Étoile Review: A Screwball Ballet Dramedy for Gilmore Girls Fans

With Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino cemented their reputation as masters of modern screwball comedy, specializing in fast-paced dialogue and zany humor. This holds true for their new ballet series Étoile, which is positively bursting with classic screwball archetypes: high-strung eccentrics, opinionated quarrellers, and people whose ridiculous foibles cause chaos wherever they turn. Covering the fraught relationships and professional conflicts at a pair of ballet companies in New York and Paris, Étoile calls back to high-energy workplace dramedies like Sports Night and Mozart in the Jungle, embracing more than a few affectionate clichés.

Struggling to sell tickets, Étoile's two ballet companies join forces for a transatlantic publicity stunt, swapping a handful of star performers between Paris and New York. During trade negotiations that resemble two divorcees haggling over their divided assets, the New York ballet's long-suffering boss, Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby), and his quirky French counterpart, Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), arrive at an agreement guaranteed to cause as much drama as possible. Controversial superstar ballerina Cheyenne Toussant (Lou de Laâge) will receive a year-long residency in NYC, while Paris gets to borrow the acclaimed American choreographer Tobias Bell (Gideon Glick). Both artistes are wildly talented and complete nightmares to work with, for very different reasons.

Just as famous for her abrasive personality as for her dazzling talent, Cheyenne loves to storm out of interviews and drive her collaborators to nervous breakdowns. She makes an excellent foil for Luke Kirby's Jack, who is perpetually working through a sleep deficit and juggling 10 managerial tasks at once. 

Up-and-coming choreographer Tobias is a more sensitive soul, but that doesn't make him any less annoying. Utterly detached from reality, he alienates dancers with his incomprehensible creative demands and has an unfortunate habit of wandering out of the room mid-conversation. His introduction to Paris involves getting lost on the way to the theater (Jack advises Geneviève to track his phone) and then locking himself in his own bathroom, requiring a rescue operation from Geneviève's assistant manager. His hapless nature makes him exasperatingly adorable, something we can enjoy from a blissful distance because we don't have to interact with him in real life. 

7.0

Étoile

at Prime Video

Like

• It offers an old-school mix of romantic subplots and light workplace comedy
• Trained ballet dancers add authenticity to the main cast
• Lou de Laâge and Gideon Glick are great as two very different types of obnoxious artistic genius
• The creative team harnesses years of experience with snappy screwball dialogue

Dislike

• Some of the punchlines can be a little too obvious
• The show's snide attitude to political activism feels tiresome and regressive

Joining these two dyed-in-the-wool weirdos, Étoile introduces a more relatable lead in the form of Mishi Duplessis (Taïs Vinolo), a young dancer who trained in France but flourished in New York, and is now highly displeased about having to return "home" as part of the exchange. Her mother is France's publicity-conscious Minister for Culture, giving Mishi an unwanted reputation as a nepo baby and setting the scene for plenty of mother/daughter conflict — a recurring theme for Sherman-Palladino.

Along with Ivan du Pontavice (who plays Gabin, a Parisian bad-boy danseur), Vinolo is one of several cast members who started out as professional dancers — an essential factor in a show that spends so much time on stage and in the rehearsal room. In an impressive feat of casting, they managed to find multiple performers who can juggle snappy dialogue in two languages and dance at a convincing level. Lou de Laâge is the most eye-opening in this regard, because her ballet background was more of a childhood hobby than a professional calling. She simultaneously had to do rigorous physical training and gain fluency in English to play Cheyenne: a challenge that paid off because she's easily the show's breakout star. Despite a tone-deaf introduction that pokes fun at Cheyenne's side gig as an ecological activist (It's 2025! Everyone cares about the environment!), she soon becomes Étoile's defining character, bringing emotional depth to an over-the-top diva persona. 

Averaging at least one screaming argument per episode, Cheyenne perceives ballet as a matter of life-and-death importance. As we get sucked into her world, we begin to understand where she's coming from. Jack finds himself in a similar boat, awed by Cheyenne's talent while tearing out his hair over her disruptive antics. 

Jack and Geneviève have both dedicated their lives to the arts, but their jobs put them in an awkward position, acting as go-betweens between the creative and pragmatic halves of the business. Thanks to the international exchange, they're now united in a shared hatred of their billionaire sponsor, Crispin Shamblee (Simon Callow), who hides his villainy behind a buffoonish exterior. He's a monster who made his money from weapons and oil wells, but in keeping with the show's effervescent tone, it's all played for laughs. If anything, the mere presence of a wealthy benefactor — evil or otherwise — feels like a rose-tinted fantasy. Right now, the oligarch class seems hell bent on tearing down the arts, not funding them like a 21st century Carnegie.

Following the short-lived ABC series Bunheads, this is the Palladinos' second foray into the world of ballet, a lifelong passion that might well have been Amy Sherman-Pallidino's actual career, if she hadn't landed a job writing for Roseanne in the 1990s. That enthusiasm shines through, as Étoile lovingly satirizes the kind of big personalities you find in this industry and drops in-jokes about iconic titles like The Nutcracker — an annual chore whose Christmas ticket sales keep many ballet companies afloat. The frequent dance sequences benefit from the cast's extensive training, although like any drama about fictional artistic genius, you have to suspend your disbelief about whether the original material (for instance, Tobias' choreography) is sincerely groundbreaking or just, you know, fine. 

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Already renewed for a second season, Étoile's easy watchability exemplifies how the Palladinos have attracted such a loyal audience over the years. Granted, this show isn't working with notably fresh ideas — particularly when covering the clash between free-spirited artists and their more sensible colleagues. As a fan of the brilliant Shakespearean theater dramedy Slings & Arrows, there were moments when I wished Étoile dug a little deeper or aimed for less obvious punchlines. But when it works, it works.

These showrunners know how to set up a satisfyingly messy romance, and how to introduce a deep friendship with years of backstory beneath the surface — the best example here being Jack's long-established partnership with his artistic director, Nicholas (David Haig), an aging former dancer with a plethora of health issues and scandalous anecdotes.

Ballet fans will watch Étoile for its inside perspective on the dance world, but this kind of show lives and dies on its ability to win over newcomers. In the same way that Ted Lasso appeals to soccer agnostics, I think Étoile sticks the landing. You can't help but appreciate its dedication to ballet culture, making the case that all the pain and melodrama and quixotic perfectionism is, deep down, genuinely worth the effort. 

Premieres: Thursday, April 24 on Prime Video, all eight episodes
Who's in it: Luke Kirby, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou de Laâge, Gideon Glick, Taïs Vinolo, Simon Callow, David Haig
Who's behind it: Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (creators and showrunners)
For fans of: Mozart in the Jungle, Slings & Arrows, Sports Night, Bunheads
How many episodes we watched: 8 of 8