Exposing the orchestra during "Rose's Turn" — Page 2

Don't quote me on this, but I don't think the St. James has a traditional pit. For The Producers, the pit had to play in various "rooms" on the upper floors of the theater, conducted on television monitors and the sound was piped into the house electronically.

So they removed the pit and added some more seats for GYPSY?

...cool.

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Regarding composers conducting opening nights in the olden days, most did. Rodgers did, I think. Gershwin did. Bernstein conducted West Side's opening night.

SoundheimGeek: That was a fascinating article from the Times, if somewhat frightening. The next logical step might be to do away with a live orchestra altogether and just use recorded music, if it weren't for the powerful musicians' union. Bring back the natural sound of an un-miked pit band!

ljay889: I don't think having Rose sing a few snippets of "Small World" takes away anything from "Rose's Turn" in terms of the impact on the audience. If anything it sets up the tension for the final number. And after all it is in the original script, along with Rose reaching for Herbie's hand and holding it as she says, "Don't leave Herbie...I need you."

As for the "rape scene", I don't recall Rose using the word
"rape". She opens her dressing gown a bit and reacts with faux hysteria. It IS supposed to be funny and adds to the general comic confusion of the scene. So why did Laurents cut it?

And while we're at it, what possessed Laurents to change the Minsky's strip number from "A Salute to Christmas" (from the original 1959 production) to "The Garden of Eden"(used in all subsequent productions)? The "Minsky's Salute to Christmas" is far funnier, tacky and hilarious, with its slithering showgirls' boobs covered with Christmas ornaments, as they stand draped around a giant Christmas tree. Louise is brought out in a large package which she pops out of. My only guess is that 15 showgirls cost too much money.

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I had also heard at one point that the reason the strip in the original production wasn't as long (i.e. no ecdysiast monologue) was because either Laurents or Robbins, I can't remember which, did not particularly care for Sandra Church and thus tried to give her as little as possible. Whether this is true or just the product of bitchy theatre queens passing down gossip over the years I can't tell you.

As for the Small World Reprise, it is very possible to play the scene without crying. Rose is left alone for one of the few times in the show, and for her to let a little emotion come out then would not diminish her character in the least. I think Herbie really cuts her to the quick when he points out how she is pushing Louise away. The best performance of that scene that I have seen was Alene Robertson who went into this quiet state of shock, but as soon as Louise came back in, she snapped right out of it and drove "You are going to be a star!" with such ferocity that you became almost afraid of her.

Sandra Church was cast for her acting over Anne Bancroft and Carol Lawrence. The one who disliked her was Merman because Church was having an affair with Jule Styne.
The talking for GYPSY's strip was added for Zan Charise, as Laurents had wanted because the real Gypsy Rose Lee spoke in her act.

The orchestra onstage is not an artistic choice. Every ENCORES show has the orchestra onstage and it is just cheaper to keep it that way especially for GYPSY because if the orchestra wasn't there the show would be played in front of a curtain since there is very lttle scenery.
MONEY talks.