Betty Buckley in "Gypsy" — Page 3

And those of us who were there from New York knew that we would see her do it again, to great acclaim, but that it would never be as special as it was that night.

Don't say that...

I was in Guatemala and could not fully appreciate three days of the expierience thanks to Patti in Gypsy.

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"And those of us who were there from New York knew that we would see her do it again, to great acclaim," How did you know that? That decision wasn't made until weeks later.

"but that it would never be as special as it was that night." I hope you mean for you personally.

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I agree with you totally, MB. I was not at Ravinia, but I have seen the clips too and I wasn't impressed at all (and I LOVE Patti). She seemed... "fake" to me. Maybe it was the video and seeing it live would have been much different.. according to the majority of the people who did see it and loved her.

I also saw Tyne and thought she was GREAT in the role.. her Rose was spot on. Her singing voice did have an impact on how much I liked her though.. I wanted her to be able to sing the score better than she did.

I also saw Bernadette and I have to say out of all the Rose's I've seen, I liked her's best. I liked her new interpretation and LOVED hearing the score sung the way it should be.

I never saw Betty do Rose, but I have heard a bit of it. It sounded too harsh, too cold for the role. Betty is very intense in everything she does.. and I think that would tend to make a very one dimensional Rose.

I had a good time seeing the show at Ravinia, but it was, after all, only for 3 nights. I didn't expect her to be as good as she could be with as much preparation and time to get into the role as she would have doing it on Broadway and, to me, she wasn't. I'm not saying that I don't think there are people on this board who think she gave a terrific performance, but it doesn't seem unlikely to me that there are some people who just want to be able to say that they saw a great performance from a star in one of the few performances (so far, anyway) they gave in an amazing role.

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According to Rathnait, we will. And, from what I'm hearing, Rathnait is right.

And Rath--no, I'm afraid I meant what I said. The Chicago-ans who were there that night were longtime subscribers who had been seeing Patti each summer in the Sondheim concerts for the past 5 (?) years. Seeing her and hearing her do Passion, Sweeney, Night Music and Candide had been wonderful experiences, but this one had the feeling of theater history being made, not just for Chicago or San Francisco or PBS but for Gypsy itself.

Everyone KNEW this was just the beginning, that Patti would go on to do the role again and again and again, and that each time she did, she would re-define the role for our generation. And that Ravinia concert would be remembered as the where-it-all-began, the culmination and crowning performace in her 5-year-long association with Ravinia and Chicago and Sondheim.

Even Arthur seems to have come around--and for those of us who know him and loathe him, that's nothing short of a miracle.

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"The Chicago-ans who were there that night were longtime subscribers who had been seeing Patti each summer in the Sondheim concerts for the past 5 (?) years. Seeing her and hearing her do Passion, Sweeney, Night Music and Candide had been wonderful experiences, but this one had the feeling of theater history being made, not just for Chicago or San Francisco or PBS but for Gypsy itself"

Whoa. That's heavy. Count me as extremely unimpressed by Patti's Rose... as seen on that sunday night that is supposed to have had only one unhappy customer. I think she could very well do the role... maybe have the giant success you are suggesting... but it simply was not on display at Ravinia. (Obviously... this is my opinion)

While we are at it... count me as being extremely unimpressed by most of her Sondheim appearences at Ravinia (which did NOT include Candide, by the way). She was good in Sweeney but... I thought over the top and wrong in the concert incarnation... She WAS quite good in A Little Night Music... but I felt she was outshined by her co-stars. She was appropriately pathetic in Passion... Sunday in the Park was good... but... where was she in that? One wonders why she didn't play George's mother in the first act as her Beautiful might have been something special... no? She was alright in Anyone Can Whistle... but that was really the Audra show... I think... and that role should have been OWNED by Patti... but... no. I just don't think her Gypsy was all that realised... and I am mildly shocked at your very well articulated enthusiastic response. To be sure... I thought she was good... but not as thrilling as Buckley's audio recording of Rose's Turn on the London concert.

kmc

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