Favorite GYPSY Production

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 7:13am

I have been listening to the cast recordings and watching footage available online of the multiple productions of GYPSY. There have definitely been quite a few. Which production of GYPSY was your favorite, and why? Which Rose was your favorite, and why? It's fascinating that there have been so many different productions with different portrayals of Rose...

I'm also in hearing about the different directorial and design choices taken for each production. I have seen Gypsy done professionally, but, unfortunately, never on Broadway.

1959 Broadway Original Production - Ethel Merman

1973 West End Production/ 1974 Broadway Revival - Angela Lansbury 

1989 Broadway Revival - Tyne Daly

2003 Broadway Revival - Bernadette Peters

2008 Broadway Revival - Patti LuPone

2015 West End Revival - Imelda Staunton 

 

Updated On: 3/7/21 at 07:13 AM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 8:25am

I find Roses and Norma Desmonds are like pizza. I always find something to love about each. Even when pizza is less that great, I always enjoy it because it’s pizza (cheese, sauce, carb).

Each actress makes different choices and I find that fascinating. With Gypsy, you’re almost guaranteed a great time with all those songs. I don’t like putting actresses against each other.

I saw Bernadette and Patti and each were thrilling. I wonder what Imelda would have felt like had I seen her in a theatre rather than at home on TV. I’m sure it was different.

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 9:42am

Rosalind Russell and Bette Midler are not choices?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 3:27pm

For once I would love to see a thread discussing who their favorite Louise is because this topic right here comes up every 2.5 seconds on this board or so it seems.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 4:23pm

CarlosAlberto said: "For once I would love to see a thread discussing who their favorite Louise is because this topic right here comes up every 2.5 seconds on this board or so it seems."

Then why don't you start your own thread? It's not like anyone is stopping you.

[bwaylvsong1]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 4:27pm

Having seen the Bernadette and Patti productions, I would put Patti’s supporting cast in Bernadette’s physical production and have the two of them alternate in the role.

[binau]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 5:16pm

There is so many interesting things I find about the two most recent Broadway revivals^ both on and off-stage that I really appreciate the existence of both and like Bettyboy72 would describe it as different flavours of enjoyable food rather than something that necessarily outshines the other. ^ Sadly I never saw either ‘live’, although I have seen the Bernadette revival at the Lincoln Archive and have ‘seen’ videos of the LuPone production. Plus have listened to countless audio recordings, the cast albums etc. 

In terms of the Sam Mendes/Bernadette revival - the whole way it was conceived and the drama surrounding the production is something that greatly adds to the experience/subtext listening to the cast album for me.

First, regardless of the actual outcomes there is something so prestigious about a hot young Sam Mendes riding the wave of Cabaret & American Beauty directing my favourite Broadway star ever in a revival of a ‘Sondheim’ (et al.) musical that is often described as the greatest musical of all time, or at the very least, the greatest female musical role of all time. And this production and role for Bernadette was not just another gig - it seems like she really, really wanted to play the role - since according to one of the Broadway backstage podcasts she cried with anxiety/self-doubt while she was rehearsing “Some People” for her Carnegie Hall concert, afraid that people would criticise her performance and stop her from doing the role that she wanted to play some day.

Having started her career as a teenager in one of the National tours of Gypsy - you can just imagine the nostalgia she might have felt for the show. And having established a deep working relationship with Stephen Sondheim - Sunday in the Park With George relaunching her Broadway career and helping her develop into one of the great Broadway female musical stars of all time, repeating the collaboration with ‘Into the Woods’, doing the ‘Anyone Can Whistle’ concert, recording ‘Evening Primrose’ with Mandy, and dedicating her Carnegie hall debut to Stephen Sondheim (with derivatives of this concert still performed today)- it seems only natural that she just had to continue this with Gypsy. Additionally, I find it doubly interesting that she wasn’t even the first choice for the Sam Mendes Gypsy. Who was? None other than Patti LuPone. H

However, Arthur Laurents was bitter at LuPone who turned down one of his plays and refused to let her perform the role in ‘New York’. Instead, it was Arthur Laurents himself who pitched Bernadette for the role. Indeed, Patti never saw Bernadette in Gypsy because ‘she was pissed off’ as ‘Sam Mendes offered me the role’ - ‘I have the letters in my scrapbook, and ‘he offered me the role’. However, ‘something happened where we didn’t hear for months and it was announced in the paper that Bernadette would be doing it’. Patti: ‘I picked up the phone and called Sam Mendes….who wasn’t available. Sam wrote to me and I got a very cold letter. Arthur wanted Bernadette to play the part and so I was out. But nobody told me’.

