Gwen Verdon

Gwen Verdon, the brilliant Broadway dancer who won four Tony Awards within six years in the 1950s, died of natural causes at her daughter's home in Woodstock, Vt., Tuesday evening. She was 75. Verdon was best known for her work with the late choreographer Bob Fosse, who also became her husband. In recent years, she no longer danced publicly, but she kept the Fosse flame alive as a teacher and as an organizer of such projects as "Fosse," the dance revue that won the Tony for best musical in 1999.

Gwen Verdon, the brilliant Broadway dancer who won four Tony Awards within six years in the 1950s, died of natural causes at her daughter's home in Woodstock, Vt., Tuesday evening. She was 75. Verdon was best known for her work with the late choreographer Bob Fosse, who also became her husband. In recent years, she no longer danced publicly, but she kept the Fosse flame alive as a teacher and as an organizer of such projects as "Fosse," the dance revue that won the Tony for best musical in 1999.

When 50 hopeful young dancers audition for Gwen Verdon and a panel of high-profile dance professionals next Sunday at UCLA, they will be helping to fulfill a vision cherished by the late Bob Fosse, the celebrated choreographer-director who was married to Verdon and who guided her to many of her most memorable performances.

When 50 hopeful young dancers audition for Gwen Verdon and a panel of high-profile dance professionals next Sunday at UCLA, they will be helping to fulfill a vision cherished by the late Bob Fosse, the celebrated choreographer-director who was married to Verdon and who guided her to many of her most memorable performances.

Love Letter Readers: A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters" has been extended at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills, with a new batch of celebrities taking the play's two roles on consecutive weeks. The latest names: Polly Draper and Harry Hamlin (June 5-10), Beau Bridges and Lesley Ann Warren (June 12-17), Lee Remick and Tom Skerritt (June 19-24), Patrick O'Neal and Gwen Verdon (June 26-July 1), Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands (July 3-8).

Members of the "Damn Yankees" cast including Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon and Jean Stapleton will appear at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on July 15 prior to a screening of the film at 7:30 p.m. The event scheduled at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., is part of the academy's ongoing "Standard Screening Series." The film's original trailer and footage of the original stage version will be shown with a three-strip Technicolor print of "Damn Yankees."

James Raitt, 41, arranger and musical supervisor for the perennial hit musical "Forever Plaid" and the current revival of "Damn Yankees." Raitt, a native of Orange County and graduate of USC, is a cousin of Broadway musical star John Raitt and his daughter, singer Bonnie Raitt. In addition to extensive work in Broadway and off-Broadway productions, James Raitt was musical director of solo performances by such entertainers as Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera and Ethel Merman.

The Players Club, a male bastion of the acting profession for 100 years, will induct its first women members Sunday at a star-studded centennial celebration at the Shubert Theater. Helen Hayes, first lady of the American theater, will head a list of 19 women who are expected to be on stage for the induction ceremony, scheduled to coincide with William Shakespeare's birthday. Hayes, 88, will receive the Players' first Edwin Booth Award for lifetime achievement in the theater.

Musical theater buffs who feel the poorer for never having glimpsed Zero Mostel's Tevye, Angela Lansbury's Mrs. Lovett or Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera as Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly -- or who wish they could behold them again -- will have the opportunity if they catch "Broadway's Lost Treasures," a new PBS television special that compiles 17 performances by mere stars and bona fide legends culled from Tony Awards broadcasts taped between 1967 and 1986.

In the wake of the box office success of "Chicago," winner of this year's best picture Oscar and Miramax Films' highest-grossing movie ever, the studio plans to turn the 1955 Broadway hit "Damn Yankees" into a feature film. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, executive producers of "Chicago," are set to produce the musical.

The revival of Cole Porter's "Can-Can" that opened at the Pasadena Playhouse more than five years ago has come back to life and is now aiming for Broadway. Producers said Thursday that they are hoping to bring the high-kicking musical to New York in the spring of 2014. Neither a theater nor a opening date has been announced. The revival is being produced by Jonathan Burrows. "Can-Can" debuted in Pasadena in the summer of 2007. The production was directed by David Lee, who is also expected to direct the show when it arrives on Broadway.