TheatreZone Founders On Broadway For Gwen Verdon: I'm Not Lola Tribute

TheatreZone Founders on Broadway for Gwen Verdon: I'm Not Lola Tribute

History, legacy and life of Broadway legend fêted by theatre cognoscente  

Gwen Verdon, one of Broadway's biggest stars during its golden era and beyond, and winner of four Tony Awards, was recently honored by the Dancers Over 40 organization in New York at the star-studded tribute "Gwen Verdon: I'm not Lola."

The evening was the latest of Dancers Over 40's panel series that has included tributes to Bob Fosse, Jack Cole, Michael Kidd, Gower Champion, Peter Gennaro, Michael Bennett and Agnes De Mille.

More than 100 industry insiders attended the special event including TheatreZone board member and evening host Paul Phillips (stage manager for Gwen Verdon on Sweet Charity and Chicago and life long companion of Ms. Verdon) TheatreZone Artistic Director Mark Danni, TheatreZone co-founder choreographer, actress, dancer Karen Molnar and Nicole Fosse, daughter of Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse.

Also present were former TheatreZone performers Lee Roy Reams (host), actress Donna McKechnie (guest speaker, Mavis in TheatreZone's Stepping Out), Jack Lee (Sweet Charity conductor and music supervisor for TheatreZone's production of High Spirits), and actress Susan Hartley (Ruth in TheatreZone's High Spirits). Candy Brown, Pippin and Chicago dancer and Gwen Verdon's Sweet Charity understudy and Tony award winning star of No, No, Nanette Helen Gallagher also joined the festivities.

With moderators Harvey Evans and Lee Roy Reams, featuring Marge Champion and Paul Phillips, Act I highlighted scenes from Ms. Verdon's work in On the Riviera, David and Bathsheba, The Merry Widow, Meet Me After the Show, The I Don't Care Girl, The Ed Sullivan Show (Mexican Breakfast), The PDS Awards and Damn Yankees.

Act II featured actress Donna McKenchie, Rachelle Rak and Tony Stevens with scenes from Redhead, New Girl in Town, Captain Kangaroo, The Howard Cosell Variety Show, The Dinah Shore Show, Ed Sullivan Show, The Gary Moore Show, CUNY and Damn Yankees.

All panelists worked closely and personally with Gwen Verdon or knew her for many years. Born Gwenyth Evelyn Verdon in Culver City, CA, Gwen Verdon began her career in musical theatre as a 3-year-old in dance classes where she studied ballet, tap, jazz, ballroom, flamenco, Balinese and juggling. At age 11, she appeared in the 1936 movie The King Steps Out and after eloping with reporter James Heneghan in 1942; Ms. Verdon began her career as assistant to Jack Cole at Twentieth Century Fox.

Her breakthrough came in 1953 when Michael Kidd cast her in a featured role in Can-Can, where her opening night Garden of Eden performance made theatrical history. Ms. Verdon received a pay raise and her first Tony Award for her triumphant performance.

In 1955, she starred in Damn Yankees and will forever be identified with her role as the vampish Lola, a role that won her second Tony Award and the lead in the movie version. Another Tony Award came when Ms. Verdon played Anna Christie in the 1957 musical New Girl in Town, followed by Redhead (1959 - her fourth Tony). In 1966, Ms. Verdon appeared as Charity in Sweet Charity, another triumph directed by Bob Fosse, whom she married in 1960.

Although eventually estranged, Ms. Verdon and Fosse continued to collaborate on projects such as Chicago (1975) in which she originated the role of murderess Roxie Hart. After that, Ms. Verdon concentrated on film acting, appearing in many movies including The Cotton Club, Cocoon, Cocoon: The Return, Alice, and Marvin's Room.

In 2000, at the age of 75, Gwen Verdon died in her sleep of a heart attack at the home of her daughter Nicole in Woodstock, VT. As befitting Broadway's ultimate gypsy, the marquee lights on Broadway were dimmed in her memory.

The evening event was videotaped and donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Collection at Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

Dancers Over 40, inc., was created as a not-for-profit organization to provide a community of support in response to the needs of mature dancers, choreographers and related artists. The group's goals include seeking educational opportunities, presenting seminars and panel discussions and social events geared to topics relevant to mature dancers, whose present-day concerns are focused on their ability to continue to live and work in a creative environment.

Operating under the guidelines of the Actors' Equity Association and small professional theatres contracts, TheatreZone is in residence and performs in the intimate 250-seat G&L Theatre housed on the magnificent campus of The Community School of Naples, one block north of Pine Ridge Road at 13275 Livingston Road.

Upcoming Season 7 productions include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Dec. 1-11, 2011); Company (Jan. 5-15, 2012); Little Women (March 8-18, 2012) and The Boyfriend (May 3-13, 2012).

Season 7 subscriber series (four shows) costs $182; a mini series (3 shows) costs $144, and individual seats costs $43 - $48 plus a $2 per ticket. Group rates (more than 10) are also available.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call TheaterZone at 1-888-ZONE-FLA , 1-888-966-3352 or purchase online at: www.theatrezone-florida.com.

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