So Bernadette is in. But the drama of the production is starting to unfold - Michael Riedel is reporting from rehearsals that Bernadette may not have the voice to do the role and that Arthur Laurents (and potentially Sondheim, although I don’t recall Sondheim ever speaking publicly about this) are not happy with the direction of the production, or Bernadette’s performance. Arthur Laurents wrote extensively about this in his book Mainly on Directing, where he throws Sam Mendes under a bus and says he ‘didn’t have the musical in his bones’ and cites some specific grievances if I recall correctly, such as Sam Mendes breaking the Overture & first scene with an eerie stage hand sweeping the stage [part of Sam Mendes’ show within a show concept], losing the humour of the hotel room scene when there are ‘no walls’ and you can see everyone coming, and scenery chewing in ‘You Gotta Get a Gimmick’ as examples. Despite criticising the production deeply, he does acknowledge that Bernadette was good in the part, especially by the end (if you listen to her closing performance of Rose’s Turn on YouTube you can indeed see she grew into the role) and has always spoke highly of her ability to act while singing and breaking the mould of the role.

My current take of the production is that the Sam Mendes staging was rather pedestrian - I don’t think the show within a show concept was fully realised/added much, although I think showing Bernadette mouthing along to the child performances offstage is an important reflection of her character. And despite it feeling a little ‘stripped down’ compared to previous productions in terms of set pieces, it was still in my opinion a full and tasteful staging of the production (cf. The LuPone revival, which was truly stripped down version done on the cheap though almost seemed more intimate and play-like to me). I think part of why it might have seemed so pedestrian is because actually Arthur Laurents stopped Sam Mendes from making radical interpretations or changes to the staging. Bernadette’s Tulsa, David Burtka, said in an interview the show as performed was not the show Sam Mendes wanted. He described Sam Mendes’ vision of the show as essentially a ‘Cabaret’ Gypsy - dark, gritty, raw. He described Sam Mendes wanting to have Rose’s Turn end with Bernadette completely fractured with makeup streaming down her face. Arthur wouldn’t have it. Details below:

 

>>>What was it like working with cranky-ass Laurents in Gypsy? It was......well, I have lots of stories but I probably can't really tell them. There was this time where he invited me over to his house and, ended up - it was crazy. It was kind of upsetting, Sam had this vision of what Gypsy was supposed to be in his mind - it being the new Cabaret. Being really dark and dirty. Had a cigarette and was feeling up the strippers. It was going to that Cabaret version of Gypsy -  what that backstage gritty, dirty, not-so-nice vaudeville feel. And Arthur Laurents came in and said no you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't do that. And Sam was like, I hate you. I can't - what are you doing to my show? 

>>>So you mean it changed before it opened? Oh yeah, big time. Like, at the end of the show - he wanted Bernadette - I don't know if I should be saying this, but he wanted Bernadette to be really just mascara running, and ugly, and mean, and raw. But it just wasn't allowed, so it was kind of unfortunate.

>>>Arthur Laurents had that kind of power? He said you can't have massacre running? Yes. But I mean, working with Sam was amazing and Arthur Laurents - he was a tricky guy. That's all I'll say about him. ——----

In terms of Bernadette’s performance itself, one of the challenges of describing it is that throughout the run she didn’t always give the same performance. During previews, she was fighting an infection, having missed several performances and experiencing some vocal issues - which is evident on the (only, sadly) widely shared bootleg of early previews where you can hear her struggling through the score, especially “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (which I think is the song out of the three big ones she always struggled with most). However, there is also something a bit heartbreaking and interesting that Bernadette’s Rose here and in other moments is really, really trying to give her absolute all to the role and this score. Bernadette would apparently barely speak backstage to save her voice throughout the run, and there is something tragic like the character of Rose herself that Bernadette really had to try very very hard and make sacrifices to be in that position and deliver this performance. She literally was sacrificing her personal life to dedicate herself for this role.

