Gwen Verdon "a second-tier hoofer"? She is universally regarded as one of the four or five greatest dancers in the musical's
history.
The problem here is that the piece is driven by politics rather than by arts criticism. This writer needs to discredit the
#MeToo movement, so everything he says is led by a narrative. You could argue that the narrative itself is right or
wrong, but it doesn't apply to Verdon, especially given the extraordinarily collaborative relationship she and Fosse
maintained.
His infidelities eventually did lead her to slip away from what had become a sham marriage--but she did not divorce
him, and they remained very, very close. You cannot willingly walk away from the partner who understands you
as deeply as Fosse did Verdon (and Verdon did Fosse), and that is what matters, not this ridiculous attempt to
reinvent the saga of these two artists by trying to unfasten one of them from her own history. |
