Gwen Verdon: A Life on Stage and Screen (32 page)

In April 1985, Verdon and Chita Rivera reunited at the Music Hall in Tarrytown to perform “Nowadays” from
Chicago
. They wore the red silk Halston pajamas designed for them and Liza Minnelli when they appeared in the Lincoln Center tribute to John Kander and Fred Ebb. Rivera described the number for the show with Verdon, saying that they didn’t do cartwheels. They did a little bit of walking and a little bit of singing, but there was a lot of style. After the pair agreed to perform the number together, Verdon asked that a message be sent to Rivera: ‘‘Tell her my red costume fits.’’ Rivera commented that that she thought that Verdon was the best of the best and she kept telling her that they should put on their rhinestones and go to Vegas, but Verdon wouldn’t do it. Rivera added that sharing the stage with her was a memory that would stay with her for the rest of her life. “Any time she wants to do anything, it’ll be all right with me. I’ll be ready—I’ll even get the top hat and the cane.’’ The number was the grand finale of a performance by the American Dance Machine. The evening covered a multiplicity of benefits: for the Theatre League of Westchester, the Westchester Lighthouse and the American Dance Machine itself. It was also the centennial celebration of the Music Hall.

In the
New York Times
, Alvin Klein reported that Verdon now divided her professional time between performing—only in non-musical roles, mostly ‘‘cameo’’ appearances in films and on television—and passing on her pointers about style and showmanship to individual performers and entire companies. Recently she’d trained Mikhail Baryshnikov in jazz dancing and advised the Peking Ballet about American musical comedy technique. Verdon commented that the need was fulfilled: “It’s more exciting than doing eight shows a week.” She had given up jumping and splits and was on her way to supervising the staging of a new touring company of the musical
Dancin
.’

Fosse joined Verdon in June 1985 to put the finishing touches on the
Sweet Charity
revival. At a technical run-through, dancer Jane Lanier observed how Verdon seemed to experience it as Charity. She was practically dancing the part in her seat and going through everything that Charity was going through. Fosse was unhappy, claiming that director John had missed the material’s innermost core. After the first act and a break for lunch, Fosse asked to see the show again from the top and then gave notes. His credit as production supervisor was changed to director as Bowab left. Fosse also revised Verdon’s work with Allen. He pronounced that what they had done with “If My Friends Could See Me Now” was awful. Verdon responded defensively that she had not choreographed it, and Fosse blamed himself more than her since she had respectfully restaged his original work. His taste and technique had developed in 20 years and the revival allowed him the opportunity to rework some of the material. Fosse was also aware that Allen lacked Verdon’s qualities, and he had to perform the number for her to show her how he wanted it. The show opened on July 16, 1985, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center and ran till August 31.

Verdon made the first of four appearances on the CBS crime action adventure series
Magnum, P.I.
which was filmed in Hawaii with Tom Selleck as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum. The episode “Going Home” (October 31, 1985) was directed by Harry Harris and had a teleplay by Chris Abbot-Fish from a story by Gene Donalds. In it, Magnum returns home to Tidewater, Virginia, after an absence of fifteen years for the funeral of his grandfather (played by Selleck’s real life father, Bob). His return also brings up the resentment he has towards his stepfather Frank Peterson (David Huddleston). Verdon plays the role of Katherine Peterson, Magnum’s mother. The character had previously been spoken of in the episode “Try to Remember” and was then named Martha. She was first seen in the episode entitled “Home from the Sea,” named Katherine and played by Susan Blanchard. After “Going Home,” Verdon would continue to play the character in the series.

In the episode she is in twelve scenes but only has one change of wardrobe. For the funeral Katherine wears a blue suit, and later changes the jacket for a brown one, and then she wears a red and purple skirt with red jacket. Verdon’s hair looks more blonde than red here, and though her eyes are watery at the funeral we don’t see tears. Her voice is heard before she is seen, as Magnum watches black-and-white home movies of his grandfather with a younger actress playing Katherine and a younger actor playing Magnum. Verdon gives a good performance as Katherine and her best sustained moment is perhaps the monologue she has talking about Frank’s flying.

