Bernadette in GYPSY- Page 2
Bernadette in GYPSY
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#25
Posted: 12/31/04 at 4:36pmBy far, the most brilliant and inspired and enjoyable performance I have ever seen.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#26
Posted: 12/31/04 at 4:44pmHow many have you seen? Just curious. And glad you enjoyed it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/28/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#28
Posted: 12/31/04 at 4:49pmI also throughly enjoyed this production and thought Bernadette Peters was amazing at the performance I saw
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#29
Posted: 12/31/04 at 4:59pmI saw her three times: June 12, August 1, and October 20. She was flawless every time.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#30
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:04pm
I saw the show's very first preview and that was more than enough for me.
I got really sick of people telling me "Oh well you only saw it in previews, you can't judge by that."
THE HELL I CAN'T! That was a rare case where I spent $100 to see a show and for that kind of cash, I'd better damn well see something worth it. If they put it on stage and charge money for it, they'd better be ready to have it critiqued.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#31
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:06pm
It took me a long time to see this production. I was very wary of it - I was afraid Bernadette, of whom I am a fan, was miscast. Besides that, I had been the management assistant on the Tyne Daly production and saw that one literally hundreds of times with Daly, understudy Jana Robbins (who was fabulous), and Linda Lavin, who I did not like in the role. I had a huge sentimental attachment to that particular production and had no desire to see the show ruined and my experience with it tarnished.
I finally gave in and went when I had friends from out of town who wanted to go. It was toward the end of the run. I was blown away by Bernadette - her portrayal was different than what I was used to, but I loved it. Vocally she was right on as well. I did not like any of the other casting, except the strippers.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#32
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:06pmWell of course, you have to judge by that; you have nothign else to judge by. But I think the point is she could've grown to become much better in the role eventually.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#33
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:08pm
I loved it. I agree with misterchoi. One of, if not the, greatest performances I've ever seen.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#34
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:09pm
Couple of distortions in this thread that should be corrected.
GYPSY opened to more favorable reviews than negative, including raves from The New York Times, New York Post, USA Today, Washington Post, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Associated Press, New York Observer, Newsweek, New York One and the Journal News, and a near rave from Entertainment Weekly. Negative reviews were filed by Variety, Daily News, Newsday, Star-Ledger and the Bergen Record.
If Arthur Laurents actually made that statement at the DGA about Bernadette, he has no one to blame but himself. Her casting was his idea and he had everything to do with it. Sam Mendes' first choice was Patti Lupone, but Laurents is still holding a grudge against Lupone for dropping out of Jolson Sings Again.
About two and a half months into the run, after the pre-opening drama, the illness, the Tony Awards, a strange thing happened to the production. Everything relaxed, and they just started doing the show. From that point on, it was one of the best acted Gypsys I've ever seen, with Peters doing incredibly shaded, thoughtful work, showing different characteristics of Rose in every scene. The scenes between Peters, Blanchard and Dossett were especially strong and sharply realized the longer they lived in those roles. I heard Sondheim at one performance particularly impressed with Blanchard in the Minsky's dressing room scene, remarking that it's the first time he saw a Louise who became the mother, reversing the power struggle in that scene.
The production did lose money, but it recouped more than half of its $8 million inverstement. It's more that can be said for most of the musical revivals out there, most of which end up as money losers in the long run. It's surprising that producers still attempt so many of them.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#35
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:17pm
Bernadette was the best Mama Rose I have ever seen. She brought Radio City and the TONY awards to it's feet after her performance of "Rose's Turn." I absolutely loved her. She was Rose in every sense of the word. She was definitely robbed of the Tony award that year.
Marissa did not deserve it at all. Bernadette was superb.
Stand-by Joined: 11/27/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#36
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:17pm
I love Bernadette Peters, I think she's a great actress and has a great voice... BUT
I think the role was just too demanding vocally for her. She was pushing it, the entire way through the show. It showed and the entire production suffered for it.
Leading Actor Joined: 5/16/03
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#37
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:20pmThis production will be discussed for a long time. I personally thought Bernadette grew with the role throughout the run. I saw it one month after the opening and thought that she wouldn't make it through the first act. She was gasping for air during 'Some People'. I then saw it in August and while some vocal problems were corrected, she still was struggling. I then saw it in April, 2005 and twice in May, 2005 which included the closing performance. This show was the most electric closing that I ever attended. Applause on all songs and a stunning performance by Bernadette. Am I a fan of her performance in this role? I think her portrayal of Rose brought some really well defined choices as an actress. I did not agree with all of them. IMHO, I think she should have won the Tony for 'Gypsy" rather than for "Annie Get Your Gun" - I did think that she was miscast in that production!!
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#38
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:24pmThe role is too vocally demanding for EVERYONE. Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Betty Buckley all lost their voice doing it at one point or another. Even Merman burst a blood vessel singing it, missed a week's worth of performances and had to have the keys lowered for her. The character never stops talking, singing and screaming for two hours and 45 minutes. It's just a voice killer. Peters took some time to figure out how to sing it 8 times a week, but when she eventually did, she sang it about as well as anyone - excepting Merman.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#39
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:27pmBuckley also had vocal problelms during SUNSET that caused her to miss performances, and Daly is not a singer. It is a vocally demanding role, but that's not to say that everyone had the technique in the first place for even a less demanding role.
