MUSICAL MAYHEM: MY TOP TWENTY-FIVE MUSICALS – Part 16a
THE TOP TEN – #3
NOTE: Due to the length of this entry,
I'm dividing it into two parts. This is part one of two.
The original marquee, the original theatre, the original star.
# 3: GYPSY – Book by
Arthur Laurents, Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
When Gypsy
opened at the Broadway Theatre in New York on May 21, 1959, esteemed critic
Walter Kerr gushed in his review the following morning that Gypsy was "the best damn musical I've seen in
years." New York Times critic
Ben Brantley, when reviewing the Bernadette Peters' 2003 revival, proclaimed
that Gypsy "may be the greatest
of all American musicals, a show assembled by the magical team of Arthur
Laurents (book), Jule Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics)." The
alternately reviled and admired former New
York Times reviewer, Frank Rich, stated, in covering Tyne Daly's triumphant
1989 production, that Gypsy "is
nothing if not Broadway's own brassy, unlikely answer to King Lear." Many musical theatre scholars and experts consider
Gypsy to be the perfect musical, and
who am I to disagree? Gypsy is like a
lean, mean, musical machine. Not an ounce of fat on it, well maybe a teeny bit
of bloat, every scene, every word of dialogue, every lyric, and every melody is
exactly right for developing character, scene, and moving the action forward.
The one teeny bit of bloat mentioned in the last sentence occurs during the
"Mr. Goldstone" scene when the hotel manager interrupts the scene and
chaos ensues, ending with Rose faking a sexual assault. In the 2008 revision by
Arthur Laurents, the hotel manager and that part of the scene is cut, and the
scene now seems more organic, more real. And in 2018, do you really want anyone
faking something as serious as sexual assault? It wasn't funny in 1974 when I
first saw the show, probably wasn't all that funny in 1959. Maybe the original
Rose, Ethel Merman, managed to wrangle some humor out of it. Moving on….
While the book, lyrics, and music of Gypsy give a director, a choreographer, designers, and actors
everything they need to create a memorable production, there are a few traps
skulking around. One: It's far too easy to make Rose nothing more than a
leather-lunged monster, and with an interpretation like that, the production is
doomed. The audience doesn't have to root for Rose, they can even hate her with
all their being, but they have to see her as a person, with, perhaps, an
overabundance of faults, but also with some redeeming qualities. Rose may be
selfish, egotistical, delusional, single-mindedly stubborn, and sometimes
flat-out cruel, but she also has a sense of humor, an unshakeable belief that
what she is doing is right for her daughters, and a perhaps unconventional, but
equally unshakeable love for her children. The flip side to all of this is that
it's also easy to try to soften Rose too much, make her likeable. Rose isn't
likeable. Admirable, maybe. Charismatic, most definitely. Honest and direct,
without a doubt. Uniquely singular, absolutely. But likeable, no. Trap number
two: directing and playing Herbie as an afterthought. At first glance, Herbie
may seem like a throwaway role, but he's far from it. If Rose is the driving
force behind the action, Herbie is the glue that grounds the show, gives it a
moral and compassionate compass. He is genuinely a kind and good man, endlessly
patient, and he sincerely loves the train wreck that is Rose. So, when she
pushes Louise to do the star strip in Wichita, she delivers the coup de grâce that almost destroys Herbie and
he realizes he has to leave in order to survive. When Herbie is directed and
performed with skill and subtlety, that scene should be a shattering one.
Sadly, that's not always the case, and the scene devolves into a shouting
match. (This also often happens in the Louise/Rose scene right before
"Rose's Turn.") In my opinion, if you don't remember Herbie's
performance, the role was tossed away. Trap number three: Louise's "Let Me
Entertain You" strip sequence. It's vital to the show because it shows us,
the audience, how Louise morphs from the nervous neophyte into the glamourous,
sophisticated, elegant star, Gypsy Rose Lee. But, for whatever reason,
directors and choreographers seem to want to rush through it, not take the time
that it needs to fully land. You need to see Louise become more comfortable,
more relaxed, more skilled with her striptease. You need to see her humor
develop and, finally, you need to see her having fun and being comfortable in
her new skin. You can't skimp on the costumes and it's imperative that you play
each short segment as its own scene. And, finally, when Louise finally reaches
the peak of stardom at Minsky's, you can't chintz on the production values.The
best version of the strip I've seen was in 1974 with the Angela Lansbury
production, where they used both showgirls and chorus boys in the Minsky's
segment; the worst, by far, was the sanitized version done just recently by
Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago. Let's give this segment the respect it
deserves.
