I can’t remember how we got the leather jacket. I just felt that in the Village, Susie being a kind of club rat just felt right. The wardrobe was also an exoskeleton that protected her from the elements of the people — she felt strong and was impervious to pain and cold. DONNA ZAKOWSKA : The men’s wardrobe was all designed and built too. Once you know how to create something, it’s very difficult to back away from it. It makes the job relentless but joyous. So, Abe wore beautiful English fabrics and wools. I loved it when we were in Paris, and I got to put this college professor in a beret and leather jacket and scarf.
SEASON 2
“
WHEN I FOUND OUT I GOT THE PART, I WAS ADAMANT ABOUT HAVING KEYS AROUND MY NECK AND A HAT AND SUSPENDERS AND A BELT. I AUDITIONED WITH TROUSERS AND A BUTTON DOWN SHIRT
” ALEX BORSTEIN actress, Susie Myerson
2 5
TONY SHALHOUB : The bohemian side of Abe emerged in Paris, right? I got to wear a cool jacket. Paris was a three-week dream job. I mean, forget about it. MARIN HINKLE : Tony and I got to take dance lessons to get ready for our scene along the Seine. I would pinch myself and go, “ This is Paris!” It looked like a background in a film. The buildings looked like set pieces. Everything was so gorgeous. MARGUERITE DERRICKS : I started with Amy on Bunheads. On Maisel, I really liked how we established a relationship between the dance and the choreography and the cameras. It’s a beautiful pas de deux. She’s so meticulous but caring about it. But my favorite scenes are staged, not choreographed. We’re in a department store, and the women are talking and walking to a certain beat. One day we were doing a mambo in the first season, and we had an extra who was a waiter. He needed to walk and guide the camera. The poor guy just didn’t have the timing. Amy said, “From now on, I want anyone in this position to be a dancer.” That’s what we did. M. DAVID MULLEN : Our show tends to be done with wide-angle lenses. You want to see everyone and everything in a frame. Occasionally, I tried a long lens just to see extras flowing down the street. MARGUERITE DERRICKS : I always tell people that everything in Maisel dances because of the way the camera moves. Amy knows the importance of this. TIM STREETO : We start editing as soon as they start shooting because we get the dailies. But cutting a comedy is sort of like being able to tell a joke: You might know a good one, but if you don’t tell it properly, then it’s not as funny. It’s all in the timing and the pacing. So, with Maisel, there’s a larger story we’re telling, but we also have to hit these individual beats. My favorite scene was in Season 3, when Midge is doing all these radio ads and jumping from one place to another. The timing was fun to figure out. But my goal was for audiences not to pay attention to all that and just be lost in the joy. BILL GROOM : I’d watch the show every year when a new season came out. And I’d go, “Wow, how did we do that?” And you do it by taking it one step at a time and just do what’s required. Somehow, it all comes together. Sometimes, it’s just a miracle.
“
clockwise from top: TONY SHALHOUB AND DONNA ZAKOWSKA, A ZAKOWSKA SKETCH, RACHEL BROSNAHAN,
ABE WORE BEAUTIFUL ENGLISH FABRICS AND WOOLS. I LOVED IT WHEN WE WERE IN PARIS, AND I GOT TO PUT THIS COLLEGE PROFESSOR IN A BERET AND LEATHER JACKET AND SCARF.
BROSNAHAN, BILL GROOM
”
DONNA ZAKOWSKA costume designer
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AND I’D GO, ‘WOW, HOW DID WE DO THAT?’ AND YOU DO IT BY TAKING IT ONE STEP AT A TIME AND JUST DO WHAT’S REQUIRED. SOMEHOW, IT ALL COMES TOGETHER. SOMETIMES, IT’S JUST A MIRACLE.
”
BILL GROOM production designer
26
“
IT’S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ONER
YOU’VE EVER SEEN. IT WAS SO METICULOUSLY CHOREOGRAPHED TO THE BARBRA STREISAND SONG ‘ JUST LEAVE EVERYTHING TO ME .’
