After sitting with this for a night, I’ve had some time to center my thoughts.
Audra is acting the absolute hell out of Rose, and it’s a deeply felt performance, but she’s not yet accessing the titanic levels of emotional intensity that Rose’s turn needs. Her Rose is charming, forceful, funny, and cutthroat where it matters. Vocally…yeah I have to admit the part is not an ideal match for her sound, but I didn’t have much of an issue with that and many of the choices made to compensate for a lack of a big belt are exciting. But…if you go in with Merman in your ear, you’ll be expecting to hear Merman all night. And I had Merman in my ear. (Well, maybe LuPone).
My wife made the excellent point post show that Rose is the female Lear, but Lear doesn’t have to sing. I didn’t really have an issue until Rose’s turn, but I was slightly underwhelmed at the end. Frankly, the moment that was heart stopping was being part of the standing O after the number, it felt for a second like I was part of Rose’s fantasy and I Was seated close enough that the sound from the crowd was overwhelming. End of the day, it is a very different sound in the role than we are used to, and I am still considering if that is a hurdle or if there are gains that will emerge after she has a performance or two to modulate things.
The production is big, elegant, and takes advantage of the cavernous depth of the Majestic stage for atmosphere, but plays most of the action front and center. Quite a bit happens on the passarelle, including most of Rose’s Turn, and I am curious as to what the site lines were in the mezz. The racial subtext added by the casting works brilliantly, it’s detailed but never explicit and informs the Rose Audra shapes immeasurably - of course she’s a desperate scrapper, she doesn’t have any other choice. Watching a black woman trying to force her way into white spaces absolutely makes the character more sympathetic. If she’s monstrous it’s because she has to be in the world; there’s a desperation to her that feels driven more by her circumstances than her fixations. With LuPone’s and Staunton’s Rose, only her own obsession prevented her from happiness. Audra’s feels like she has more to lose and a life away from vaudeville feels inherently more unstable. But it feels like a grounded tragedy rather than a heightened drama, and that is a trade off.
Burstein is excellent; doing a lot of internal work and letting Herbie’s varied control of his emotions guide the performance. His Herbie is a decent man in an impossible situation and his anger is ever present but repressed. Beautiful work. Jordan Tyson’s June is solid, though slightly outsized last night. Some big choices can and should be adjusted in the scene leading up to “if mamma was married”. The production gives her slightly more to do by giving her and Herbie some solos in “Mr Goldstone” which worked well. The Tulsa sells his big number impeccably and I liked him a lot. The strippers nail their assignments, especially Leslie Margarita.
I really, really liked Joy Woods, in part because she really feels like a kid in act one. It’s a lovely performance before and after the character comes into her own. Unfortunately the production’s biggest misstep, which I think can be fixed only to a certain extent in previews, is that a version of “the Strip” has been chosen that climaxes in a big dance number, rather than a monologue. That’s true neither to the character nor the historical Gypsy Rose Lee. The timing was also off in some of the quick changes and onstage disrobings last night (which absolutely will get fixed). Laura Benanti basically won her Tony for that sequence. It currently hampers woods.
I’d like to see this again after opening to see how it settles. Maybe I’m not as discerning as some or maybe I’m easily influenced by the energy in the room. But it was an amazing night to be part of.