The first of Verdon’s three guest appearances on the ABC family comedy
Webster
was “Hello, I Must Be Going,” broadcast on January 1, 1986. The show, filmed in Hollywood, was set in Chicago where the title character (Emmanuel Lewis) was a five-year-old black boy adopted by white retired football player George Papadapolis (Alex Karras) and his wife Katherine (Susan Clark). The episode was written by Mike Scott and Daryl G. Nickens and directed by Joel Zwick. In it Verdon plays Charlotte, Katherine’s globe-trotting, much-married aunt, who pays a surprise visit and is set up by matchmaking Webster with George’s father Papa Papadapolis (Jack Kruschen).

This romance between elder characters includes physical attraction but not the expected happy ending, since Papa as a homebody is ultimately incompatible with the restless traveler Charlotte. Additionally her sudden disappearance from the story via a note she leaves is rationalized by the idea that coming and going without any warning is part of her style. The teleplay’s level of wit is demonstrated with Charlotte’s comment about the postal service in India: “And after you lick the stamp there’s always that lingering taste of curry.”

Verdon is given five different outfits which include a full-length black fur coat and fur piece, long skirts and high boots and a sparkly silver blouse. She sings part of the song “Tenderly” with Kruschen and does a slow-dance with him. Her naturalistic performance stands in contrast to the hand-gesturing amateurism of the regulars. Zwick’s staging incorporates the cliché of Webster crushed between Charlotte and Papa as they advance to each other.

The star next made a guest appearance on the CBS action-crime drama
The Equalizer
which was filmed in New York. In “Unnatural Causes” ( February 12, 1986), Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) is a retired British intelligence agent turned private detective who helps threatened clients to equalize the odds against them. The episode had a teleplay by Susan Woollen, Coleman Luck and Scott Shepherd, based on a story by Woollen, and was directed by Alan Metzger. Verdon was in a subplot as Kelly Sterling, a retired operative and now owner of the K-S Associates Animated Displays Company that makes window displays for department stores. She is called to assist McCall in the case of a serial killer named Mr. Goodheart (Kevin Geer) who targets lonely middle-aged single women responding to a Lonely Hearts newspaper advertisement. McCall is delayed getting to Kelly’s warehouse where she has invited the killer to visit her. McCall’s attention is taken by the actress and call girl Sally Ann Carter (Kim Delaney) who is being beaten by the pimp Anza Serrato (Bobby DiCicco).

Verdon appears in three scenes, and only gets to wear two different outfits. The first is a fur coat and underneath a brown-and black-patterned high-necked sweater with black skirt and boots and gold waist-band. The second is a red high-necked sweater with scarf and brown skirt and boots. Kelly gets a laugh leaving the phone message for McCall: “Mr. Goodheart is showing up at eight o’clock. I sure as hell hope you are too.” It is a shock to see Verdon the victim of violence as Kelly, struck by Mr. Goodheart when McCall arrives. It leaves her with a head wound.

She returned to
Webster
in the episode “There Goes the Bride” (March 14, 1986). Like her previous episode, this one was written by Mike Scott and Daryl G. Nickens and directed by Joel Zwick. In it Aunt Charlotte visits to get married (for the sixth time) to a 28-year-old Pamplona poet named Ramon Fernandez Garcia Guzman (she calls him Raul). Katherine (Susan Clark) and George (Alex Karras) offer to have the wedding in their home. Charlotte is nervous because she has previously always eloped. The episode’s title prefigures the fate of Charlotte, but this is prefigured by her behavior in her previous episode “Hello, I Must Be Going.”

The idea that Raul is a younger man for Charlotte prefigures that the wedding will not take place. It also underlines the idea of her as a desperate older wealthy woman chasing an unsuitable love interest and perhaps being exploited by an opportunist, although Raul is a cipher because he never appears in the episode. The fact that Charlotte runs out on the planned wedding to elope in Bora Bora reverses the expectation that she also sees Raul as an opportunist, although her leaving a note rather than telling Katherine about her leaving seems cruel. This cruelty is lessened when Charlotte leaves the wedding gown and encourages her niece to use it for the formal wedding that she never had.

The teleplay also features a sly comment on Verdon as a dancer. Charlotte asks to dance with Webster (Emmanuel Lewis) at the proposed wedding and he fears that she will not be able to keep up with his dancing, which he demonstrates. After she sees his dance, Charlotte acknowledges that he is right, calling him “hot stuff,” although the boy’s moves are nothing special. Perhaps her admission is meant to not insult Webster, but it still reads as an insult to Verdon as a former dancer. The teleplay has some amusing lines. Katherine tells Charlotte that it isn’t every day that she gets married, and Charlotte replies, “It just seems that way.” When it is learned that the organist for the wedding is dead, Katherine cries that he signed a contract, and Charlotte replies, “I think he found a loophole.” Charlotte tells Webster about Raul when she says, “Katherine wants him to wear a tuxedo. It took me two hours to convince him to wear shoes.”

