Would Gwen Verdon have been up to playing Mrs. Lovett at that point in her life? Did Verdon do any stage work at all after she left CHICAGO? Though Mrs. Lovett would be easy movement show for a virtuoso like her, I wonder if she could have handled the singing. The most recent Fosse bio from a couple of years ago points out that a lifetime of smoking really took its toll on Verdon's voice and that people were pointing that out even by the midpoint in her career.
For what it's worth, that bio also points out that the smoking was even taking its toll on her dancing, but I imagine that Verdon's worst day dancing was probably miles above what mere mortals could achieve on their best days. |
