Barbara Streisand "re-writing" GYPSY
Barbara Streisand "re-writing" GYPSY
#1Barbara Streisand "re-writing" GYPSY
Posted: 9/27/14 at 10:40pm
Barbara, you should be more particular about your use of language! "Re-Write" does not a good GYPSY make
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Barbra-Streisand-Shares-GYPSY-Movie-Update-We-Are-Re-Writing-Now-20140927
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#2Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/27/14 at 10:44pmWell you have to adapt the libretto to film and there has never been a gypsy movie that has ever been able to do it correctly..so....go for it.
#2Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 12:04amGypsy is tricky, 'cause on stage it's perfect, but it'll need tweaking to make it workable for film. For example, just having Rose on an empty stage during "Rose's Turn" can be electric on stage, but terrible on film [as the first 2 film versions proved.] They need to make it into a film, not just a stage show on film.
#3Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 12:04amI'm assuming she means re-writing the current screenplay.
mjohnson2
Broadway Star Joined: 11/2/13
#4Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 12:06amI always just thought that they should put in on stage and then film it that way (not necessarily live, but on stage instead of environmental settings)
Anything regarding shows stated by this account is an attempt to convey opinion and not fact.
#5Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 12:53am
Have it at, Barbra. Arthur's Golden Rule was always "He who dies last gets to rewrite."
#6Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 12:56am
I've said this before, but the way I imagine Rose's Turn to be staged is that the theatre is full of people who are clapping, cheering etc.
At the end of the song they give her a standing ovation, she continues with the bows and then her daughter walks in/interrupting her while she is bowing, and the next cut shows an empty theatre.
Apparently this has been done for another movie (not Gypsy, if I recall correctly). But still, you can't perform Rose's Turn to a bare theatre - It would just suck the energy out of it.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#7Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 1:11amIn space-no one can hear you scream---I'd do it out there.
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#8Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 1:47amI'm sure she's refering to a rewrite of the screenplay. I'll bet they start toward the end of Rose's story, when she would seem a little bit more age appropriate, then flashback in hope of us forgiving the fact that she's seems a bit long of tooth to have two little girls.
#9Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 1:48am^ I hadn't thought of that. Seems like a plausible way to cover up the age issue.
#10Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 2:16amThey could frame the entire film in a retirement home with the residents putting on a production of Gypsy. That could cover up the age issue.
#11Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 3:45am
I know people hate him on this board, but I thought Rob Marshall's concept of setting it up on stage with the numbers emerging from Rose's imagination in the style of CHICAGO would have worked beautifully for this particular show (it made no sense when he tried it with NINE).
Obviously Streisand is talking about rewriting the screenplay and getting it right. You'd have to be a real drama queen, and frankly not that smart, to get your panties in a twist thinking she means they are rewriting the show or something ridiculous like that.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#12Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 5:48am
"At the end of the song they give her a standing ovation, she continues with the bows and then her daughter walks in/interrupting her while she is bowing, and the next cut shows an empty theatre."
I like that a lot, and think it would work wonderfully on film. And hey, it's Barbra... I'd go see her do anything, right or wrong for the role, and I'd love every second!
Updated On: 9/28/14 at 05:48 AM
#13Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 4:17pm
That's how I always pictured "Rose's Turn" as well. Seems like such a given. I'm not sure why they never tried it in the other two film versions. I'd be a blast to have the first part of the song with her maybe even going into the audience and sitting on people's laps and being really bawdy and sexy.
The dialogue doesn't need a single word changed, since, I feel, it's perfect, but it'll need more than that to make a film version work. I always liked the idea of "You Gotta Get A Gimmick" being a montage showing Louise watching in the wings as each stripper performs their signature number for a house full of screaming men. Little things like that would really open it up and make it a little more exciting than just parking and barking.
Showface
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/14
#14Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 4:57pm
How funny! I always imagined "Roses Turn" to be like that on film. However, I'm not sure about watching Babs flirt with audience members...she's in her 70's. That would be pretty cringe-worthy 
.
I also love the idea for "Gimmick".
They would need to cut "Little Lamb".
Dare I say it, they may even need to cut "Mr Goldstone."
I just feel that cutting these songs would help make the film move quicker and at a better pace.
#15Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 5:09pm
She's gonna put Rose's Turn on a goddamed TUGBOAT!
This needs to be stopped. Ended. Halted. Nipped in the bud. Discontinued. Terminated.
Showface
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/14
#16Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 5:14pm
Seriously...I think you must accept that Babs is doing this and you can't stop her. Do not let this grieve you.
Updated On: 9/28/14 at 05:14 PM
Claudia Draper
Featured Actor Joined: 6/14/11
#17Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 5:18pm
It opens with Rose's funeral with all the kids/ Louise together, remembering...
Updated On: 9/28/14 at 05:18 PM
#18Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 5:34pm
Streisand is indeed talking about a rewrite of the screenplay.
The initial screenwriter of the film was Julian Fellowes of DOWNTON ABBEY fame, but this summer the studio hired Richard LaGravenese (fresh off THE LAST FIVE YEARS and BEHIND THE CANDELABRA) to come in and do a new draft. That version is currently in process.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Updated On: 9/28/14 at 05:34 PM
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#19Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 5:59pm
INT. Lobby of a VAUDEVILLE THEATER where UNCLE JOCKO is holding auditions.
ROSE listens intently and starts for door when she hears YOUNG LOUISE start to sing. ROSE catches a GLIMPSE OF HERSELF in a mirror in the lobby.
ROSE: Hello gorgeous. (Turns and rushes though the door and down the aisle of the theater) Sing out Louise!
#20Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 7:42pm
I wouldn't cry if Mr. Godlstone was cut. I don't even think Sondheim is a fan, 'cause, as he said, the punchline if the first line and the rest is just kinda...there.
I think "Little Lamb" is important for the Louise character, but I could see it being cut as well. If it stops the pace, cut it. After 2 relatively terrible film versions, maybe cutting a few bits will help.
And as for the tugboat suggestion, I actually see Rose belting the last note of "Some People" from the window of a train or a car as the camera flies up into the sky. Might be a nice Funny Girl homage.
Showface
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/14
#22Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 7:48pmStreisand has enough problems with folks' perception of her ego, she really can't write an homage to herself.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#23Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 8:07pm
I wish she would just dump this and do that BALLROOM movie she was threatening to do about a decade ago. A musical love story among older people? Why the hell not?
"No, no, no!!! Whaddya mean no close-up swooping out to a helicopter panorama shot on 'For meeeeeeee'? I know my audience! I don't care if it takes place in a theater! We get a drone and do the damned close-up to wide like I've always done it!"
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
#24Barbara Streisand
Posted: 9/28/14 at 8:11pm
She was gonna do a Ballroom movie? That might be pretty great and age appropriate.
Still, I want a new Gypsy movie one way or another.
