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Gwen
Verdon (1925-2000) is remembered best as Bob Fosse's
wife and muse. Her big break came in 1953 with Cole
Porter's Can-Can, for which she won a Tony Award.
She stole the show from star Lilo, who later said, "I called it
the Battle of Verdon!" In 1954, Verdon went to play the
siren Lola in Damn Yankees, dancing amazing Fosse
choreography and making a sensation with "Whatever Lola Wants
(Lola Gets)" and winner her second Tony. In 1957, Fosse
spear-headed New Girl in Town (a musicalization of Eugene
O'Neill's Anna Christie), earning Verdon her third Tony Award
(which she shared with Thelma Ritter). As Englishwoman Essie
Whimple, Verdon played a possible victim of Jack the Ripper in Redhead
(1959), which was also choreographed by Fosse, whom Verdon married in
1960. After giving birth to daughter Nichole Providence Fosse in
March of 1963, she returned to the stage in 1966, giving one of the
most painfully honest performances of her career. Under Fosse's
direction and choreography, with a book by Neil Simon, a score by Cy
Coleman and Dorothy Fields, and inspired by a Fellini film, Sweet
Charity re-opened the Palace on January 29th, 1966. As
Charity Hope Valentine, Verdon stopped the show nightly with such hits
as "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "There's Gotta
Be Something Better Than This!" Fosse and Verdon separated
in 1971 due to Fosse's many infidelities, but reunited in 1975 when
Verdon played Roxie Hart in the original Broadway production of John
Kander and Fred Ebb's Chicago, opposite Chita
Rivera's Velma Kelly, Jerry Orbach's Billy Flynn, and Barney
Martin's Amos Hart. This was Verdon's last stage appearance, and
she died on October 18th, 2000. |
