Cabaret

[BagelOnAPlate]

In the below clip from The Dick Cavett Show that aired the month that Cabaret was released, Liza Minnelli sings "Maybe This Time" to rousing applause from the studio audience.
She tells Dick Cavett that the song was written for her by John Kander and Fred Ebb. However, according to Kaye Ballard, Fred Ebb told her that the song was written for her after she'd asked him to write a new song for her called "Maybe Next Time I'll Be Lucky" when the Kander and Ebb song "My Coloring Book" that she brought to the producers of Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall TV series was given to Sandy Stewart to sing on the show instead of to Kaye Ballard, who sang it originally at the Bon Soir might club in Greenwich Village. Sandy Stewart's single recording of "My Coloring Book" went on to chart on the top 20.
Both Kaye Ballard's and Liza Minnelli's recordings of "Maybe This Time" were released in October 1964. The song was the B-side of Kaye Ballard single "I Want You to Be the First To Know" from Roulette Records. It was also a track on Liza Minnelli's album Liza! Liza! from Capitol Records.

After the performance of "Maybe This Time" on The Dick Cavett Show, Liza talks about the shooting of Cabaret in Germany. She mentions that her wardrobe for the movie consisted mostly of her own clothes and Gwen Verdon's. This "fun fact" is also covered on the first episode of the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon called "Life is a Cabaret." This is one of the many contributions of Gwen Verdon to the making of Cabaret covered in the series.
When Bob Fosse won the Best Director Oscar for Cabaret, one of the people he thanked was "a dear friend of mine by the name of Gwen Verdon."
Fosse and Verdon were husband and wife at the time he won his Oscar. In fact, the two never divorced during Fosse's lifetime even though they both went on to long-term relationships with other people.

[txfilmfan]

In the below clip from The Dick Cavett Show that aired the month that Cabaret was released, Liza Minnelli sings "Maybe This Time" to rousing applause from the studio audience.
She tells Dick Cavett that the song was written for her by John Kander and Fred Ebb. However, according to Kaye Ballard, Fred Ebb told her that the song was written for her after she'd asked him to write a new song for her called "Maybe Next Time I'll Be Lucky" when the Kander and Ebb song "My Coloring Book" that she brought to the producers of Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall TV series was given to Sandy Stewart to sing on the show instead of to Kaye Ballard, who sang it originally at the Bon Soir might club in Greenwich Village. Sandy Stewart's single recording of "My Coloring Book" went on to chart on the top 20.
Both Kaye Ballard's and Liza Minnelli's recordings of "Maybe This Time" were released in October 1964. The song was the B-side of Kaye Ballard single "I Want You to Be the First To Know" from Roulette Records. It was also a track on Liza Minnelli's album Liza! Liza! from Capitol Records.

After the performance of "Maybe This Time" on The Dick Cavett Show, Liza talks about the shooting of Cabaret in Germany. She mentions that her wardrobe for the movie consisted mostly of her own clothes and Gwen Verdon's. This "fun fact" is also covered on the first episode of the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon called "Life is a Cabaret." This is one of the many contributions of Gwen Verdon to the making of Cabaret covered in the series.
When Bob Fosse won the Best Director Oscar for Cabaret, one of the people he thanked was "a dear friend of mine by the name of Gwen Verdon."
Fosse and Verdon were husband and wife at the time he won his Oscar. In fact, the two never divorced during Fosse's lifetime even though they both went on to long-term relationships with other people.

Coincidentally, yesterday I was leafing through a book I have entitled "Broadway Musicals" by Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik. I ran across a page on Kaye Ballard (adjacent to the entry on the musical Carnival), and their account agrees with this - that Kaye Ballard asked Kander & Ebb to write the song for her nightclub act. Their write-up also says she had worked on a bio-musical about Fanny Brice (her idol), but we know another team crossed that goal line first.

I always wonder whether Fosse would have been as well known as he is without Gwen Verdon, and how much of the "Fosse style" in choreography is really hers (and Jack Cole's).

[Sue Sue Applegate]

txfilmfan, I always wondered that, too. Verdon’s prolific output of creativity is often dismissed in light of Fosse. Her contributions to film are consistent with his in some respects, and her input on the musical New Girl in Town is not as well known as it should be.

[Swithin]

Gwen Verdon, along with Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, was one of the First Ladies of the Musical Theater. In addition to Damn Yankees (in which she thankfully got to reprise her role on film), Verdon starred (as Sue Sue points out) in New Girl in Town (based on O'Neill's Anna Christie); Redhead; Sweet Charity; and Chicago. An early Broadway role which helped make Verdon a star was as Claudine in Can-Can.

Gwen Verdon won four Tony Awards.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

And one of those Tony’s tied with… Thelma Ritter.


With Robert Preston, Helen Hayes, and Ralph Bellamy….

[Swithin]

Thelma Ritter has one of the shows best songs in New Girl in Town (which she shares with two other ladies):

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Yes! “Flings!”

[BagelOnAPlate]

After the performance of "Maybe This Time" on The Dick Cavett Show, Liza talks about the shooting of Cabaret in Germany. She mentions that her wardrobe for the movie consisted mostly of her own clothes and Gwen Verdon's. This "fun fact" is also covered on the first episode of the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon called "Life is a Cabaret." This is one of the many contributions of Gwen Verdon to the making of Cabaret covered in the series.
When Bob Fosse won the Best Director Oscar for Cabaret, one of the people he thanked was "a dear friend of mine by the name of Gwen Verdon."
Fosse and Verdon were husband and wife at the time he won his Oscar. In fact, the two never divorced during Fosse's lifetime even though they both went on to long-term relationships with other people.

I always wonder whether Fosse would have been as well known as he is without Gwen Verdon, and how much of the "Fosse style" in choreography is really hers (and Jack Cole's).

The Fosse/Verdon limited series highlighted Gwen Verdon's collaboration with Bob Fosse on multiple projects (including Cabaret) and made an argument that she deserved to be credited in many instances where Fosse was officially given sole credit.

[BagelOnAPlate]

Gwen Verdon, along with Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, was one of the First Ladies of the Musical Theater. In addition to Damn Yankees (in which she thankfully got to reprise her role on film), Verdon starred (as Sue Sue points out) in New Girl in Town (based on O'Neill's Anna Christie); Redhead; Sweet Charity; and Chicago. An early Broadway role which helped make Verdon a star was as Claudine in Can-Can.

Gwen Verdon won four Tony Awards.

Gwen Verdon's breakthrough in Can-Can is covered in the third episode of the Fosse/Verdon limited series ("Me and My Baby").

I like the movie Sweet Charity, but I wish that Gwen Verdon had been allowed to reprise her Broadway role in the movie adaptation.

Gwen Verdon performed the "If My Friends Could See Me Now" number from Sweet Charity on The Ed Sullivan Show during the play's Broadway run. I'm so glad this performance was recorded for posterity! I wish there was a quality recording of the entire show.