Ethel Merman. Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Linda Lavin,
Jana Robbins, Bernadette Peters, Maureen Moore, Patti LuPone, Louise Pitre,
Imelda Staunton, Beth Leavel, Alene Robertson. All of these talented ladies
have played Rose in first-class professional productions. Bette Midler played
Rose on television to great reviews, but, frankly, I found it lacking. The
inimitable Rosalind Russell played Rose on film, in a movie largely derided
today, but, when released in 1962, was a major hit, and, in my opinion, is a
flawed, but underrated film, no matter how much Lisa Kirk dubbed for Roz. And
how many thousands of talented women have created their own Roses over the
decades in regional and amateur theatre? It just may be the single most
challenging part ever written for a woman in musical theatre, and I'm confident
that it's on many a bucket list. A complex, thrilling role in a perfect
musical. It really doesn't get much better than Gypsy.
Fun Fact: In Steven Suskin's essential Opening Night on Broadway (and its sequel More Opening Nights on Broadway), Suskin remarks that Gypsy's relatively short run of 702
performances, less than half that of the inferior The Sound of Music, which won that year's Tony Award, tied with the
very-good-but-not-as-good-Gypsy Fiorello!,
might have been due to the rather adult-for-the-time content of the show, but,
based on complaints from creators Jerome Robbins and Arthur Laurents, more
likely due to Ethel Merman (Rose) and Sandra Church (Louise) often walking
through the show, resulting in some adverse word of mouth. (Bob and I saw Tony
winner Christine Ebersole walk through her performance in 42nd Street and experiencing that is indeed disappointing.)
A Baffling Fact: Gypsy
won no Tony Awards at the 1960 awards ceremony. None. Zero. Nada. Given its
reputation today, that seems inconceivable, but there it is. Even the great
Merm was snubbed; the tchotchke for Best Actress going to audience and critic
uber-favorite Mary Martin for The Sound of
Music. Not the first time the Tony Awards have bewildered and certainly not
the last.
Original Cast Recordings and Such: Gypsy has had many original cast recordings. The major recordings
include the 1959 Original Broadway Cast with Ethel Merman, the 1962 film
starring Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood, the 1973 Original London Cast with
Angela Lansbury, the 1989 New York revival starring Tyne Daly, the 2003 New
York revival with Bernadette Peters, the 2008 New York revival starring Patti
LuPone, and the 2015 London revival with Imelda Staunton. The only one of these
I don't own is, perhaps surprisingly, the Merman version, and that's because,
well, I don't like it. I'm not a Merman fan to begin with and I think all she
does is bray throughout the recording, no subtlety, no nuance. I know, I know.
Turn in my card, but it is what it is.
And now, without further ado, curtain up, light the
lights…GYPSY!
1974 – 2003
The first Broadway revival-1974, Winter Garden Theatre. I tried to get in on a trip to NYC, couldn't get standing room and the cancellations line was enormous.
The London cast recording. Mimicking the logo from the Merman original. This was dumped in favor of the stunning logo as shown in the Broadway window card.
London program.
July, 1974. Opening and
closing nights. This was the first time I saw a production of Gypsy and the first time I saw Angela
Lansbury on stage. What an introduction to both! I bought tickets for the
opening night as soon as the show was announced. Listening to the 1973 London
Cast Recording, starring Angela Lansbury, after being familiar only with the
Merman original and the somewhat flat film soundtrack, was a revelation. Did I
hear interpretation? Did I hear something other than just shouting out the
lyrics at full volume? Indeed I did. And live, in person, and in character,
Lansbury was just jaw-droppingly good. Her Rose was funny, yet could be cold as
steel in a heartbeat, ambitious, determined, and yet, ultimately, affecting. I
will never forget her "Rose's Turn" and the moment after the thunderous
ovation ended and the audience sat down, but with Lansbury still smiling and
bowing, when the audience realized that the applause, the ovation, everything,
was all in her mind. You could see the mania in her eyes. It was chilling. Rex
Robbins was a capable Herbie, a likeable, honorable man. Zan Charisse, niece
to famed dancer Cyd Charisse, was a lovely Louise, and her transformation from
shy Louise to the confident Gypsy Rose Lee was a joy to behold. British child
star Bonnie Langford recreated her London role as Baby June. Also in the cast
were Maureen Moore as Dainty June, Mary Louise Wilson as Tessie Tura, John
Sheridan as Tulsa, Broadway vet John C. Becher as Uncle Jocko, Gloria Rossi as
Miss Cratchitt/Mazeppa, and Sally Cooke as Electra. I bought tickets for the
closing performance two weeks later at the interval. Stunning. – at the Opera
House, Chicago
Cast Tidbits: By this time, Angela Lansbury had won two Tony
Awards, for Mame and Dear World. She would win her third for Gypsy. Mary Louise Wilson was Lansbury's
standby and would win a Tony Award in 2007 for her riveting portrait of 'Big
Edie' Beale in Grey Gardens. Maureen
Moore made her Broadway debut with this production, but thirty years later,
would renew her acquaintance with Gypsy
as Bernadette Peters' standby in the 2003 revival of Gypsy. There is a YouTube audio clip of Moore performing
"Rose's Turn" in performance and it's so good, all you can say is
"lucky audience."
