BEBE Neuwirth, Ben Vereen, Chita Rivera and songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb were among the many Broadway celebrities who spoke and performed at a memorial service for Gwen Verdon yesterday at the Broadhurst Theater.
Rivera, who co-starred with Verdon in the original production of “Chicago,” said she enjoyed “kicking up my heels with Gwen and having a ball being naughty and bad and sometimes just plain unprofessional.”
Verdon, who died last October at the age of 75, also starred on Broadway in “Sweet Charity,” “Can-Can,” “Damn Yankees” and “The Pajama Game.” She was often directed by her husband, the late Bob Fosse.
“Gwen believed, as Bob did, that every great dancer was a great actor,” Herb Gardner, who wrote the book to “Chicago,” said in a letter that was read by lighting designer Jules Fisher. “‘Watch him move,’ she’d say to Bob. ‘He knows the joke.’ Clearly, so did Gwen . . . She knew the joke, and the joke was life.”