Bernadette in GYPSY- Page 4
Bernadette in GYPSY
Broadway Star Joined: 11/2/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#75
Posted: 12/31/04 at 11:33pm
You know, Raith, now that I'm thinking about it (and thanks for making me think about it), I suspect that a large portion of the problems I had with Peters in GOODBYE GIRL were due to her co-star.
The three times I've seen Martin Short in musicals (GOODBYE GIRL, LITTLE ME and the Encores' PROMISES, PROMISES), he's had absolutely zero chemistry with his leading lady. He always acts against them, as opposed to with them. And they seem to just give up and deliver a non-performance (Faith Prince certainly did this in LITTLE ME -- it was one of the most bizarre performances I've ever seen. She might as well have been filing her nails).
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#76
Posted: 12/31/04 at 11:35pm
Very interesting observation. I loved Short, but I am a big fan of his in general. You could be right on that.
As far as Prince, the only thing I've seen her in onstage was GUYS AND DOLLS, and while my first exposure to Nathan Lane was a fabulous experience, I couldn't stand her.
Broadway Star Joined: 11/2/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#77
Posted: 12/31/04 at 11:41pm
Yeah, I love Short too, and loved him in all three of those shows. I just now realized that I didn't like any of his co-stars in those productions, and they all displayed similar behavior. But this is just a theory.
Ms. Prince might not be a good indicator, however. She totally walked through the performance of BELLS ARE RINGING that I saw. After spending 90 bucks to see her walk through LITTLE ME, and then another $90 to see her phone in her Ella Peterson (pun intended 
), I'm a little wary of Faith Prince.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#78
Posted: 12/31/04 at 11:45pmPrince definitely didn't "walk through" Adelaide - but she was annoying as all get-out. And not in the way Adelaide SHOULD be. I saw the Paper Mill production this past summer, and Karen Ziemba was quite miscast but I preferred her Adelaide 200%. Prince was a plastic one-note clown. Ziemba was human.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#79
Posted: 1/1/05 at 12:14am
Rath;
How come you didn't throw on your mink and hit the town? Girl; go bring in the new year!
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#80
Posted: 1/1/05 at 12:17amStaying in this year, Dame - my usual New Year's Eve cohorts are out of town this year, and I didn't have the motivation to go find another party. I hope you have big plans though!
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#81
Posted: 1/1/05 at 3:27amI've heard people say that Bernadette was "miscast" as Rose. This implies to me a preconceived notion of what Rose should look like, talk like, sing like, act like. The wonder of the theater is that we have the opportunity to see many different types of actors play roles, sometimes those which might be considered a "stretch" for them, and triumph in them. I saw Miss Peters as Rose in March and she was superb! The key to her performance was that behind the pushiness and seeming strength was a woman with vulnerability, and that is what made her so touching to me. I also felt that she was probably the first Rose who gave the impression that she might have had the looks and charm and charisma to become a star herself, and that made her living through her daughters that much more poignant to me. As to Arthur Laurent's opinion of her, I will now post his exact words from the liner notes which he wrote for the CD.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#82
Posted: 1/1/05 at 3:28am
Arthur Laurents on Gypsy and Bernadette Peters as Rose:
"A Rose is a Rose unlike any other Rose in a production of Gypsy. Although the show is called Gypsy (contractually, it has to be), its center is not Gypsy Rose Lee but her mother, the now infamous Mme. Rose. What has made each of the four Broadway productions unlike the others stems from the interpretations of that larger-than-life, Lear-like central character. That's why each production has come to be known by the name of its first Rose: the Ethel Merman Gypsy in 1957, the Angela Lansbury in 1973, the Tyne Daly in 1989 and now, in 2003, the Bernadette Peters.
