The Gilded Age 2022
The Gilded Age 2022
The Gilded Age 2022
I ate this one up with a silver spoon in a few gulps and a big smile on my
face. Stunning but soapy series written and conceived by Julian Fellowes who is
no stranger to this kind of story. This time his upstairs, downstairs takes
place mostly in two grand houses that are across the street from each other on
5th Ave and 61st in 1888 Manhattan, the Russell mansion
and the more simple but elegant brownstone home of the Van rhijn sisters. Old
and new money meet and its not an easy or gentle encounter.
The Russell’s are based on several real life robber barons including Vanderbilt
and Jay Gould and their command and control of the railroads which they built
into empires for good and bad. They are
compressed into one baron played well by Morgan Spector and his Lady Macbeth
the great Carrie Coon whose main goal in life is to be accepted in the high
society life of New York City and is really the power behind her husband’s
throne. She is cold and controlling in all aspects of her high end life
including the lives of her two grown children a girl and a boy.
Set among the very wealthy families and like any good soap this one is filled
to the brim with marvelous actors and actresses who because the show was filmed
in New York City is rich with many theatre actors and many Broadway divas
including Christine Baranski, Kelli
O’Hara, Donna Murphy, Audra McDonald and Nathan Lane. I was almost expecting a
large musical number to break out, but the singing is not sung only acted. The
quieter and more conservative Van Rhijn
sisters are played by Christine Baranski (superb) and the quieter of the two
women Cynthia Nixon also wonderful. Just having hours of Baranaski made me
swoon with joy.
The plot is moved and comes alive by their attractive grown up niece played by
Louisa Jacobson (the youngest daughter of Meryl Streep and Don Gummer) who
after losing everything in Pennsylvania
. because of the failings of her recently deceased father comes to the
big city to live with her two aunts Baranski and Nixon. On her way to the city
while waiting for her train she is robbed of her money and train ticket and is
saved by a young African American woman played well by Denee Benton who lends
her money for a new train ticket and they become close friends. The Young
African American woman is lovely and smart and wants to be a writer and comes
from an affluent family which is one of the good side stories that the series
offers us. Its not often or maybe never that we get a good look at how the
upper classes of African Americans lived in the 19th century.
Incidents of luck play big parts in the series and Benton becomes the secretary
to Baranski while writing stories that will eventually find a home in an
African American newspaper.
There are schemes and love stories along with some factual history of my city
as it grows and becomes the great metropolis that it still is. Everything is
stirred into this pot including some gay social climbers, lots of back
stabbing, elegant balls, lavish dinners, small and big crimes, racism, weekends
at Newport and a stunning tour of New York City in the late 19th
century. Most of the production was done with digital special effects but there
is some on location scenes mostly in Central Park. Digitally done is a big
street set that represents 5th ave and the lavish mansions that once
lined this famous avenue. Look this is not heavy drama, its a soap but a damn
good one, and if you are like me you might sometimes crave this sort of thing
especially when the star is a New York City long gone. This is high up there
because of the performances and the lavish look and details that wash over the
show. The costumes alone make this one worth watching. An eye popping elegant
extravaganza. Spectacular spectacular.
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