Joined: 12/31/69
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#40
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:44pm
Having blown $100+ to see Peters walk through "Annie Get Your Gun" I was in no mood to see her destroy one of my favorite shows, but finding myself at TKTS on the Friday night of "Gypsy"'s closing weekend, a friendly ticket seller told me that if I passed up a chance to see it I'd regret it the rest of my life....
Well, it was astounding. I was blown away. She coughed a bit early in the show and you could tell it had taken a toll vocally but somehow that made it more believable. She was working it, selling every second of the show 100% in a way I have never seen her do before. It was a revelation. I thought the whole production was wonderful. I didn't see Marissa do Hairspray, but I can't imagine how she could have outshone Bernadette. It makes me wish that Tony voters had a "Degree of dificulty" factor on their ballots the way Olympic Judges do. Rose is arguably the single most demanding role in Broadway history and I thought Bernadette delivered the performance of a lifetime.
Miscast? Maybe because you don't think of Rose as such a beautiful woman, but she certainly made it easier to understand how she could get her way with everyone she encountered: Her Rose was indeed a charmer.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#41
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:47pm
I saw it early in previews, and I too thought that the role didn't fit her very well. We had really bad seats in the last balcony and I could still see her vocal chords popping out of her throat. I think that I was worrying more about Bernadette's vocal health than enjoying the show.
I did hear though that she made it to every single show except for the one week she took off for vacation. Is that true?! For an actress to be able to sing that role, like everyone has said, is extremely demanding especially 8 times a week for 11 or 12 months (I think that's how long it ran for, but I'm not sure. Correct me if I'm wrong)
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#42
Posted: 12/31/04 at 5:51pm
"Miscast? Maybe because you don't think of Rose as such a beautiful woman, but she certainly made it easier to understand how she could get her way with everyone she encountered: Her Rose was indeed a charmer."
Absolutely. Abso-friggin'-lutely. That was part of the appeal of her differences from past portrayers. Daly was fairly attractive at times (her weight fluctuated greatly during the run), and had a bit of charm and humor, but mostly played it rather stridently and I found it difficult to understand what Herbie saw in her. Her understudy was a bit sexier and that worked better. Bernadette was sexier still, and it really brought a new and welcome dimension to the character.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#43
Posted: 12/31/04 at 6:08pm
Here's the thing...and I was fearing bringing this up, because it's a tricky subject... Rose is a borderline misogynistic creation. She's every gay man's nightmare version of his mother. I think when Rose is played as a ball-busting monster, as she is most of the time, you can laugh at her safely, and get off on her antics.
Now, Bernadette can camp it up with the best of them, but she was after something a little more complex. Her Rose was smaller, more human, more vulnerable and needy, and ultimately, more heartbreaking than terrifying. It's not the way we're used to seeing Rose, and that's usually when a certain sector of the audience starts screaming "MISCAST!" because the performance doesn't equal some high camp notion of how Rose must be played. It's easier to laugh at a cartoonish monster. Tougher when that monster is much more recognizably human. As such, the laughter, the tears, the thrills of Gypsy were in very different places in the recent revival. I think that's why Gypsy veterans didn't warm to it the way newcomers did.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#44
Posted: 12/31/04 at 6:15pmThis GYPSY veteran agrees with every word, Magruder. Well said.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#45
Posted: 12/31/04 at 6:20pmI disagree. I am totally oen to a different kind of Rose. I just felt Bernadette struggled with the character and just had a tought time geting through with it. I would have loved to have seen a smaller, more human, more vulnerable and needy, and ultimately, more heartbreaking than terrifying Rose. Instead I saw a actress struggling and working really hard all while just coming through uncomfortable. Ther ewas no character on that stage; just a actress suffering so.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#46
Posted: 12/31/04 at 6:22pmAnd when did you see her in the role, as others here have asked you?
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#47
Posted: 12/31/04 at 6:45pmI saw Bernadette twice: once in previews where she gasped and wheezed her way through the role, cutting off susained notes and almost just marking time through the show, saving up everything she had for "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn;" and then I saw the closing matinee performance in which she was vastly improved, singing full-out and holding nothing back. While I enjoyed the latter performance and liked some of the subtle touches she bought to the interpretation, I'm sorry but the role still ultimately seemed a few sizes too big for her, as if she was wearing someone else's clothes. She worked hard and was thoroughly professional, but, to me, she's not suited to play Rose, anymore than she would be suited to play Tosca or Madame Butterfly or Brunnhilde in the Ring Cycle. She did an expert job of finessing her way through that epic part, but in the end, she lacked the fire and power and force of will to fill those shoes they way they are meant to be. An "A" for effort, but I should have been devastated by the end of that show and I left the theatre totally unmoved.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
Broadway Star Joined: 5/22/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#49
Posted: 12/31/04 at 6:55pm
I loved the show, I saw it the last weekend of May, I guess a few weeks before it closed. I loved it. I went and saw it because I was doing the show that summer... ironically enough, our's opened on the night that the Broadway run closed...
I thought Peters was phenomenal- and she recieved ovations that I thought only Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick could recieve in this day in the theatre (of course, Bernadette proved me wrong- as did Hugh Jackman). I also enjoyed Tammy Blanchard and John Dossett for their very heart-warming takes on Gypsy and Herbie. I thought Kate Reinders and David Burkta as June and Tulsa, respectively. I enjoyed Reinders dance ability, and she's just cute in general. Burkta was a good, fresh-faced Tulsa (the role I did in a regional production).
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