"The perception of Rose and the show itself have changed considerably with time. What are arguably the most exhilarating overture and surprising star entrance in musical theatre set the tone of razzle-dazzle that electrifies Gypsy, even in its most dramatic moments. In the Merman Gypsy, the dazzle was so emphasized that it half-blinded the audience to the ferocity of Rose and the serious purpose of the show. Even so, the audience back then often found the show too relentlessly tough for a musical. But the times changed and the audience changed: it was more than ready for a show whose tone was changing enormously. The razzle-dazzle that makes the show so enjoyable always remained; actually, it even intensified scenically, in Louise's strip and in "Rose's Turn.” But it was each new Rose who raised the show to a higher, more challenging emotional level. Each brought out new dimensions and contradictions in Rose: her dimness and her shrewdness, her ability to commit any crime short of murder to fulfill her ferocious ambition and her inability to realize anything Rose did could possibly be wrong: her desperation and her angry frustration; her inherited prudishness and her unabashed sexuality; and finally, with Bernadette Peters, her unexpected, aching vulnerability. The monster was also a touching human being.
"Bernadette Peters has a beautiful, wide-ranging voice but it is the effortless, nuanced singing of the actress that enables her to use each of her songs in Gypsy to bring out another element of Rose. In her furiously paced "Some People,” it's the driving determination; in "Small World." the sly humor; in "You’ll Never Get Away From Me." the flirtatious sexuality. But it's in her two great numbers--one that ends the first act, the other that comes just before the end of the second--that she uses all her tremendous power as both singer and actress to flesh out a surprisingly complex Rose. In "Everything's Coming Up Roses," the depth of her scary anger and the crazed blindness of her ambition are both frightening and thrilling. "Rose's Turn" is a revelation. The defiant Rose, the success-starved Rose, the vulgar, jazzy Rose --they're all there, only to crumble into a confused, bewildered, frightened Rose who doesn't understand why she was knocked out, but nevertheless is still the Rose who will not go quietly into anybody's night. It's a devastating performance."
Updated On: 1/1/05 at 03:28 AM
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#83
Posted: 1/1/05 at 3:41am
I don't care to read what everyone else said, but I really enjoyed Bernie as Mama.
Even in theory, I liked the idea of her in that role.
I thoroughly enjoyed her entrance.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/12/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#84
Posted: 1/1/05 at 7:33am
We saw the show October 03. It is my favourite show of all time and I've loved Bernadette for years. We'd only ever seen her in concert and the taped 'SITPWG' and 'ITW' so you can guess how much we were looking forward to the show. We had front row seats and we loved her in the role. As as been said before, a really different take on the usual 'battle axe' but we all said the most believable Rose we'd seen.
It's interesting that I played the cast recording for a friend who loves the show but didn't see the Peters version. He really didn't like the recording and after 'Everything's Coming Up Roses' he remarked that Peters sounded 'desperate'. I couldn't believe he'd chosen that word because that's the very one we used in the intermission after seeing her perform it. That scene was perhaps my favourite. She made sense of the whole scene - I particularly loved how Mendes had lit her during the dialogue between Herbie and Louise, Rose downstage front with no dialogue and subtley lit so that you could see her go through the whole range of emotions before she picked up her dialogue. When I've seen that staged before, Rose always takes June's letter upstage to read and it loses impact. This time it really packed a punch - it was Rose's scene completely, even when she didn't have dialogue and the angry reading of the number itself was just an extension of what you'd seen her go through.
I've sen all Mendes' productions at the Donmar and this was no disappointment. He always 'strips away' the stuff so that you're left dealing with the characters. He has some great touches - loved June smoking in Grantziger's office - to suggest a character in very simple strokes. I think, therefore, that much credit for Bernadette's interpretation must go to him.
Anyway, I'm sure you'll have guessed by now just how thrilled we were by the production.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#85
Posted: 1/1/05 at 1:08pmWell i guess theres lots of different opinions on this production. Which is great, How nice it has been to have a healthy discussion about something other than Idina rocks or is mean at the stage door. ( Oy). As I had said before I didn't care for the production or her in it. But I am glad others did. I wish I had. And as for Laurents opinions on her; he is just that.. a very opinionated man whos take on things change from day to day. All you have to do is read his book and other things he has written in past to know that. At the DGA talk that was mentioned earlier in this thread he mentioned Tyne Daly as his favorite Rose so far. I loveed Tyne, hated Linda Lavins take, and loved Angela Lansburys but was very young when I saw it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#86
Posted: 1/1/05 at 1:23pmYeah, he loved Tyne Daly's performance after torturing her for eight months on the road, and threatening to fire her repeatedly.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#87
Posted: 1/1/05 at 2:05pm
Mag,
I don't know where you get that info; but I assure you .. as someone that represents Tyne currently your comment is simply NOT TRUE.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#88
Posted: 1/1/05 at 2:10pmDame, I'm with you on Linda Lavin. Just...awful.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#89
Posted: 1/1/05 at 2:10pm
Okay, for my 2 cents worth:
I thought she sucked through act 1, completely phoning in the performance. I actually whispered over to my friend "SPACE-TIME-BREATH!" during the scene with Pop leading up to Some People. She did regain herself during Rose's Turn, but with probably the most amazing musical theatre song written, anyone can sound amazing on that song.