When Bernadette was in good vocal health and not sick appeared to really be on it. David Burka said “She was amazing every night - but when it had to count, it counted. When the NYtimes were in the audience it was the best performance you'd ever see in your entire life.” Indeed, the NYTimes rave from what I can see of all her performances was probably the single greatest notice she received from the NYTimes in her entire career. The cast recording in my opinion is quite close to the performance she delivered on opening night (based on an audio of that evening, where Michael Bloomberg even gave an opening speech). Her “Some People” is driven and desperate, powerful - though her voice not quite as powerful as when she performed it years earlier at Carnegie Hall. Her “Coming Up Roses” is desperate and scary, though vocally you can hear she really is trying to give every breath and energy she can. No one captures the sexiness and can make “Small World”, a bit of a throwaway song, into a fully fledged play-song like she can. 



Her “Rose’s Turn” in my opinion is a master class of acting and among the best work she has ever done. The ‘welllllllllllllll…..someone tell me when is it my turn don’t I get a dream for myself’ moment onwards kills me every time. And again, thinking of the offstage drama, there is something so poignant about Bernadette as Rose giving her all to show she ‘got it’, and then like the character itself so tragically overlooked that she didn’t even get a Tony for it. Kind of like how Effie’s big moment “And I am telling you” suddenly gets taken away by the Dreams singing ‘Love love me baby’, Bernadette is left behind. I watch Bernadette’s reaction to losing the Tony and wonder what must have been going through her head.

Bernadette’s Uncle Jocko Michael McCormick, who also came ‘full circle’ as the Judge to her Hello, Dolly, said that Bernadette was sadly having vocal issues throughout the Tony voting attendance period but deserved to win. By the end of the run, Bernadette “Rose’s Turn” as reflected on YouTube at least was even more intense and heartbreaking, and listening to her absolutely shred her voice through ‘for meeeeeeeeeee’ again I just find it so moving and thrilling.

In any case, Bernadette in my opinion was generally MUCH MUCH MUCH stronger vocally than any record I see of Tyne Daly playing the role, who was a non-singer - and Imelda Staunton. So I always find it bizarre that she is singled out as not having the voice in the role whereas people don’t seem to have an issue with Tyne Daly or Staunton. I think the Staunton hypocrisy is something that bothers me especially as it continued with ‘Follies’. Bernadette sings the full score in the proper keys with an amazing, rich, beautiful and distinctive timbre (even if she was challenged by the score). Staunton’s weak head voice was serviceable at best and in the case of the lower-key Too Many Mornings, butchered at worst (though I enjoyed her Losing My Mind). Yet no one seems to care, and as one scathing review on cast albums put it Staunton sang it ‘(and frankly more pleasantly than Bernadette Peters managed on the cast recording of the most recent Broadway revival, although that isn’t a high bar to clear)’. Maybe I’m just a rapid fan, but my instinct is that some people really do not understand the artistry in Bernadette’s voice and performances because over the years musical theatre voices have become more homogenous and more grounded in homogenous ‘training’ that seem not to encourage individual expression and artistry. I don’t know how you can dismiss her so quickly. Bernadette’s artistry may be unusual but at least it doesn’t have “No Life”.

Overall, the role made a mark on Bernadette who recently (201 described it as as therapy and the most interesting role she’d ever played. “Rose in Gypsy was like going through therapy for me. Playing Rose helped me put a lot of emotions to bed. There was so much lacking in Rose and that's why she had to prove herself through her children. [interviewer]In ways that reminded you of your mom?[/interviewer]. Let's just say the role was very interesting for me. That one was the most interesting [I've ever played]”

I also am mindful that this would be the last Broadway performance that her husband would ever see of hers before he died. Tragic. 

——

 

Now, onto the Patti revival. First, one of the major differences in personal motivation between Bernadette and Patti is it seems that unlike Bernadette, Patti was not actually desperate to play the role. “My association with Gypsy - everybody thinks I was determined to play Madam Rose. I wasn’t, Gypsy was not one of those shows I felt I had to play this or I’ll die. I didn’t understand Madam Rose”.