Verdon wears four different outfits and a wedding dress, although unlike the previous episode, the time and days passed for her stay are not indicated. Charlotte’s wardrobe (including a fur hat and a fur piece) demonstrates the idea that she is a wealthy woman. The white wedding dress provides for a laugh line when she tells Katherine, “I really feel funny wearing white. My past screams red.” In this episode Verdon’s performance incorporates the same excessive hand-gesturing as the regulars, which lessens her professionalism. She gets a nice moment when Charlotte tells Webster that she doesn’t like everyone making a fuss over her wedding, and smiles when she adds, “I’m the one who likes to make the fuss.” Charlotte also gets a laugh over her wedding gown when she tells Webster to wait for her “while I ditch this lace.”

It was rumored that Verdon took over the technical direction of
Big Deal
temporarily when Fosse was ill with a virus. The show had previews from April 1, 1986, and opened on April 10. It was said that she was able to do this since she was in New York supervising the rehearsals of the
Sweet Charity
revival at the Minskoff Theatre which was having previews from April 15. On April 20, Verdon attended the Second Annual Mr. Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater which honoured Fosse at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. For the event she wore a black satin dress with sheer overlay top, lace sleeves and black choker.

Sweet Charity
opened on April 27, 1986, and ran till March 15, 1987. Frank Rich of the
Times
wrote of Debbie Allen that “if she somewhat lacks the vulnerability of the original Charity, Gwen Verdon, she is almost eerie in her recreation of her predecessor’s Chaplinesque gait and sparkling gymnastics.” The show won Tony Awards for Best Revival, Michael Rupert for Best Featured Actor, Bebe Neuwirth for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and Patricia Zipprodt for Best Costume Design. Allen was nominated for the Best Actress in a Musical. Neuwirth, who played Nickie, commented that she thought Verdon was a genius. For “Hey Big Spender” she advised the dances to use the silences in the number to show that they were just not standing. She said “Put it in neutral and rev!”

Interviewed by Thomas Morgan in the
Times
(May 28, 1986), Allen said that she was coached by Verdon in a Los Angeles studio for a West Coast run of the show about a year ago, and that dancing with her was like playing a duet with Miles Davis: ‘‘It’s an artistic high.’’ Allen admitted that Verdon was real tough, but tough with a soft edge, and she shared stage pointers and offered the advice of someone who had been there before. Since Charity is in every scene but two, Allen was reminded that the show was all night long. Verdon told her where she could rest in numbers, and since there were only a couple of places where she could do that, she had better take advantage of them. Allen also said that Verdon gave her space but never gave her line readings.

The star was also interviewed for the article. Verdon said that when Fosse decided to revive the musical, she had only agreed to help him find former dancers who remembered it. She soon discovered that she remembered the dances better than anyone else. Verdon and her assistants taught the dance routines, and Fosse directed the scenes in Los Angeles. She said that she had memories about the show once she saw Allen doing it but she didn’t have to remember it any more because it was there. It was terrific for her to see the show because Verdon never saw it when she was in it and she never knew how she looked doing it. She said Allen was doing everything she ever did. The only thing that might look different is that the movement on her (Verdon) may have looked more balletic, and it looked more athletic on Allen, but that may have been because Allen was younger than Verdon was when she did it. She said of Allen that she learned so fast that she knew it was Allen’s role the minute they started working together.

Verdon made a guest appearance on the short-lived NBC television comedy
All Is Forgiven
in the episode “I Can’t Say No” (May 29, 1986). It was written by Ian Praiser and Howard Abbott Gewirtz and directed by Jeff Chambers. The show was centered on New Yorker Paula Russell (Bess Armstrong), the newly appointed producer of the soap opera
All Is Forgiven
. In the episode Verdon played Bonita Harrell, an actress and former movie star guest starring on the show, and also the ex-girlfriend of the show’s director Wendell (Bill Wiley). She is shown to be manipulative and described as “poison” and an “evil woman” which gives her an edge. The writers also show that Bonita retains her sexual allure to Wendell, despite his awareness of her mistreatment of him, and it’s always good to see a mature woman presented as a sexual being.