Funny little story: When I bought the recording and played it for the head of the theatre dept at my college (who had directed me in Gypsy a few summers prior) he said. "Interesting, I didn't know she was playing Rose as a drunk."
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#90
Posted: 1/2/05 at 11:07amWe use that cd as a coaster. Along with a Lyle Lovett cd someone had the nerve to give us.
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/18/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#91
Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:18pm
"Interesting, I didn't know she was playing Rose as a drunk."
That is exactly how she sounds in the recording. I always looked for the right word to describe what she sounded like.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#92
Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:36pmI thought is was more like she was on 420.
Joined: 12/31/69
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#93
Posted: 1/2/05 at 1:55pmI personally absolutely LOVED Bernadette in this role. (my opinion) Personally, I felt that she gave the character so much umph and pizazz and such a different and amazing interpretation, which is what actors do. She gave a phenomenal performance the evening I went to see it and i was blown away. She was right on. I did see it later in her run, which could have had an effect, or maybe i've just been a Bernadette fan for too long that I can think of anything of hers as bad, but i REALLY enjoyed this show soooo much. I love this musical so much and Bernadette being in it just added more to my love of it. I can't wait to see what she does next, after her concerts.
Joined: 12/31/69
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#94
Posted: 1/2/05 at 3:37pmI thought she was so horrid I was embarrassed for her. And for the record.. I saw it right before it was suppose to close the first time.
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#95
Posted: 1/2/05 at 4:01pmI saw her dozens of times, and each time she was better than the next. Previews were definitely rough - and I agree, when you see a show one time, you have to judge it based on what you saw - obviously. But the truth is her performance went from about a 5 to a 13 (out of 10) by the time the show closed. The entire production was brilliant - dark and sadly real - the was it should have been done years ago. I thought it was remarkable. It didn't deserve the Tony over NINE, but she certainly deserved the Tony of Marissa.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#96
Posted: 1/2/05 at 5:19pmNO WAY! The production itself was mediocre and poorly directed. The whole thing seemed uninspired and tedious.
Featured Actor Joined: 9/30/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#97
Posted: 1/2/05 at 6:13pm
I wasn't particularly thrilled by this production of Gypsy. I enjoyed it well enough though. I enjoyed many of the actors. Thought Tammy Blanchard was a great Louise, Kate Reinders offered up an adequately cynical June, and the Gimmick trio was solid. I thought the others were forgettable.
I don't think Bernadette was awful and she was clearly getting over a cold when I saw her. I didn't think she was amazing or totally convincing, but I liked her. She seemed to humanize Rose and scale it down so she came off very small in the role though. I thought her first scene was great, during the talent competition. She seemed most comfortable and in her element during Small World because it was a classic Bernadette moment. She gave a good Everything's Coming Up Roses and Rose's Turn.
My problem with her overall portrayal was that the moments when she should've felt larger than life, she fell short. Rose is losing it at Everything's Coming Up Roses. Bernadette was intense and did just fine, but it never came off as disturbing or distressing as it should've been. Her Rose's Turn wasn't devastating and didn't come off as effective as it should've been. Her more subtle takes didn't seem to work and I wasn't really feeling her. I wasn't moved. However, I still think she did a fine, adequate job, not the trainwreck it seems to be considered.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/15/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#98
Posted: 1/2/05 at 8:35pmBut adequate doesn't quite cut it in this role, on broadway, and at those ticket prices.
Featured Actor Joined: 9/30/04
re: Bernadette in GYPSY#99
Posted: 1/2/05 at 8:47pmAll true. Which is probably why it closed as a flop.
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