Latest news with #MrsMaisel
News18
a day ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Ballet Dramedy Etoile Will No Longer Have A Second Season
Last Updated: As per reports, the decision to cancel the second season comes in the wake of performance vs cost disputes. In disappointing news for Etoile fans, Prime Video has confirmed that the ballet dramedy will not be returning for a second season. Created by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel duo Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, the show had initially been granted a two-season commitment. However, despite debuting in late April to positive reviews from both critics and viewers, the series has now been shelved. At the time, all eight episodes were dropped simultaneously on Prime Video. It is worth mentioning that in the Palladinos' follow-up to the critical and commercial hit, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, they received an initial order for two seasons in 2023. While most multi-season orders result in multiple runs, there have also been exceptions, as there is still an evaluation process after series receive approval with contingencies built in. According to a Deadline report, the decision came largely due to disputes over 'performance versus cost." On the other hand, it could also be attributed to the recent internal restructuring at Amazon with the former studio head's exit and Mike Hopkins taking over. What Is Etoile About? Said to be a passion project for Sherman-Palladino, Etoile is a story of dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies in New York and Paris. They will be seen embarking on an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions by swapping their most talented stars. The show came as a deterrent for many casual viewers beyond their loyal fan base who have been following her from the iconic Gilmore Girls to Bunheads and the Emmy-winning Mrs Maisel. While the show is currently not returning for a second season, fans can stream the first part on Prime Video. First Published:
Sydney Morning Herald
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
From Gilmore Girls to Mrs Maisel: How one woman perfected comfort TV
No one makes TV like Amy Sherman-Palladino. Since the start of the century, she's created warmly welcoming, female-focused series about wonderfully eccentric communities. They have a distinctive look and sound. Whip-smart dialogue is delivered at screwball-comedy speed. Conversations between characters, typically loaded with pop-culture references, bounce back and forth like verbal ping-pong. Episodes are rich with lush colour and distinguished by a shooting style that frequently favours extended, elaborately choreographed camerawork. In her sunny fictional worlds, there are no mutilated bodies, missing children or rampaging creatures. She produces comfort TV of the best kind: not mushy, bland or glib, but happily surprising, like big bowls of festive bonbons. And fun. Chicken-soup-for-the-soul stuff. Loading A writer, producer, director and showrunner who works with her writer-producer-director husband, Daniel Palladino, ASP has given us Gilmore Girls (2000-07); its 2016 sequel Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life; Bunheads (2012); and her masterwork The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (2017-23). In 2018, with Mrs Maisel, she became the first woman to win Emmys in the comedy writing and directing categories. Now there's Etoile, a culture-clash comedy about a couple of elite ballet companies struggling with rising costs and declining audiences whose managers hatch a scheme to generate publicity and reignite interest in their endangered art form. For one year, the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre in New York, run by Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby, Mrs Maisel's Lenny Bruce) and Le Ballet National in Paris, managed by interim director Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), will swap stars. Famously fiery Parisian etoile (star) Cheyenne Toussaint (Lou de Laâge) will endeavour to put aside her contempt for American food, coffee and culture to headline productions in New York, while young ballerina Mishi Duplessis (Taïs