Bernadette's Legendary Tony Performance

To say that she blew the town away with her performance of the modified Rose's Turn on the Tony awards is likely an understatement.

She was simply thrilling.

Bernadette Peters joins the very few electrifying moments of Tony broadcasts:

Jennifer Holiday in Dreamgirls

Michael Jeter in Grand Hotel

Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur recreating Bosom Buddies from Mame

and now

Bernadette Peters in Gypsy doing Rose's Turn

How wonderful for all of us that we got to see and via our video recorders rewatch this masterful moment that will go down in show business history.

---

Exactly! One of the best, if not best performances for a Tony Broadcast that I have ever seen. The fact that she was able to do that song without 2 hours of the play leading up to it is a true testament to the fact that she can do anything she sets her sights on.

was there also a cut from the show version? seemed like it.

---

OKay,
let me way in. I promise to be nice.
I still maintain that the only part of the song that gave me chills was the stammered 'mammas' section. Her version of those lines have been the only time where I have been able to tell what those lines meant in the performance of the actress. The rest of it felt off. Yes, she was in good voice compared to what she must have been like in theatre sometimes, but it felt off. Acting wise, I saw her take on Rose. Vocally, however, she had too many Bernadette-isms. No matter what she did, it was Bernadette singing, not Mamma Rose. And don't say that it is ok becasue she is Bernadette. In Hairspray, Harvey makes you totally forget it is him and all you see is Edna. At the end, when she did the foot stomp, it made me think of a pissed off five year old, not a pissed off mother.

If Bernadette stamping her foot reminded you of a pissed off five year old, whatever would you have thought of Tyne Daly slapping the stage with her hand in her performance of "Rose's Turn"?

---

Huh? It was Bernadette singing? Of course it was her voice, she was singing. And so was Harvey. It still sounded like Harvey. I'm completely dumbfounded by your comment. How does that make any sense. She wasn't Mama Rose cause she sounded like Bernadette? But Harvey was Edna cause he sounded exactly like Harvey? Please explain.

Thanks so much for yet another invaluable post about the legendary Ms. Peter's revolutionary performance on the Tonys. I haven't read anything else about how wonderful she was on on this site before your post. Maybe we should just do away with the acting Tonys as there will apparently never be another performance to ever equal hers.




move on.

I have to admit, she was sensational. And had she performed that well on April 17th when I saw the show in NYC, I would have had a different opinion of that play.
We saw Urinetown on the 16th which was FABULOUS, and then gypsy on the 17th which to put it mildly, stunk.
However it is obvious that it has become much, MUCH better and I wish i could see it again.....