”
MARGUERITE DERRICKS choreographer
SEASON 2
CURTIS MOORE (original songwriter and composer) : We probably wrote about fifty songs that were performed on the series. A lot of songs that we wrote never even got recorded! THOMAS MIZER : When Amy brought in the Shy Baldwin character, she wanted people to think they had heard his music and could just buy it at a record store. CURTIS MOORE : Dan has an incredible music collection and is so smart about music. We’d get the funny text messages from Amy. Or Amy would just call us and say, “You know, you have to write a number- one hit for Shy and the Silver Belles.” For the USO scene, Shy sings “One Less Angel in Heaven.” They were nice enough to pull us up on stage to watch it so we could hear the extras sing the song back to us. THOMAS MIZER : We did so many takes — all 800 extras must have heard it 500 times that day! By the end of the day, they all had memorized it and were singing along with it. You got the impression it had been on the radio for months. CURTIS MOORE : The greatest moment of the entire Maisel journey for us was the day Harry Belafonte’s representative called Robin and said, “I saw that you used one of Harry’s songs in an episode, but we don’t actually own it. I don’t know why.” THOMAS MIZER : She had to say, “You don’t own it because our guys wrote it. It’s not actually a Harry Belafonte song!” It actually was a challenge because we had only been writing for fictional people like Shy Baldwin. We asked Amy if we could just use a song from Harry’s catalogue, but she said, “No. It’s a special moment because he wrote this song for Shy Baldwin’s wedding.” ROBIN URDANG : No matter how incidental the music may seem in some scenes, such as the walk to Polynesian Night in the Catskills, all is authentic and placed with so much thought. Nothing is ever “thrown in.” The records on Joel’s jukebox in his club are Chinese songs and part of the story. We hired Asian singers to record versions of Old Standards. Some may barely be heard, but they’re important to the story. MATHEW PRICE : The most interesting thing we did for a musical recording was for a scene in Miami. Shy’s manager says, “If you’re so good, why don’t you come up and sing?” So, LeRoy played Shy but
The Sound TONY SHALHOUB : The music is one of the strongest elements of the show. It gave a vibrant energy behind the dialogue and the camera movement. Not to mention the music that plays under the scenes! Because Dan and Amy are all about the music, it feels like there’s a large theatrical event in every episode. ROBIN URDANG (music supervisor) : I was driving down Bell Canyon to go home when I got a call from Amy and Dan. They told me, “We’re doing this little pilot … would you be interested in doing the music? It’s going to be 1950s New York.” My first question was whether they were going to want to use 1950s music or do a contemporary re-record. Amy said, “Absolutely not. We want the amazing music of that era.” Sometimes it was an absolute nightmare getting those rights, but I never gave up. I remember using “I’m Nobody’s Baby” by Miss Beverly Shaw — who owned the first openly lesbian club — in a scene with Midge and Susie at the lesbian club Trapped Door in the fourth season. But Beverly didn’t own the song. I think I found a great-aunt who took the license and got approval from her ninety-one-year-old son. MARGUERITE DERRICKS : In the opening of Season 2, there’s this whole sequence where Midge is in a rolling chair answering telephones at the B. Altman department store with all these women. It’s the most beautiful oner you’ve ever seen. It was so meticulously choreographed to the Barbra Streisand song “Just Leave Everything to Me.” ROBIN URDANG : We used Barbra Streisand a few times. I remember looking at the script and seeing “Happy Days Are Here Again” written into a montage where Midge is moving out of her and Joel’s apartment. It’s a juxtaposition between what’s going on in the music and what’s going on in her life, and it was just beautiful. But I knew it was going to be di ffi cult. She doesn’t clear for TV. Amy had to write her a letter showing her the scenes. She approved it because she loved it so much. THOMAS MIZER (original songwriter and composer) : I think when Amy called me and Curtis in the third season, it was to elevate what she just couldn’t do with needle drops. She wanted us to tell a story and take the music element even further.
“
AMY SAID, ‘LET’S DO IT LIVE!’ DARIUS SANG OFF-CAMERA WHILE L E ROY LIP-SYNCED PERFECTLY INTO THE MIC! IT WAS JUST THAT ONE TIME, BUT I’D NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE.
”
MATHEW PRICE sound mixer
from top: L E ROY M C CLAIN, DAR IUS D E HAAS AND M C CLAIN, MICHAEL ZEGEN WITH JOEL’S JUKEBOX ,
ON SET AT THE BUTTON CLUB.
“
THE RECORDS ON JOEL’S JUKEBOX IN HIS CLUB ARE CHINESE SONGS. WE HIRED ASIAN SINGERS TO RECORD VERSIONS OF OLD STANDARDS. SOME MAY BARELY BE HEARD, BUT THEY’RE IMPORTANT TO THE STORY.
”
ROBIN URDANG music supervisor
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