Damn Yankees' Best Lola

[Isabella2]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 1:22pm

In your opinion who played Lola the best on broadway?

Posted: 9/5/06 at 1:30pm

Gwen Verdon, the original Lola.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 1:33pm

Gwen Verdon was Lola. Period.

Like Mary Martin's Peter Pan, Carol Cahnning's Dolly and Ethel Merman's Madame Rose it is a role owned by the performer. Others may borrow it (and often give fantastic interpretations) but the role still belongs to the originator.

[mattrob]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 1:36pm

Did anyone see Bebe Neuwirth in it? I wonder how she was in it. or Charlotte d'Amboise?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 1:39pm

Verdon

[Mateo2]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 2:15pm

I never saw Gwen Verdon on Broadway only in the film version but I saw Bebe Neuwirth on Broadway. Bebe was excellent but Gwen was the best. Also, no one could compare to Ray Walston.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 2:17pm

FrontRow, as per usual, hits the nail on the head.

[jv92]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 2:51pm

Gwen Verdon.

Although the film of Damn Yankees isn't the best, see it just for her exceptional recreation of her Broadway performance.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 3:10pm

Verdon wasn't the best looking Lola you're likely to see, but her embodiment of the character is tops.

I saw both Neuwirth and D'Amboise in the revival, and found Neuwirth sexy but not a lot of fun. D'Amboise danced it well but never came across as very sexy to me, nor was her singing fabulous. Perhaps I was harder on her than Neuwirth, however, given that I was seething with anger at Jerry Lewis for making a mockery of a great role and the hundred bucks I'd spent to see it.

I didn't see the recent "revisal" that reset the production to be about the 1956? Red Sox, but the promotional shot of their Lola is pretty hot.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 3:25pm

Charlotte was great in the role. Unfortunately, Jerry Lewis was NOT great as the devil. He mugged so much, and added so much of his own shtick, that it just seemed ridiculous.

[TheaterAddict7652]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 3:35pm

Gwen Verdon, without a doubt. There is a reason why the image of Gwen Verdon in Lola's leotard (from "Whatever Lola Wants") is the "symbol" (lack of a better word) of Damn Yankees

Updated On: 9/5/06 at 03:35 PM

[Producer2]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 4:25pm

Bebe was fantastic! She didn't appear until the end of the first act but still. Her entrance was on a bench or couch which came up from the floor. I was sitting in the front row as well. I was debating all night whether her heart shaped birthmark was real (it wasn't! Duh!) Her singing and dancing were both great. I had read that she did not have a positive experience with the show and maybe it had to do with Rob Marshall- Damn Yankees' choreographer- not making her Velma Kelly in the Chicago Movie.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 4:44pm

Neuwirth wasn't even considered for Velma Kelly in the movie. She may be a star on Broadway, but she has perhaps a tenth of the name recognition and the film box office clout of Catherine Zeta-Jones, so she was never in the running.

And Verdon OWNS the role of Lola -- now and forever.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 5:06pm

GWEN VERDON forever and always!

[morosco]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 6:14pm

"Did anyone see Bebe Neuwirth in it?"

I remember reading that Neuwirth wasn't too thrilled with the revival. She said that people came to the stage door afterwards and told her how good she was and she always wanted to respond that they had NO IDEA just how good she was. She said that she had never worked harder in a show to overcome it's lackluster rewrites, direction and choreography.
Updated On: 9/5/06 at 06:14 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 6:22pm

I enjoyed the "Damn Yankees" revival, so much so, I saw it twice. If the experience wasn't so good for Ms. Neuwirth, one would never know by the performances I saw.

[coolphantom919]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 6:45pm

GWEN VERDON! The original!!

[justme2]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 6:57pm

Why even try to start threads about shows Verdon had been in and then "others" were in it to? It's pointless and no one else will ever win.

[bwaylover2]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 7:08pm

i saw damn yankees with bebe neuwirth in it to me she was the best lola

[justme2]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 7:10pm

I saw the show in SF and can't remember who Lola was. I want to say Vicky Lewis, but I'd have to check my program.