Showtune Sunday: Gwen Verdon performs “Whatever Lola Wants” and more in “Damn Yankees”

One of Broadway’s biggest stars during its “golden” era and beyond, Gwen Verdon was an actress and dancer who won four Tony awards for her musical comedy performances and was once married to Bob Fosse.

She and Fosse first worked together on the Broadway production of Damn Yankees in which she  played the vampish Lola who sells her soul to The Devil to be a beauty. The musical ran for 1019 performances. Vernon won her second Tony and went to Hollywood to repeat her role in this 1958 movie version.

In those days, Hollywood was often replacing Broadway stars with bigger movie star names if a musical was made into a feature film. But, thankfully, this was an exception.