Vinolo) will reluctantly return home to France, miserably clutching a plush toy of a bagel. ASP's series are invariably celebrations of their communities, whether it's the cozy east-coast town of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls, the Californian coastal hamlet of Paradise on Bunheads or the Manhattan of Mrs Maisel, with its clubs, theatres, diners and delis. Consistent through them is her fondness for smart, feisty and sometimes spiky female protagonists, as well as an affection for tetchy, formidable older women such as Gilmore Girls' Emily and Bunheads' Fanny (both played by Kelly Bishop). Now comes Bruna (Marie Berto), Cheyenne's mother, a woman of few gruff words who wears a workman's uniform and tinkers with goodness-knows-what in her trash-and-treasure-filled apartment. Ballet also features regularly in ASP's productions: while Etoile focuses on a pair of prestige companies, Bunheads is largely set in a small home-based ballet school, and one of the cornerstones of Stars Hollow is Miss Patty's School of Ballet. Showbiz is in Sherman-Palladino's blood. Her father was a comedian, her mother a dancer and, as a child, she trained as a dancer, recently telling Vanity Fair: 'I stopped dancing the minute I realised somebody was going to actually pay me to do something, and I could have a sandwich'. Etoile demonstrates that she reveres the qualities required to succeed in this sphere: grit, grace, discipline, dedication and endurance. At times, Etoile simply focuses on the extraordinary athleticism and sheer beauty of the bodies in rehearsal and performance. As well, ASP has explained, 'They're an odd, amazing bunch of people'. So, ideal for one of her shows. Her commitment to them extends to the authenticity sought in portraying their world and the attention to detail in evoking it. More than 1000 real-life dancers auditioned to fill roles in the two companies. Constance Devernay, the body double for de Laage, was a principal dancer with the Scottish Ballet for seven years; Vinolo dances with the National Ballet of Canada. Episodes are filled with shots of dancers going about their daily routines: stretching, chatting, napping, scrolling on phones, lacing shoes, bandaging feet. And when it comes to shooting the performances, the camera sits back respectfully, watching in wide shot, the directors understanding that there's no need to try to pump-up the action with fast edits or cuts to close-ups. Loading That laudable effort aside, Etoile – which has been green-lit for a second season – is no Mrs Maisel. It certainly has its charms, predictably to do with snappy dialogue and vibrant characters, as well as the visual pleasures of two photogenic cities. But it can be a bit clunky, lacking the sleek flair of its predecessor, and it's prone to overstatement, particularly in terms of haughty French folk and their disdain for crass Americans. Where Mrs Maisel neatly avoids stereotypes and often surprises with its character developments, Etoile sometimes succumbs to clichés. Although it should be noted that Gainsbourg nails the tough manoeuvre of appearing both frazzled and chic. To its credit, it's not all colour, movement and frisky banter as the series also tackles questions about the uncomfortable union of art and commerce. The talent-swap initiative can only be achieved with funding from flamboyant billionaire Crispin Shamblee (Simon Callow). Described by Jack as 'a right-wing, boot-licking toadie for dictators', he's made much of his fortune from an array of dirty deals. Clearly having a fine time with the role, Callow is allowed to go over-the-top for comic effect. However, his confrontation with Cheyenne is chilling, as is his clear-eyed perception of the ugly realities of the world. Ballet might bring beauty, lift the spirits and allow its practitioners and those watching them to 'play in the clouds', as Cheyenne puts it. But without financial support – sometimes from people such as Shamblee – it might not survive. At its heart, Etoile aims to celebrate ballet and the unifying, uplifting joy it can bring. Sherman-Palladino has said: 'My whole life I've known [that], without ballet, the world is a lesser place'. Similarly, the TV world be poorer without ASP.