 

My understanding is that the Patti production, which had a couple previous incarnations - never had Broadway as an end-goal in sight. It all started as a Lonny Price concert that she didn’t need Arthur Laurents’ permission to do because it wasn’t in New York. Arthur Laurents was sent a recording of her singing Some People/Coming Up Roses/Rose’s Turn and liked what he heard. So bizarrely, he ended up lifting the grudge and not only allowing Patti to do the role in New York, but leading her in New York at Encores! as this kind of weird passion project as a dying wish to his partner to correct the ‘wrongs’ of the Sam Mendes production (lol), which then went to Broadway. (This production and history is well documented in Arthur Laurents’ Mainly on Directing and Patti LuPone’s own memoir).

Unlike the Sam Mendes production, this production was genuinely very very scaled back and done on a minimal budget - from what I can see, there was almost nothing to it in terms of physical production at all and even the Lamb wasn’t real. The stage itself was much smaller than I realised because the orchestra was sitting on stage behind a curtain. However, one of the positive aspects of this is it does feel a little more intimate and play-like to me. The real strength appears to be solely focussed on the performances, with Laura Benanti in particular giving a much stronger performance in my opinion than was done in the previous revival.

And then it comes to Patti. One thing I find interesting about her is that she appears to have a fragile ego. When I have listened to podcasts describing what it is like to be her friend, she apparently really enjoys being told of her amazing talents. She also has publicly expressed self doubt before, describing the criticism she gets from Sondheim. I would not actually say Patti had a very close relationship with Sondheim like Bernadette did perhaps strengthened only later in her career - especially when she began performing in Sweeney Todd productions. Now between Sweeney Todd, Gypsy, and Company I think she could be considered to have some Sondheim connection but I don’t think it was ever like this before - having never made it to any of the original Sondheim productions she was going to be involved in at some stage (Sunday in the Park, Into the Woods, Passion) - and Sondheim never really spoke publicly with the same affection about her talents as he did for Bernadette. In fact even now her relationship with Sondheim seems so bizarre (from a recent NYTimes article).

 

>>>Do you still have doubts about Sondheim’s estimation of you? Always.

 

>>>Do you still care? Of course. He’s the master. Some actors don’t care. I do. I wanted validation. I think Stephen thinks I’m a strong person and — I don’t know. I’m speculating on what he thinks. I don’t know what he thinks. Maybe he took a dislike to me early on in my career. Maybe I’m making this whole thing up. Maybe he likes me. I don’t know. But I know that he’s happy with this production of “Company” and was happy with my performance. I think.

Anyway, this fragility expressed itself during the development of her Gypsy through stories she described such as her fear of the NYTimes review and whether they could change that when they went to Broadway, and crazy stories such as if I recall at one point her asking if they could not have an opening night or something like that?? My point is that she did not appear to go into this project necessarily expecting to have the success she did.

I think without thinking about any historical context the role clearly fit her voice and persona better than Bernadette’s did - her “Some People” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” in particular are so, so, so effortless and vocally strong they couldn’t feel more different in tone than Bernadette’s performance. Objectively of course Patti sang it better, especially Coming Up Roses. There is no question or controversy about this to me, it is what it is. There is something about her bowling through this performance in a way that feels so effortless (even though of course it probably involved a lot of hard work) and then winning the Tony so soon after Bernadette lost that just adds to the heartbreak of Bernadette’s performance though. I imagine a film adaption of this backstage story with Bernadette singing “this time for meeeee” fading into Patti’s crazy “meeeee” and then taking the Tony while Bernadette is left on the sidelines. It’s as if Patti finally got her moment to outshine Bernadette. Patti who said she would have been disappointed if she didn’t win a Tony for the role, which almost seemed like a subtle jab at Bernadette. Patti who when asked about if there is a freud with her and Bernadette says ‘she hardly knows the woman’ - not exactly helping dismiss it. Patti who was rejected from replacing Bernadette in Sunday, who wanted to play Cinderella in Into the Woods but was offered to play the Witch before ‘negotiations broke down’ and she had no role in the show while Bernadette showed up in her place [And then losing her Tony for Anything Goes to Baker’s Wife role in Into the Woods, which she still expresses disappointment in]. Patti who finally might have had the chance to originate a Sondheim role in “Passion” but instead went to do Sunset Boulevard and get completely burned and humiliated instead. Patti who wanted to do Annie Get Your Gun but then saw Bernadette do it - and win a Tony no less. Patti who was offered to play Rose by Sam Mendes and then watched Bernadette take the role from her. Finally, truly, Patti it was “this time, for [her] meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEE”.

