good things to do. She also objected to his athletic dancing style which she found more jumping around rather than emotionally based, an indication of the different dance backgrounds the dancers had come from. Verdon felt that she had to act to do Jack Cole’s dances because in order to be a good dancer, you had to know how to act. She felt that dancing was the expression of a life and emotions. Verdon also suggested to Kidd that she do something like Ruth St. Denis for “The Garden of Eden Ballet,” beginning when Eve was supposed to be innocent. This idea was based on a dance her mother had done with St. Denis, a “hell-bent-for-beauty”–type dance that was very Isadora Duncan-ish. However, Eve’s costume, which gave the impression that Verdon was nude with a few strategically placed fig leaves, presented her as more sexy than innocent. Her cold relationship with Kidd was observed by Cy Feuer who thought that she didn’t like him because he was a lesser talent than her present Svengali, Jack Cole. She did what Kidd told her to do but without showing any sign of respect or real appreciation. Verdon would later change her opinion of him when she worked with Fosse who set her straight. Fosse, claimed that Kidd had transformed her life with his choreography and he even forced her to apologize for the way she had treated him.
It is said that Verdon’s part was cut down to keep the peace since it was felt that she outshone the show’s star, Lilo. Verdon knew just enough French to understand Lilo’s husband who was also her manager when he complained that she was in too many scenes. Her dialogue was cut, some say, until she had none left. Other sources claimed that Verdon was left with only eight lines. Verdon remembers that when the show opened, her only lines were “Oh, Boris!” which she said eight times, and “What’s on the menu?” Her numbers were reduced from seven to four and she only had two featured dances. Verdon said that they took her out of one dance before it ended and had Lilo come on. In the “Garden of Eden” number, she finished upstage and the star came out dressed like a peacock. Lilo also had Verdon offstage at the end of three of her dances so that there would be no applause, and Verdon’s stage name of “Gwenyth” was truncated to “Gwen” to take up less room on the theater marquee. Even her one song, the duet with Boris, initially had her vocal supplemented by seven others before she proved to Cole Porter that she could sing.
Shelah Hackett, who was one of the chorus dancers (and would later marry Kidd), reported that Verdon had threatened to leave the show in tryouts because of the reduction of her part. In his book on Cole Porter, William McBrien reports that at one point in the staging she was asked to duck behind a piece of furniture in order to make room for Lilo, something that Verdon refused to do. She gave her notice and arranged to leave after a four-week run. The producers supposedly accepted it and said she could leave once they had found a replacement. When the show came to New York, Verdon was looking forward only to getting out, but the reception she received changed the producer’s minds.
Tryouts were held in Philadelphia for six weeks before the show opened on May 7 at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre. In the New York Times Brooks Atkinson wrote that the spectacular dancing was the best thing in the show. He said that Verdon led the dancing “with impudence, recklessness and humor,” and that her spinning and grinning portrait of Eve in the “Garden of Eden Ballet” was brilliant. In a later article on the show, Atkinson wrote that Verdon’s “dancing and comic acting capture the spirit of festivity admirably. What she has to do is pertinent and uproarious.”
Verdon reportedly made no great impression with the “Quadrille” and “Garden of Eden Ballet” in the tryouts, and presumably not on opening night. But after “The Apaches,” the theater rocked
It is said that Verdon’s part was cut down to keep the peace since it was felt that she outshone the show’s star, Lilo. Verdon knew just enough French to understand Lilo’s husband who was also her manager when he complained that she was in too many scenes. Her dialogue was cut, some say, until she had none left. Other sources claimed that Verdon was left with only eight lines. Verdon remembers that when the show opened, her only lines were “Oh, Boris!” which she said eight times, and “What’s on the menu?” Her numbers were reduced from seven to four and she only had two featured dances. Verdon said that they took her out of one dance before it ended and had Lilo come on. In the “Garden of Eden” number, she finished upstage and the star came out dressed like a peacock. Lilo also had Verdon offstage at the end of three of her dances so that there would be no applause, and Verdon’s stage name of “Gwenyth” was truncated to “Gwen” to take up less room on the theater marquee. Even her one song, the duet with Boris, initially had her vocal supplemented by seven others before she proved to Cole Porter that she could sing.
Shelah Hackett, who was one of the chorus dancers (and would later marry Kidd), reported that Verdon had threatened to leave the show in tryouts because of the reduction of her part. In his book on Cole Porter, William McBrien reports that at one point in the staging she was asked to duck behind a piece of furniture in order to make room for Lilo, something that Verdon refused to do. She gave her notice and arranged to leave after a four-week run. The producers supposedly accepted it and said she could leave once they had found a replacement. When the show came to New York, Verdon was looking forward only to getting out, but the reception she received changed the producer’s minds.
Tryouts were held in Philadelphia for six weeks before the show opened on May 7 at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre. In the New York Times Brooks Atkinson wrote that the spectacular dancing was the best thing in the show. He said that Verdon led the dancing “with impudence, recklessness and humor,” and that her spinning and grinning portrait of Eve in the “Garden of Eden Ballet” was brilliant. In a later article on the show, Atkinson wrote that Verdon’s “dancing and comic acting capture the spirit of festivity admirably. What she has to do is pertinent and uproarious.”
Verdon reportedly made no great impression with the “Quadrille” and “Garden of Eden Ballet” in the tryouts, and presumably not on opening night. But after “The Apaches,” the theater rocked
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