Review: “Étoile” is a Smart Comedy From the Team That Brought You “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”

*** Caution: Mild Spoilers ahead***

I’ll confess: I didn’t have a ballet show on my 2025 Bingo card. But when I heard that the creative team of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino – the creatives behind “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Gilmore Girls” – were leading the effort, I knew I had to at least test the waters. And at the end of the day, it’s a workplace comedy. The show immediately lets on that the ballet is simply the workplace. I’ve watched the first three of Season One’s eight episodes. And like the other shows just mentioned, the Palladino’s signature rapid dialogue is on full display.

“Étoile” dually covers New York City’s Metropolitan Ballet Theater and its French counterpart, Paris’s Le Ballet National. While both names are fictional, there are, of course, significant real-life equivalents. The two ballet companies appear to share a friendly, albeit competitive, relationship.

The companies seem to be flailing. Both are under pressure to attract larger crowds and generate more revenue. Additionally, both houses have genuine talents that require a dramatic change to flourish. Therefore, with the support of the dubious (yet largely legitimate) arms dealer and oilman Crispin Shamblee (“Four Weddings and a Funeral’s” Simon Callow), they agree to a very public talent exchange for the upcoming season. Several artists will move from New York to Paris and vice versa for one year.

But the swap doesn’t come easily. While it’s the Paris company’s idea, the NYC company’s leader, the hilariously high-strung Jack McMillan (“Mrs. Maisel’s” Luke Kirby, who played Lenny Bruce), resists every NYC talent she requests. This creates a hilarious scene that captures the essence of Jack’s energy. He ultimately relents, and there’s a splashy press conference to announce the arrangement simultaneously in both NYC and Paris.

His Parisian counterpart is Geneviève Lavigne, with whom he once had an affair. She likely would never have compromised her principles and gotten involved with Crispin had it not been for the threat of a strike and the pressures on her ballet from her board and the Minister of Culture.

Among the swapped talents is French étoile (which means lead dancer) Cheyenne Toussaint, who is a dedicated environmental activist in her spare time. She had previously been a guest performer in the NYC company, and irks Jack for some reason. Perhaps it’s her tough demeanor and the chip on her shoulder. Or perhaps they had a romance that went sideways? It’s unclear thus far. When introduced to the American male counterparts proposed by Jack and his lead choreographer Nicholas (“Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Two Weeks Notice’s” David Haig), she turns them down. Of course, she terrifies all the men in the company.

Instead, she seeks out Gael Rodriguez, a dancer who had left the NYC company to pursue farming upstate. He recognizes her immediately upon her arrival (was he at the company when she guest-starred?) at the farm’s little sales market and rebuffs her advances. But sure enough, Cheyenne announces him as her partner during the press conference, forcing him back to the NYC company. There is a sense that fireworks will ensue with these two, one way or another. But I trust Cheyenne’s instincts. She carries herself with an almost off-putting confidence that she’s the only one who knows how to do anything. But she just might be. Flashbacks to her modest beginnings and her eco-activism keep her in my esteem.

Among the NYC company sent to France are Mishi Duplessis and Tobias Bell. Mishi, a young mixed-race dancer, is French. She was with the Paris company, but they rejected her early in her career and sent her to NYC. She resents her former company, and her NYC-branded attire early on suggests she has fully embraced New York. But as it happens, her mother is the French Minister of Culture and her father a prominent businessman, so it’s no mistake that she was selected to return to Paris. They even throw her a welcome home party at their palatial estate.

Her parents are so into their own agendas that they’re completely unaware that Mishi isn’t comfortable being back home. It doesn’t help that she is thought of as “less than” by the other dancers in Paris, having been previously cut. I would say among the dancers, the pressure on Mishi is the greatest as she’s expected to return to Paris and deliver big results.

Tobias, like just about every character on the show, is uncompromising. He’s a visionary choreographer who finds himself completely lost walking around Paris. He can’t seem to find the ballet company and thinks every block looks the same. He finally stops at a bakery to stand in a long line because – why not – everyone else seems to be. Thankfully, Geneviève, who had been driving around looking for him, finds him and ultimately brings him in.

One of Tobias’s first moves is casting his ballet. He observes a full company workout and then gathers his roughly 50 dancers to choose his cast. There’s only one problem – he nixes all but a small handful, which, of course, concerns Geneviève. Again, he is uncompromising.

Gabin, a confident dancer in the Paris company who is determined to become a star, eagerly seeks out Tobias’s approval and to be made the showcase of his ballet. There are a couple of scenes in the early episodes where he demonstrates his moves and receives Tobias’s blunt feedback.

In Episode Three, Crispin makes a vindictive move to change the name of the NYC company’s theater to the Shamblee Theater. On its face, sure, he’s the financial savior. The vindictiveness is that its current name, The Fish Theater, is named after Jack’s great-grandmother. Needless to say, Jack blows his top.

There’s also a lovely side story about a young Asian-American girl named Susu whose mother is the janitor at the NYC company. By day, she records rehearsals for her daughter to dance to during the evening shift. Also touching is that Cheyenne warms to the girl, and even buys her ballet shoes with Susu’s name sewn on the bottom. We see two things in this act: The softer side of Cheyenne, who has a heart, and the fact that Cheyenne remembers from her modest background that ballet is, among other things, an expensive art form. In that regard, it’s a lot like hockey. You don’t see too many low-income kids whose parents can afford all of those pads, skates, and other equipment.

I’m looking forward to the remaining five episodes of Season One, and am already rooting for a Season Two. Remember – the ballet is just the workplace. Don’t let any lack of interest in that art form deter you from enjoying what is another fantastic Palladino product.

And that’s what Todd’s watching.