The Age
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Etoile review: How Amy Sherman-Palladino became the master of comfort TV
, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. No one makes TV like Amy Sherman-Palladino. Since the start of the century, she's created warmly welcoming, female-focused series about wonderfully eccentric communities. They have a distinctive look and sound. Whip-smart dialogue is delivered at screwball-comedy speed. Conversations between characters, typically loaded with pop-culture references, bounce back and forth like verbal ping-pong. Episodes are rich with lush colour and distinguished by a shooting style that frequently favours extended, elaborately choreographed camerawork. Rachel Brosnahan stars as Midge Maisel in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. In her sunny fictional worlds, there are no mutilated bodies, missing children or rampaging creatures. She produces comfort TV of the best kind: not mushy, bland or glib, but happily surprising, like big bowls of festive bonbons. And fun. Chicken-soup-for-the-soul stuff. Loading A writer, producer, director and showrunner who works with her writer-producer-director husband, Daniel Palladino, ASP has given us Gilmore Girls (2000-07); its 2016 sequel Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life; Bunheads (2012); and her masterwork The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (2017-23). In 2018, with Mrs Maisel, she became the first woman to win Emmys in the comedy writing and directing categories. Now there's Etoile, a culture-clash comedy about a couple of elite ballet companies struggling with rising costs and declining audiences whose managers hatch a scheme to generate publicity and reignite interest in their endangered art form. For one year, the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre in New York, run by Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby, Mrs Maisel's Lenny Bruce) and Le Ballet National in Paris, managed by interim director Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), will swap stars. Famously fiery Parisian etoile (star) Cheyenne Toussaint (Lou de Laâge) will endeavour to put aside her contempt for American food, coffee and culture to headline productions in New York, while young ballerina Mishi Duplessis (Taïs Vinolo) will reluctantly return home to France, miserably clutching a plush toy of a bagel. Rory (Alexis Bledel) and Lorelai (Lauren Graham) in the fondly remembered Gilmore Girls. Credit: ASP's series are invariably celebrations of their communities, whether it's the cozy east-coast town of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls, the Californian coastal hamlet of Paradise on Bunheads or the Manhattan of Mrs Maisel, with its clubs, theatres, diners and delis. Consistent through them is her fondness for smart, feisty and sometimes spiky female protagonists, as well as an affection for tetchy, formidable older women such as Gilmore Girls' Emily and Bunheads' Fanny (both played by Kelly Bishop). Now comes Bruna (Marie Berto), Cheyenne's mother, a woman of few gruff words who wears a workman's uniform and tinkers with goodness-knows-what in her trash-and-treasure-filled apartment. Ballet also features regularly in ASP's productions: while Etoile focuses on a pair of prestige companies, Bunheads is largely set in a small home-based ballet school, and one of the cornerstones of Stars Hollow is Miss Patty's School of Ballet. Showbiz is in Sherman-Palladino's blood. Her father was a comedian, her mother a dancer and, as a child, she trained as a dancer, recently telling Vanity Fair: 'I stopped dancing the minute I realised somebody was going to actually pay me to do something, and I could have a sandwich'. One of the dance scenes – performed by professional ballet dancers – in Etoile. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video Etoile demonstrates that she reveres the qualities required to succeed in this sphere: grit, grace, discipline, dedication and endurance. At times, Etoile simply focuses on the extraordinary athleticism and sheer beauty of the bodies in rehearsal and performance. As well, ASP has explained, 'They're an odd, amazing bunch of people'. So, ideal for one of her shows. Her commitment to them extends to the authenticity sought in portraying their world and the attention to detail in evoking it. More than 1000 real-life dancers auditioned to fill roles in the two companies. Constance Devernay, the body double for de Laage, was a principal dancer with the Scottish Ballet for seven years; Vinolo dances with the National Ballet of Canada. Episodes are filled with shots of dancers going about their daily routines: stretching, chatting, napping, scrolling on phones, lacing shoes, bandaging feet. And when it comes to shooting the performances, the camera sits back respectfully, watching in wide shot, the directors understanding that there's no need to try to pump-up the action with fast edits or cuts to close-ups. Loading That laudable effort aside, Etoile – which has been green-lit for a second season – is no Mrs Maisel. It certainly has its charms, predictably to do with snappy dialogue and vibrant characters, as well as the visual pleasures of two photogenic cities. But it can be a bit clunky, lacking the sleek flair of its predecessor, and it's prone to overstatement, particularly in terms of haughty French folk and their disdain for crass Americans. Where Mrs Maisel neatly avoids stereotypes and often surprises with its character developments, Etoile sometimes succumbs to clichés. Although it should be noted that Gainsbourg nails the tough manoeuvre of appearing both frazzled and chic. Rachel Brosnahan as Midge Maisel and Luke Kirby, who also stars in Etoile, as Lenny Bruce in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. To its credit, it's not all colour, movement and frisky banter as the series also tackles questions about the uncomfortable union of art and commerce. The talent-swap initiative can only be achieved with funding from flamboyant billionaire Crispin Shamblee (Simon Callow). Described by Jack as 'a right-wing, boot-licking toadie for dictators', he's made much of his fortune from an array of dirty deals.