January, 1984. It was over nine years before I would once
again experience the many joys that are the musical Gypsy. In 1984, as now, Marriott Theatre, then Marriott's
Lincolnshire Theatre, was noted for producing quality productions of musicals
with a live orchestra, tucked away in their own sound-proofed booth in the
back, and, then (see "From the Casting Department"), starring the
best of Chicago musical talent. By this time, star Alene Robertson had earned a
reputation as the go-to actor if you were looking for an Ethel Merman type or
simply wanted an actor with stage presence to spare and a loud, diction-perfect
voice. While Marriott's Gypsy didn't
land with the same "wow" as Angela Lansbury's production, Robertson
prowled around the Marriott stage with authority and that booming voice of hers
that had me thinking that this was probably the closest I would see of what
Ethel Merman did with the part all those years earlier. She was magnetic…and
certainly pretty much made everyone else fade into the background. For the
record, Paula Scrofano, another Chicago name to be reckoned with, played
Louise, and I remember liking her quite a lot, and Vince Viverito played
Herbie, and I don't remember a thing about him, which says something about his
performance, the sheer overpowering of everything by Ms. Robertson, or both. My
reaction would be quite different when I revisited star, venue, and vehicle
nearly fifteen years later. – at the Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire, IL
From the Casting Department: Back in the day, most Chicago theatres primarily
cast local Chicago talent. Oh, sure, the occasional star popped in now and
then, but usually not in a theatre like Marriott or Candlelight, the two
primary non-Loop musical houses. Not anymore. It's almost become rare to see
local talent headlining a Marriott show. Witness a recent production of Sweet Charity at Marriott where the
three leading female roles were all cast with non-Chicago actors, none of them
bona fide stars and, though competent enough, certainly could have been cast
with local talent, if the quality of the magnificent ensemble was any
indication. You'd think the local branch of Equity would care about this
practice, but, apparently, they don't. Sigh.
Me in front of the St. James. Back when I was...young(er), much younger.
The St. James as seen from our hotel room at the then Milford Plaza Hotel, now known as Row NYC.
June, 1990. The lights dimmed. The audience burst into
applause. The iconic first bars of the overture began. The audience burst into
applause. The audience burst into applause as the overture segued from song to
song before erupting into the closest thing to a standing ovation while sitting
down when the overture finished. The audience applauded when the curtain rose.
And when Tyne Daly made her way down the aisle of the St. James shouting out
that legendary line, "Sing out, Louise!, " well, frankly, I wondered
if the applause would ever stop. You see, both show and star had won Tony
Awards that previous Sunday, Best Revival for Gypsy and Best Actress in a Musical for Daly, and audience
excitement and expectation was at a
fever pitch. We were not disappointed. Not one teeny, tiny bit. Tyne Daly is an
actor of almost frightening range, and she brought this skill to a portrayal of
Rose that was fierce, sexy, funny, but always, always driven, focused, unapologetic, and determined to get her way
at any cost. Daly may not have the vocal chops of a Merman or a LuPone, but she
took Rose's songs and acted the living crap out of them, always hitting the
notes, never being off pitch, and always making sure the numbers were honest.
Seared into my memory are the last minute or so in "Everything's Coming Up
Roses" when Daly grabs Louise, a remarkable Crista Moore, in a hug,
before, a second later, abruptly and violently pushing her away, and then, in
the final moments of the song, claws at the stage floor, rises, faces front and
on the last "you", still looking front and totally ignoring everyone
and everything except herself, points stage left to where Louise is holding
onto Herbie, an equally remarkable Jonathan Hadary, as the curtain quickly
descends. Thrilling…and absolutely chilling. And it just got better, culminating
in "Rose's Turn," which brought the audience, cheering, to its feet.