The one area I think Bernadette might genuinely have still one-upped Patti for me is “Rose’s Turn”. I definitely don’t feel the heartbreak or devastation for Patti at all compared to what Bernadette did here. And the way Patti’s performance seems to vary from cast recording, to different audios/clips it’s really hard for me to understand exactly what Patti was doing here. But despite loving listening to Patti tear through those songs and me recognising objectively she sang it very well, perhaps the best ever on record to me (including Merman), there will always be a special place in my heart for Bernadette’s heartbreaking, tragic, off & on stage drama-filled, Tony-losing performance that can never be nor needs to be ’filled’ by another performance.

As a side note, the one other comparison point that is not often spoken about here although it doesn’t really mean much is that Bernadette’s revival was seen by more people, grossed more revenue and ran longer.

Updated On: 3/7/21 at 05:16 PM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 6:47pm

Qolbinau, I can't thank you enough for the very thorough and interested post. Everything you shared is incredibly fascinating.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 7:04pm

What a fascinating account golbinau.  Thanks for taking the time to share your insights.

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 11:20pm

Yes, thank you. I do remember reading that Peters was more similar in body shape/height to the real Rose as opposed to Merman, Russell, Lansbury, and Daly. This, I thought I read, was a plus on the creative side but an issue on the media side.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 3/7/21 at 11:31pm

All this talk of Sam Mendes makes me sad we will never see Natasha Richardson in the role.

[wiggum2]

Posted: 3/8/21 at 5:11pm

BroadwayNYC2 said: "All this talk of Sam Mendes makes me sad we will never see Natasha Richardson in the role."

Hmm... interesting but I don't see her as Rose but I would have gone seen it! Updated On: 3/8/21 at 05:11 PM

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 3/8/21 at 10:20pm

Golbinau!!! Thank you! So fascinating! I moved to nyc towards the end of LuPone’s run and saw it. And I immediately went home and bought another ticket for later in the week. I was just gobsmacked. I loved everything about it! (And I love production value which this one did not have ) but it felt like a play with music - expertly sung and acted.

[lightsarebrightonbroadway]

Posted: 3/9/21 at 12:41am

Patti's production was excellent! I would also love to see Cheno take on the role, would definitely be a different Rose than what we've seen before but there was definitely hints of what she could do in her Hairspray Live Performance! Thoughts?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/9/21 at 5:58am

lightsarebrightonbroadway said: "Patti's production was excellent! I would also love to see Cheno take on the role, would definitely be a different Rose than what we've seen before but there was definitely hints of what she could do in her Hairspray Live Performance! Thoughts?"

I was thinking recently about Chenoweth playing Rose!

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/9/21 at 1:15pm

bwayphreak234 said: "CarlosAlberto said: "For once I would love to see a thread discussing who their favorite Louise is because this topic right here comes up every 2.5 seconds on this board or so it seems."

Then why don't you start your own thread? It's not like anyone is stopping you."

You're absolutely right! And I really should refrain from posting anything on social media when I'm in a foul mood. 

 

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 3/9/21 at 4:39pm

2003 BroadwayRevival - Bernadette Peters

2008Broadway Revival - Patti LuPone

2015 West End Revival - Imelda Staunton

 

I don't remember much of the 2003 revival except for Bernadette Peters being one of the few Momma Rose's that drew the audience in by coiled intensity rather than hammering the audience into a bloody pulp. I remember admiring and enjoying her performance very much. 

 

The 2008 revival just made me feel threadbare, gay and old like the carpet at The Townhouse. I did like the trio of strippers and  "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" better than any production I've seen.

 

The 2015 revival brought out the musical's nightmarish take on showbiz better than any production I'd seen. Staunton was tiny, shrill and frenzied like a fly banging up against a window. The orchestrations were hideous, no strings, all brass. Was this a budgetary or Brechtian choice or a combination of both?

 

I like the movie the best out of the three revivals I've seen.

