Bernadette vs. Patti as Rose

Because in Show Queen hierarchy, Patti>Bernadette.

Plus, Patti can sing pretty flawlessly compared to Bernadette. I prefer Bernie as an actress, but singing I say Patti gets it. However, Bernadette I feel is more expressive singing and has warmth by the buckets.

However, I think it comes down to you just not seeing past whatever flaws Bernadette had, whereas many feel LuPone was stronger and that the role fit her like a glove.

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For me, it's not really about a comparison.

Rose is just one of those roles that I want to see every divas interpretation of. I, to this day, still flip flop on my favorites between Merman, Russell, Lansbury Daly, and Midler.

I never saw Betty's but from bootlegs it had it's own flair.

Bernadette's was actually quite good, I thought, especially after she lost the Tony. That gave her that bitter hunger she lacked early in the run.

Patti is a perfect Rose to me, so I am thrilled to possibly get to see it. I was heartbroken I didn't get to see it in Chicago.

Andrea McCardle, well...ok, fine, I can't even get through the rest of that sentence.

I'd also love to see some less conventional Rose's someday. I think Debra Monk would be great! Christine Ebersole would be fascinating.

The thing I'm truly waiting for, and still believe will happen one day, is Barbra's Rose! That is the Crown Jewel, to me, of all possible diva experiences.

arent you the one who started the big "help me understand patti lupone" thread last year?

PoI, I took a friend of mine to the first preview of CURTAINS, and afterward she asked me, with disbelief, why Debra Monk has never played Rose. It does seem a perfect fit for some high-end regional production.

That said, I worked on the Daly production and have a very sentimental attachment to it. As big of a Peters fan as I am, I was reluctant to see her Rose. However, she absolutely blew me away on every level. I think she was stunning and, frankly, more dimensional than Daly.

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Not true. I understand Peters had some off times where she wasn't able to make it through so well, but the night I saw her she completely nailed it. You can't even compare someone who's a true singer like she is with Daly who acted her way through the songs, with a very weak voice. And I saw Daly perform the role dozens of times.

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Updated On: 3/19/07 at 09:16 AM

Personally I do not like either, my FAVORITE Mama Rose is and will always be Bette Midler!

Then give me an arguement as to why that statement is true.

If we're going by merit alone, then my arguement is solid.

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but her voice is not a Mama Rose voice.

I don't really understand that at all, unless you felt that Merman didn't have a Mama Rose voice, either. While I'm not saying the two are identical, I think they're cut from the same cloth in terms of that bombastic powerful voice.

I didn't see Peters so I can't compare the two, but LuPone was simply sensational as Rose.

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Personally, I don't feel one way or another. Someone else made the initial statement. All I'm saying is that the "Diva A has more Tony Awards than Diva B" argument is silly. There are so many variables involved in a person winning a Tony Award. Each year there are different nominees. When Patti won for EVITA, she was up against different performances than Bernadette was the year that she won for SONG & DANCE, and a different group of performances the year that she won for ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. Not to mention that award wins are subjective. A Tony Award statuette does not a Diva make.

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Why is everyone trying to "understand" why some might like Patti and others might prefer Bernadette. Its called an opinion for a reason. I loved Bernadette and from what I saw of Patti, I enjoyed it and am very much looking foward to seeing her live. You know, it is possible to like two different people in the same character...

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I could only judge Bernadette from the Broadway Revival Cast recording, and I felt Bernadette was simply awful on the CD. I know it's hard to act when you're just recording in front of a mic, but I didn't know Bernadette wanted to play Rose was a drunk.

I heard she added a lot of warmth to Rose and made her more human, so I wish I could have seen it live. However, Bernadette never really screams motherly warmth. She always seems to be baby-voiced coy.

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^Did you see her brilliant performance on the Tonys the year she was nominated? I'd say that's a fair representation of her work in the show.

I wouldn't say Bernadette necessarily brought warmth to the role so much as vulnerability. It's not a quality most people would associate with Mama Rose, but the character would be awfully one dimensional without vulnerability, and Peters found those private moments to reveal that humanity. Her "Rose's Turn" was really a nervous breakdown--the level of vulnerability she found in that moment was extremely powerful.

And yes, Bernadette Peters is coy and cute, but she was still playing Mama Rose. She charmed and wheedled her way into everything, and it completely worked. I feel like some people have a very set idea of what Mama Rose "should" be that is not necessarily backed by the text, so people often dismiss Peters as the wrong type.



But count me in on the people who see no need for a comparison here. Bernadette Peters' Rose is the greatest performance I've had the privilege to see on stage, and I'm excited beyond words to see Patti in the role. But they're very different performers, and one can appreciate the different colors each actress is able to bring out in the role.