Bernadette Peters video recording of her studio "Rose's Turn"

If anyone is feeling Gypsy fever right now. It's interesting on so many levels - not least because we essentially have her entire acting performance captured

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmLtgM6yfQY

Also love Ben Brantley's recent reflection of Bernadette's rose in the NYtimes

"Perhaps the most divisive of all the Roses, Peters was known as a Broadway sweetheart and eternal ingénue, whom many felt might have been perfect as Baby June, Rose’s ringleted kewpie doll of a daughter. But this suggestion of the child-star-who-never-was newly underscored the scary vicariousness of Rose’s ambition, and it was profoundly affecting. For the record, I received two phone calls from people who had known the real Rose (Hovick), and they both said that Peters was about as close a latter-day simulacrum of the real thing as you were going to find. Like Merman, Peters didn’t win the Tony for her Rose, but she sure should have."

I believe Tyne was the one who was ill when she recorded her cast album.

As for whether Bernadette was sick or not, I think people try to suggest she was to 'excuse' her vocals but if you listen to a bootleg of her opening night her vocals sound almost the same as the cast recording or lincoln archive in my opinion (not as good as the closing performance), which are significantly improved from the bootleg of the preview performance where she was clearly sick and not having a good time with the songs (also leading to the infamous missing performances).

The only moment on the cast recording I wish they managed to get a better take for Bernadette is the end of "Coming Up Roses" as she appears to run out of breath.

In contrast, Tyne's vocals sound truly awful in my opinion (by far the worst on record) so I wouldn't be surprised if she was sick. People used to rave here about Tyne's performance but it seems to be something you had to see rather than listen to.

I saw a boot of Tyne and she definitely sounded better than the recording made when she was ill. Even so, she is a lesser singer than any of the other Broadway Roses; Tyne is intelligent but simply wasn't born with the same quality equipment as the other ladies.

Tyne was the definitive Rose. ( for me )

My favorite Rose's Turn for sure; the most compelling.

I’ve seen quite a few great performances on Broadway in the last 20 years (including a great one from the guy who introduced her in this clip). But I saw this show in November of 2003 and this number was the only time that I felt overwhelmingly compelled to leap to my feet after a performance. She was absolutely incredible- and her Tony performance, while she was very sick, gives you an idea of what we saw. I know she got mixed reviews — but it’s the best performance I have ever seen on Broadway - hands down.
https://youtu.be/SaHh2-5h-0A?si=1tYkhkg78OOUUqLu

Updated On: 12/7/24 at 10:31 AM