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 5^th Ave and 61^st 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 19^th 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 19^th 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 5^th 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.