 

[binau]

Posted: 3/11/21 at 6:10pm

Inspired by this thread I decided to 'watch' LuPone's production again and I was surprised/forgot how funny and playful she appears to have been in the role. It makes her Rose so likeable (almost a little kooky), makes the relationship and chemistry with Herbie rather cute and adds more contrast to some of the intense scenes when they arise. Again it couldn't be any more different in tone than Sam Mendes/Bernadette Peters...Bernadette's Rose screams "Don't you laugh...don't you dare laugh" from the first scene and I don't feel you are ever given much of a light hearted break. It's rather desperate and intense throughout. 

[David10086]

Posted: 3/13/21 at 9:02am

Tyne Daly in 'Gypsy'.  One of the first musicals I saw on Broadway in May, 1991 and she made me fall in love with live musical theater.  What a performance !

 

One name missing from your list is 'Linda Lavin' who many say bombed in the show when she replaced Daly. Lavin, however, said she received a letter from Baby June, telling her she was the best 'Mama Rose' she ever saw performed by an actress. According to 'this letter'. Lavin had the real Mama Rose brought back to life. 

[binau]

Posted: 3/14/21 at 10:28am

Want to turn to the endings of 2003 Sam Mendes production vs 2008 Arthur Laurents, an example of totally different but in my opinion equally effective. 

In the Sam Mendes version, after Rose's Turn, Rose and Louise walk out of the theatre stage door* together. Rose looks sad and reflective, likely accepting that her dreams are never going to come true and takes one last look inside the theatre before closing the door one last time, forever. You can watch the scene on YouTube here. 

* The directional concept of the Sam Mendes vs Arthur Laurents production is one of the major differences. As mentioned briefly earlier, Sam Mendes' production is almost a 'show within a show' - after the overture the show opens in a dimly lit theatre with a visible stage wall behind and stage door. A stagehand slowly walks over to the side of the stage and adds a stage card for the Uncle Jocko scene. The actors move on to start the scene but are frozen and not in a spotlight, suddenly the spotlight comes on and the scene starts. Seems almost like a cinematic concept (see: Chicago film) of a stage production. 

This concept of each scene being a kind of vaudeville act continues throughout most of the show - and in scene changes the set pieces and moved on and off by visible stage hands in a choreographed way. In my opinion what is unclear is the payoff/meaning. Is framing the story in the same device as the show itself (a theatre piece) meant to make us feel that Rose's whole life is a facade, a theatre piece - or is there actually meant to be a more radical interpretation that wasn't fully realised such as that the actress who is walking out the theatre at the end is not actually Rose but someone else who is playing Rose inside this conceptual/theatrical world. Maybe imagining they are playing Rose and succeeding in their dreams inside this conceptual stage world but not literally Rose. Was this something that Sam Mendes was trying to do by making Bernadette's stage makeup run? Could he have had her takeoff her wig before she walked out the door to make this clear and fully flesh out the concept?

In any case, Arthur Laurents would never have let it happen. His take on the show is the interpretation that is much more clear: The story is actually happening on stage as we are seeing it take place. 



 

 



 

 



 



 



Meanwhile, the ending of the 2008 production is quite a bit different - and cynical. Louise and Rose don't walk out together. Louise laughs/cackles and shakes her head, almost condescendingly, to Rose. She walks away still cackling. Rose is on stage alone, desperately trying to cling onto the thought of her name in lights as it fades out. Fade out to black.



 

Arthur Laurents wrote a bit about this in his book. I must admit, despite what he is saying it actually wasn't clear to me that Gypsy would take her mother to the party or take care of her. It almost feels like she is walking away forever, but clearly that wasn't Arthur's intention.

“Louise is gone permanently. It’s Gypsy Rose Lee who walks away from Rose, Laughing at Rose unchanged, still being Rose. Gypsy will take her Mother to the party, she’ll take care of her materially; but she’s free of her - which is Why she can laugh at Rose still trying to con her. Laura Benanti’s amused laugh as Gypsy, not Louise, walks away was one of the memorable moments of the performance.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/14/21 at 11:15am

qolbinau said: "Want to turn to the endings of 2003 Sam Mendes production vs 2008 Arthur Laurents, an example of totally different but in my opinion equally effective.

In the Sam Mendes version, after Rose's Turn, Rose and Louisewalk out of the theatre stage door* together. Rose looks sad and reflective, likely accepting that her dreams are never going to come true and takes one last look inside the theatre before closing the door one last time, forever. You can watch the scene on YouTubehere.