The National
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
New Scottish restaurant takes step back into the Golden Age
This new restaurant and 40-bedroom Art Deco-inspired hotel is located just outside Blantyre, South Lanarkshire. The main attraction is the 'entertainment-led dining experience', inspired by the heyday of Scotland's old dance halls – including its namesake Trocadero in Hamilton, fondly known as 'The Troc', which offered up escapism, music and dancing every night of the week. My friend and I glammed ourselves up in our 1920s-inspired bedroom, with as much vintage style and red lipstick as we could muster, before descending for a night to remember. Guests emerge through a rich velvet curtain to witness underground prohibition decadence. We stepped into a vast but darkly intimate bar, with candlelit dining and a sweeping stage, channelling vibes of speakeasy glamour, like something straight out of an American movie. Here was rich soft furnishings, curves and geometric shapes reminiscent of Art Deco style, and dapper waiting staff ready to take your cocktail order. Mixologist Panos Damou has curated a cocktail list inspired by the Jazz Age. I toasted the night with a Plum Crusta, rich in fruity flavours and dramatically presented in a smoking glass case. The venue's motto 'Where Champagne Flows and Anything Goes' means a healthy bubbles menu too. Feeling like the Marvellous Mrs Maisel, we were led to our stage-side table as an 11-piece band took the night by the horns. Sequinned flapper-style dancers stepped, kicked, swivelled and shimmied in Charleston fashion. In these opulent surroundings the food could take a back seat, but it certainly does not. The menu is overseen by renowned chef Michel Roux Jnr and the kitchen is under the auspices of executive chef Kevin Barron. We could have indulged in dishes synonymous with luxury, such as caviar, oysters and steak, but I opted for lighter ones – a starter of Shetland crab, followed by a shallot tart tatin with blue cheese and pear. I particularly loved the sheer joy of the traditional dessert trolley steered between the dancers to reach our table, where, from myriad treats, I chose a hazelnut milk chocolate tart. After a night of decadence we walked upstairs to our room and curled up in bed with the Trocadero's newsletter, lulled to sleep with stories of couples who met in the original Hamilton Troc and fell in love. The following morning, breakfast was dished up in Foveran's. Its green hues with a palm motif felt like a calming oasis after the hedonism of the night before. Foveran's serves breakfast, lunch and dinner for guests who desire a quieter dining experience. A yoghurt and juice bar kickstarted our detox, with fresh fruit and bakery items brought to the table. After tucking into Loch Fyne kippers, a walk to the nearby Four Angels waterfall blows the cobwebs away. I immersed myself in Trocadero's transatlantic glamour but there's no denying this is a proudly Scottish project. Most of the food is sourced in Scotland, ideally within a 50-mile radius. The owners, Steve Timoney and Alison Reid-Timoney, are Scottish, with Steve growing up in Easterhouse. Much of the veg and honey served in the hotel comes from the owners' Perthshire estate. And the employment opportunities here are vast, tapping into Scottish music agents, an expansive roster of bands, singers, musicians, dance troupes and choreographers, alongside front of house staff and those working behind the scenes. Trocadero's is a £20 million project and the spa (scheduled to open late this year) is devising its own line of beauty products with AS Apothecary on the Isle of Harris, using ingredients/botanicals from the Timoneys' estate and the castle's 14-acre grounds. Trocadero's represents a golden age in hospitality and a destination like no other, so grab your glad rags and hot foot it to the liveliest spot just outside town. It stages entertainment seven nights a week but browse the music calendar if you seek big band vibes. We saw the fantastic Champagne on stage. Also look out for Soul Sundays – a traditional Sunday lunch with added live music performances. To find out more, visit
