Gwen Verdon, who was dancing in movies from the age of 11, became the brightest of Broadway stars in the 1950s, winning four Tony Awards in five years for her performances — especially her dancing — in “Can-Can,” “Damn Yankees,” “New Girl in Town,” “Redhead.” She later originated Tony-nominated roles in “Sweet Charity” and “Chicago” as well.
Her role as muse and collaborator with her second husband, Bob Fosse, which was explored in the recent TV series Fosse/Verdon, tends to overshadow her dazzling dancing, which is evident on YouTube dating at least back to the age of 16 in 1941; she’s the one in the black tutu

But the record of her celebrated turns on Broadway are spottier, preserved primarily in photographs and in the later film adaptations of those productions.

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Gwen Verdon in her first role on Broadway, in Alive and Kicking, in 1950. She had made her Broadway debut, as an assistant choreographer, at age 23 in a show in 1948 entitled Magdalena.

Can-Can

In Can-Can, 1953, Gwen Verdon portrayed Claudine as Eve in the Garden of Eden. Verdon, then 28, won her first Tony for the show, which made her a star.

Gwen Verdon performing Two Lost Souls in Damn Yankees, 1955. It was the first show in which she worked with Bob Fosse, who is credited as “staging the dances and musical numbers”

Gwen Verdon as Lola and Stephen Douglass as Joe Hardy in “Damn Yankees”

Gwen Verdon as Lola and Eddie Phillips as Sohovik in “Damn Yankees”

Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, dancing Who’s Got The Pain in Damn Yankees, which debuted on Broadway in 1955

Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon in rehearsal for New Girl in Town, 1957, which Fosse choreographed, and Verdon starred as Anna. (It was directed by George Abbott)

Gwen Verdon as Essie Whimples in Redhead, 1959, which Bob Fosse directed and choreographed

Gwen Verdon performing “Erbie Fitch’s Twitch” in the stage production Redhead, 1959

Gwen Verdon, Sweet Charity 1966

Gwen Verdon as Roxie Hart & Chita Rivera as Velma Kelly in scene from the original Broadway production of the musical “Chicago.” (New York), 1975.

Can Can, 1953

Songs by Cole Porter, book by Abe Burrows. Dances and Musical Numbers Staged by Michael Kidd

This is the role that won Verdon her first of four Tonys and thrust her into stardom. It’s hard to grasp completely how breathtaking her performance from these two brief videos, one silent, the second two decades later during the Tony Awards, which shows Verdon recreating her dancing from Can-Can for about 30 seconds (from :11) before she presented an award to somebody else

Damn Yankees, 1955

Songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross; Book byDouglass Wallop and George Abbott; From the novel “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant” by Douglass Wallop/ Dances and Musical Numbers Staged by Bob Fosse

A Little Brains, A Little Talent

Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)

Who’s Got The Pain

With Bob Fosse

Two Lost Souls
With Tab Hunter

New Girl in Town, 1957

Book by George Abbott; Based on the play “Anna Christie” by Eugene O’Neill; Music by Bob Merrill. Choreographed by Bob Fosse.

All I could find is this demonstration on TV overseen in which she sings a snippet of Sunshine Girl (which was not one of her songs in the now) while Fosse narrates, dances (and upstages?) It ends with them dancing a duet from “How to Succeed” (though neither of them were involved in that show)

Redhead, 1959

Book by Herbert Fields, Dorothy Fields, Sidney Sheldon and David Shaw; Music by Albert Hague; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Choreographed by Bob Fosse

Erbie Fitch’s Twitch

Sweet Charity, 1956

Book by Neil Simon; Music by Cy Coleman; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields; Based on the screenplay “Nights of Cabiria” by Federico Fellini. Choreographed by Bob Fosse
If My Friends Could See Me Now

Performed some three decades later for a television special.
(She was not cast for the film version.)

I’m a Brass Band
On Ed Sullivan show

Chicago, 1975

Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse; Music by John Kander; Lyrics by Fred Ebb; Based on the play “Chicago” by Maurine Dallas Watkins. Choreography by Bob Fosse

A Fine, Fine Day

Performed on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1970. This was her seventh and final appearance on Sullivan’s show.