* The directional concept of the Sam Mendes vs Arthur Laurents production is one of the major differences. As mentioned briefly earlier, Sam Mendes' production is almost a 'show within a show' - after the overture the show opens in a dimly lit theatre with a visible stage wall behind and stage door. A stagehand slowly walks over to the side of the stage and adds a stage card for the Uncle Jocko scene. The actors move on to start the scene but are frozen and not in a spotlight, suddenly the spotlight comes on and the scene starts. Seems almost like a cinematic concept (see: Chicago film) of a stage production.

This concept of each scene being a kind of vaudeville act continues throughout most of the show - and in scene changes the set pieces and moved on and off by visible stage hands in a choreographed way. In my opinion what is unclear is the payoff/meaning. Is framing the story in the same device as the show itself (a theatre piece) meant to make us feel that Rose's whole life is afacade, a theatre piece - or is there actually meant to be a more radical interpretation that wasn't fully realised such as that the actress who is walking out the theatre at the end is not actually Rose but someone else who isplaying Rose inside this conceptual/theatrical world. Maybe imagining they are playing Rose and succeeding in their dreams inside this conceptual stage world but not literally Rose. Was this something that Sam Mendes was trying to do by making Bernadette's stage makeup run? Could he have had her takeoff her wig before she walked out the door to make this clear and fully flesh out the concept?

In any case, Arthur Laurents would never have let it happen. His take on the show is the interpretation that is much more clear: The story is actually happening on stage as we are seeing it take place.


Meanwhile, the ending of the 2008 production is quite a bit different - and cynical. Louise and Rose don't walk out together. Louise laughs/cackles and shakes her head, almost condescendingly, to Rose. She walks away still cackling. Rose is on stage alone, desperately trying to cling onto the thought of her name in lights as it fades out. Fade out to black.

Arthur Laurents wrote a bit about this in his book. I must admit, despite what he is saying it actually wasn't clear to me that Gypsywouldtake her mother to the party or take care of her. It almost feels like she is walking away forever, but clearly that wasn't Arthur's intention.

“Louise is gone permanently. It’s Gypsy Rose Lee who walks away from Rose,Laughing at Rose unchanged, still being Rose. Gypsy will take herMother to the party, she’ll take care of her materially; but she’s free of her - which isWhy she can laugh at Rose still trying to con her. Laura Benanti’s amused laugh asGypsy, not Louise, walks away was one of the memorable moments of the performance."

 

Thank you for sharing your observations regarding the differences between the endings in these two productions. I would like to add: I recently re-watched the television film starring Bette Midler. Rose and Gypsy begin to walk out together but then Rose breaks away to take one last look back at the theater as Gypsy continues to walk off. In the 1962 film version, Rose and Gypsy walk off together laughing as the stage door slowly begins to open and the scene fades to black. I saw the Daly revival but my memory is a bit fuzzy on how that production ended. 

 

 

 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/15/21 at 6:58pm

Damn, no one's posted after I did...I guess I'm the official BWW thread killer...no one wants to play with me...

[binau]

Posted: 3/16/21 at 4:52am

Haha don’t be disheartened, my sense is that there will be interested people who will be reading regardless of posting and in general we are speaking about topics that have indeed been discussed here for years and years - I love learning all these details and having an evolving knowledge every time it comes up. But at the same time I also recognise that we are speaking about productions from ages ago and “Some People” probably are more interested in discussing and thinking about current events. 

Updated On: 3/16/21 at 04:52 AM

[tmdonahue]

Posted: 3/16/21 at 8:57am

A cast album would not reflect her well but for me the best was Tyne Daly.  She created a fierce Rose on stage.  When she sang "Everything's Coming Up Roses" it was like a premonition of doom.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/16/21 at 9:33am

Qolbinau - Thank you so much for the detailed descriptions of the endings (and your wealth of knowledge in general)! It's truly fascinating how the ending can take on so different interpretations and meanings based on how it's staged. I have been listening to all the cast albums for Gypsy recently, and I think my favorite has to be the LuPone recording mainly because the orchestrations sound so great and the quality of the recording is superb. I think it's so interesting how some recordings the orchestra sounds more brassy than in others.