That's what is called a Valentine, Brantley rarely gives one of these unless your name is Kristin Chenoweth. Congrats to LuPone. But also congrats to Laura Benanti, Leigh Ann Larkin, and Boyd Gaines, recipients of love letters signed by Brantley as well.
"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"
In a performance that'll have musical comedy fanatics buzzing for months, LuPone executes a show-biz finish to end all finishes. And -- get this! -- it's even been heightened by the 89-year-old Laurents, now the show's director, since it was presented as part of City Center Encores! Summer Stars series last year. If this brilliantly jarring fade-out doesn't cop LuPone her second Tony Award, we can assume there's truly little justice left in the world.
Rave.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
But I was so caught up in the emotional wrestling matches between the characters (and within themselves), that I didn’t really think about the songs as songs.
That should put an end to the canard that Patti is just making big sounds.
Patti LuPone might just have a chance for that Tony after all.
Laura Benanti has it. She just does.
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
LuPone hits no false notes as the now -sympathetic, now-monstrous Rose. LuPone hits no false melodic notes either. There was a time when the plush-sounding songbird caressed vowels as if they were silk sheets but treated consonants in the off-handed manner that Rose treats Louise, but no more. Furthermore, whereas at City Center, she sometimes delivered numbers as if she were on a nightclub floor, she now gives herself over entirely to Rose's monomania.
though I still think that the BEST REVIVAL will go to Sunday in the Park and Lead Actress to Patti LuPone & Featured to Laura Benanti.. They probably would split it meaning SITPwG getting the REVIVAL while the two actress for GYPSY getting the acting awards.
I am so happy for everyone involved in this production.
"I mean, sitting side by side with another man watching Patti LuPone play Rose in GYPSY on Broadway is essentially the equivalent of having hardcore sex." -Wanna Be A Foster.
"Say 'Goody.' Say 'Bubbi.'" ... "That's it. Exactly as if it were 'Goody.' Now I know you're gonna sing 'Goody' this time, but nevertheless..."
I think at least Benanti and LuPone will win. Boyd Gaines is a Tony-darling so it wouldn't surprise me if he won too.
"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"
Following in the footsteps of numerous stars, LuPone has put her own amazingly unique footprint on the role. She's made the volcanic second act aria, "Rose's Turn," an unforgettable "Patti's Turn." And Laurents has managed to find new depths in his own brilliant book, so that for all of the tuneful hit-upon-hit Styne score and inspired, character defining Sondheim lyrics, this is as much a play with integral music as a musical with a strong story line.
Thanks to the enduring brilliance of the book, music and lyrics, the excellence of the cast headed by the galvanic LuPone, Arthur Laurents' nuanced direction and the on the mark stagecraft. . . everything at the St. James is indeed coming up roses. With all this talent no gimmick is needed and awards galore are a sure thing.