With not a weak performance in its cast, principals and ensemble alike, this
was a Gypsy to savor. I feel
privileged and honored to have seen it. – at the St. James Theatre, New York
– Marquis Theatre, New York
May, 1991. House seat. A former friend of mine was
friends with Jana Robbins, who played Mazeppa in the show and was standby for
Rose, and since I was in New York to see a revue he'd written at Don't Tell
Mama and wanted to revisit Gypsy, he
arranged for Jana to get me one of her house seats. This was officially a
continuation of the original run, though a couple of months after Linda Lavin,
replacing Tyne Daly, closed the show at the St. James. The cast was essentially
the same as that at the St. James. Tyne Daly was, if possible, even better as
Rose, and vocally more powerful and secure. Crista Moore and Jonathan Hadary
remained in top form as Louise and Herbie, respectively. And I'd be remiss if I
didn't give a nod to Robert Lambert's flawlessly danced Tulsa, and Barbara
Erwin, Anna McNeely, and Jana Robbins as the seen-it-all-done-it-all strippers.
Once again, Gypsy wove its spell. –
at the Marquis Theatre, New York
Jana Sidebar: After the performance, I meet my friend and Jana at a
restaurant for drinks. Jana was/is charming, funny, and delightfulling brassy.
I liked her immediately. Her CD, "Face to Face" is eminently
listenable, and you can find YouTube clips of her doing a couple of numbers
from Gypsy. Sadly, haven't seen her
in decades, but she remains very much in the business, now concentrating on
producing and directing.
– Marriott
Theatre, Lincolnshire, IL
April, 1998. In Marriott's 1984 production of Gypsy, Alene Robertson basically was
the show. In Marriott's 1998 production with Robertson reprising her role as
Rose, she basically sunk the show. Oh, the Robertson powerhouse vocals were
there for the big three numbers, but three strong vocals do not a performance
make, and, in the end, she delivered a lackluster, indecisive Rose, neither
earth mother nor monster. We went with friends of ours, and they absolutely
hated it. Bob and I pretty much felt the same way. I searched and searched for
programs, etc. from this production to no avail. I must not have kept any of
it. And, that, folks, is an indication of how much I didn't like this production. For twenty years, this ranked as the
worst professional production of Gypsy
I'd seen. In 2018, however, a truly awful production would take its place. (See
Part 2.) – at the Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire IL
– Shubert Theatre, New York
December, 2003. New Year's Eve matinee performance. The
casting of beloved Broadway star Bernadette Peters as Rose was met with equal
parts disbelief and excitement. Excitement because, well, it's Bernadette
Peters, two-time Tony winner, returning to a Broadway stage. Disbelief because,
well, it's Bernadette Peters, sweet, soft, dare we say 'adorable?' Bernadette
Peters with that unmistakable and unique voice. Could she believably inhabit
the coarse, earthy, brassy, monstrous Rose? Well, yes and no, as it
turned out. The audience clearly adored her, she turned on the charm when Rose
had to be charming, and the stage presence and charisma were at full force. But,
director Sam Mendes' vision of a more 'human' Rose muted the life force of the
role, and Peters, despite working very hard, ultimately couldn't completely
deliver the goods. Regrettably, Peters' distinctive voice just couldn't do
justice to Rose's three big aria-like songs, "Some People,"
"Everything's Coming Up Roses," and "Rose's Turn." She
didn't bomb with them, but I didn't get goosebumps, either. And, ultimately,
though enjoyable, I felt the whole endeavor was just ill-advised. Reviews for
this production were all over the place. Ben Brantley of the New York Times loved the production and
hailed Peters' performance. Variety,
the show biz "Bible," criticized both the production and its, in
their critic's opinion, miscast star. Everyone, however, liked Tammy
Blanchard's Louise. I did as well. John Dossett did well as Herbie. Also in the
cast were David Burtka as Tulsa (Neil Patrick Harris' husband), Kate Reinders,
Brooks Ashmanskas, MacIntyre Dixon, and, as the showstopping strippers, Heather
Lee, Kate Buddeke, and the indispensible Julie Halston. In his book,
"Mainly on Directing…," Arthur Laurents heavily criticized Mendes'
direction and the scenic design, and felt Peters had the potential to be a
great Rose, but wasn't properly directed. She was too buttoned-up. It's rumored
that later in the run, the directorial shackles came off, either per director
Mendes or per Peters' demands, and her performance became electrifying. What we
saw was hardly electrifying, but Bernadette Peters and the Rose we saw was
professional and hard-working, but not especially remarkable, in an equally
competent, but not especially remarkable production. – at the Shubert Theatre,
New York
And with that ends Part 1. Part 2 coming soon!
© 2019 Jeffrey Geddes
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