Gideon Glick’s casting as Tobias Bell feels kismet for one simple reason: there is no one like Glick, and there is no one like Bell. Étoile is a tug of war comedy between commerce and artistry as two ballet companies, one American and one French, make an incredible talent swap to reinvigorate its audiences. French dancers arrive in the Big Apple ready for a new, New Yorkian experience. Glick is astounding as a singular talent who uses movement and dance to express himself and communicate even when he is challenged by his environment and one curious, determined rat.
Glick brings something instinctual to his portrayal of Tobias in how he is on the floor with his dancers. He is in touch with the floor and feels it bounce when dancers hurl themselves across the room or crumble to the ground. It’s almost as if he is translating the choreography through his toes to charge up the dancers as they interpret his movement. In one of his early scenes, he is literally surrounded by performers and in their way as he adjusts and makes changes. That connection makes us feel like we are watching the performance being molded live before our very eyes.
Glick joined Amy Sherman-Palladino’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for its final two seasons as Alfie, the just-might-be-magic magician, and he slipped into that comedy’s rhythms as easily as Alfie did on stage. Étoile shares that quintessential Palladino DNA, but Glick knows how to make every line his own. Tobias is a skittish, assertive, and almsot dogmatic. He cannot help but tell you the truth to your face. Lying to you would only waste time, and Tobias doesn’t have time to waste. Glick felt an enormous freedom in creating a character who didn’t know how to hold back the truth.
There is tremendous excitement in how Tobias and Lou de Laâge’s Cheyenne do not compromise on their visions as artists. I kept thinking about their planes passing each other in the sky over the Atlantic as their temperaments compel them onto planes to speak their minds to those who need a talking to. In a time when the artistic world is on the defensive as artistic programs get slashed left and right, we need warriors like Tobias and Cheyenne to show the opposition how vital performance can be.
Tobias Bell’s choreography elicits emotion from our very chests–that feeling when you don’t know why you are reacting to a piece of work playing out in front of you. Glick, a celebrated stage performer, embodies Tobias with an uncompromising verve, and he’s glorious to watch.
Étoile is streaming now on Prime Video.
