Swing Joined: 12/16/10
I love Patti's, specifically her Late Night on Jimmy Fallon performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGBtpFtNKs4
Hopefully this thread won't devolve into crap.
I think Pattti's Tony performance was one of the greatest ever. So Patti.
Patti.
Even though I'm a Bernie Boy, I gotta give it to Patti. I second that her Tony performance was electrifying. Her Act One closer managed to both excite and terrify me. I truly understood the power Momma Rose had in her interpretation.
It was perfect.
Before I even opened the thread I thought Patti on Fallon.
Chorus Member Joined: 5/13/11
I think Patti LuPone's on her cast recording is the best sung with the most power. I like Bernadette Peters' right up until the end, but when it slows down starting with "Everything's coming up roses and daffodils..." I just think, "eh." Tyne Daly's is pretty powerful, but her voice is just not up to snuff, and I'm sorry but I just don't get the character of Rose from Angela Lansbury's performance of the song (her "Rose's Turn" is my fav, though). Ethel Mermen just sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me.
I don't think I will comment on this thread.
It is a quotation mark not an apostrophe...
Apparently, you all have only ever seen Patti do it. But its not the best. Usually, the role is played by a woman. And usually, the moment is full of emotion...not just the single emotion 'anger' that Patti did. As Michael Musto of the Village Voice wrote, Patti plays the role as though she is 'eating a live lobster.' Sorry, but thats not the right way to play Rose, or to sing this iconic song. IMHO
Bertandrew only posts on here to bash Patti! Don't mind him.
Her Tony performance is one the greatest performances I've ever seen. Period.
bertandrew2: What kind of 'emotions' do you think should come across? Patti's Roses is grandiose, delusional and excited. What else do you really want to bring to the song? This is not "Losing my Mind" or "Send in the Clowns", lol.
I love Bernadette, but this one has to go to Patti. I remember watching her Tony performance and thinking that it was going to be legendary. Gave me goosebumps!
There is no choice, it has to be Ethel Merman.
Broadway Star Joined: 6/27/07
It's so ironic that this topic is on here because on Saturday, I was listening to an old "Greatest Hits of Broadway" CD and, for the first time, discovered that it had Ethel Merman's "Everything's Coming Up Roses." I loved and appreciated everything about Patti's Tony performance. Epic. But I haven't been able to stop listening to Ethel's version for the past three days (sad, I know). It's powerful. It's passionate. It's electrifying. And I just love the little moments of pure emotion that come through on this recording more than 50 years later. The part where she sings "We can.. do it.. Mamma is going to see to it" gives me chills with the emotion she packs into the two syllables of 'mamma.' It's hard to describe in words.. but in that part and in the end, I FEEL what she's singing. I get it. I get her Mamma Rose. It's not supposed to come off as 'pretty.' It's Mamma Rose!! She's brash. She's bold. She's sad. She's determind. She's gritty. She's borderline psychotic some would say... all of which makes her version perfect, in my opinion. I wish we all could have seen her live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOmFWsVzmpI
BTW- Isn't she the only Mamma Rose who actually met the real Gypsy Rose Lee?
Updated On: 6/28/11 at 10:01 PM
Swing Joined: 12/16/10
It wouldn't surprise me if she did. Gypsy Rose Lee was very involved with the musical. I can't remember were I read it, but Rose Havoc was in a lesbian relationship later in life and even killed someone. She was never convicted I would imagine. So the portrayal of Rose as over the top is pretty accurate.
bertandrew2, you neglected to tell us which performance of the song was your favorite. You just managed to demonstrate your animosity toward LuPone and your presumed superiority to everyone on this board.
Walk us through all the Roses you've seen, and let us know your favorite.
Understudy Joined: 7/12/10
Ethel Merman. Of course. I think Patti Lupone is immensely talented, but come on......no one will ever come come close to topping Ethel Merman's rendition of that song.....it belongs to her and that's that.....
Swing Joined: 12/16/10
Merman was the first. That does deserve respect.
I was depressed by the first seven posters and that is why I said I would not comment on this thread.
I have changed my mind, being fortified by the last few posters, particularly zamedy. I saw Ethel Merman in GYPSY in 1959 and her "Everything's Coming Up Roses" was a blockbuster event for me. First, the song is terrific as a song. Second, Merman put her all into it. When she sang, "You can do it; Mamma is gonna see to it", she emphasized "Mamma" by beating her breasts. It was such an effective delivery of such a great song. As I mentioned in another thread a few days ago, the setting was perfect, wih the railroad tracks disappearing into infinity, signifying her having to let go of Jume and the male dancers of the act. I never tire from hearing Merman sing that song.
My only complaint about Patti Lupones rendition is her swooping and almost screaming the ending of the song--a popular way to end any number of songs by today's singers. I loathe that affectation.
"It's not LOSING MY MIND", in a way, yes it is.
Betty Buckley's. No contest. And, to put it in perspective, I've seen Buckely, LuPone, Peters, Lansbury, Russell, and Daly; and, I've heard Merman.
Broadway Star Joined: 4/3/10
Harvey Fierstein :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6vEwp25cOM
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