GYPSY Previews — Page 11

I think this production carries the burden of expectations that have been veering into almost unreasonable for months, going back to this summer when many people were legitimately clamoring for A-list actors to fill the supporting cast.

OhHiii said: "verywellthensigh said: "People. This is coming from someone who never thought she was the right actor for this role:

It's an early preview.

Audra is not a goddess. She has to work through an actor's process like anyone else.

It sounds like this is on par with Bette Midler in early Dolly previews. She, too, was working through process. Don't like it? Don't go to an early preview."

It baffles the mind that people act as if first preview is not a paid performance and should be immune from thoughtful criticism. Absolutely absurd way of thinking.

And no, this is nothing like Bette Midler in early Dolly previews during which everyone pretty much universally loved the production and ate up when she improved a line flub. This is not that. I saw Dolly final dress and that was in an entirely different echelon than this. And by that I mean both Bette and the overall production.

I think a running narrative/comparison to the experience will be Katrina Lenk in Company. That said, Katrina's Bobbie worked for me because her characterization wasn't broad and didn't give the sense that this woman would explode at the end into a belty Being Alive, so it worked for me when her delivery wasn't well..Patti LuPone's Being Alive. Rose on the other hand is a character that has steam pressure building throughout the show building up toEverything's Coming Up RosesandRose's Turnwhich should feel like a release of volcanic energy from the woman we've come to know in the preceding scene a legit soprano sound does not deliver on that release. You could almost palpably feel energy leave the room when she had to flip into her head voice. It doesn't help that the biggest moments in those songs seem to be right in or right on the edge of her passaggio. And changing the keys top to bottom desn't fix that because some of Rose's songs go LOW. I unfortuantely think this is just a case of not every actor we love is right for every role we think we'd want to see them in. I kept thinking about other actors who would have delivered on that aspect and Heather Headley and Sheryl Lee Ralph come to mind.

Don't get me wrong, Audra is doing some fantastic scene work. It's just this is Gypsy and she's playing Rose with two of the biggest show stopping songs in the entirecanon."

That's interesting. I saw Bette in previews (among the most Fellini-esque audience I have ever witnessed, but I digress) and for the first act she seemed a little unsure of herself and frail somehow. In the second act she triumphed and then some. I left the theater loving the performance and the show but also being moved by how she was just a human actor working through whatever it was she was working through.

verywellthensigh said: "That's interesting. I saw Bette in previews (among the most Fellini-esque audience I have ever witnessed, but I digress) and for the first act she seemed a little unsure of herself and frail somehow. In the second act she triumphed and then some. I left the theater loving the performance and the show but also being moved by how she was just a human actor working through whatever it wasshe was working through."


I’m desperate to know what makes an audience Fellini-esque and why!

Bette's Turban said: Nobody is saying any of that. A comparison, was made to Bette’s first preview in Hello Dolly. A preview in which her performance was pretty much already conceived and already landing beautifully . Dear God, you people just love to hear yourselves talk.



I mean, Bette was playing Bette as Dolly Levi.

It's not like she was giving some transformative performance in a Shaw play.

I think an argument could be made that it could take a longer time to “find” Rose compared to a character like Dolly. Patti from City Center to Broadway was night and day.

I was at last night's first preview and while I think there is a lot of room for the production to grow, I think what I saw last night was a really wonderful jumping off point.

I found the production itself actually rather beautiful to look at at times, yes it can be sparse, but the extravagance sort of grows throughout (and smartly holds on large physical pieces until after "Some People") and I found it all very effective. It's not a hugely lavish production, but I thought it was attractive and smartly designed.

Yes, it is largely a straightforward production of Gypsy, but there were many moments that felt like a gut punch simply by the nature of the lines being delivered by actors of color -- Among them, Rose saying Louise being blonde would make her "look...like a star!", Rose telling Louise not to put on too much rouge because the "lord gave us good color," or even Rose saying she was "born too soon" -- and I was struck by how smart this production was cast. Seeing the young Black children be replaced by white adult men during the transition was incredibly striking, though the transition as a whole needs to be cleaned up.

Performance-wise, I think everyone felt like that had the makings of something spectacular, for the most part.

Burstein overall felt like a very safe interpretation of Herbie, I wish he played a little smoother at the beginning, why does Rose immediately trust him to get her into places she can't? His last scene was delivered beautifully, and I know in time he will imbue his earlier scenes with the charm and personality he slides into so easily.

Tyson is solid, though I wish there was a bit more of an edge to her. I remember Leigh Ann Larkin's performances so vividly and in many ways I think hers are the hardest shoes to fill, Larkin made that role a standout. Tyson is good, she will be great. She leans into June's sadness, which is a completely valid take, I just wanted a little more simmering anger underneath. Vocally pretty spectacular.

Woods has the bones of what I think will be a very special performance. She feels youthful and childlike, and her final scenes are very well-delivered, it's the connective tissue that will need the work. The timing of the strip was very off and it seemed to throw her a bit. She is also just absolutely stunning in those later costumes and wigs.

The strippers were uniformly excellent. Margherita is making an absolute meal out of her scenes but still finding moments of heart. Lili Thomas and Mylinda Hull match her energy very well.

Kevin Csolak to me was the weakest. a Truly thrilling dancer to watch (though, he should not be used as a dancer during the strip, it's distracting) but vocally weak and his Tulsa showed little signs of personality. Why does Louise fall for him? Why does June?

Which brings us to Audra. I was excited when she was cast, with a bit of skepticism about the whole thing. But I think the performance she gave last night really does have the potential to be something extraordinary. I don't think she's there yet, and I wasn't expecting her to be. I don't think Rose is a role you do for the first time in front of an audience and nail 100%. I think it takes time to fully grasp it all even after however long the rehearsal process has been. Putting it all on its feet--especially at a first preview with tech issues left and right an an overly long intermission--will take time. But I found her Rose deeply human and emotional.

She did not play Rose as a bull or a monster, but I don't think she could. Not because Audra isn't capable, but because a Black woman during that time period could not get away with that. She could behave more aggressively at Uncle Jocko's surrounded by other Black mothers and children, but at the Orpheum and other vaudeville theatres, she couldn't. And there was a marked difference in the way Audra's Rose spoke at these venues vs. the way she spoke with the super of the hotel they were staying at. She was code-switching back and forth to get ahead, putting on an act of refinement and class and using Herbie to get her in the door. It's an interpretation that feels vital to the entire concept of the production, and I think one that will deepen throughout previews.

Vocally, it worked for me. Was it perfect? No. Was it the standard foghorn belting? No. But I wasn't expecting it to and I don't actually think it needs to be that way to be effective. Clearly still figuring out placement, and yes, a little fatigued from the rehearsal/tech process, but her belt (which she accessed more often than not) has a jazzy quality to it that I loved, and while she does utilize her soprano, you'd be hard pressed to find someone with a more powerful and resonant head voice than her. I won't push back on people who don't care for it vocally, different strokes, and I see where that opinion is coming from.

Overall, a solid start and I look forward to seeing it again in a few weeks when everyone has settled in.

Everyone pointing to GIMMICK as the best part brings me back to one of Arthur Laurents books where he details Sam Mendes being in turmoil with the Bernadette production. He says to him - “well the stripper number kills”, and Laurents basically says it’s designed to and if that’s the highlight you’re royally f***ed.

IdinaBellFoster said: "Everyone pointing to GIMMICK as the best part brings me back to one of Arthur Laurents books where he details Sam Mendes being in turmoil with the Bernadette production. He says to him - “well the stripper number kills”, and Laurents basically says it’s designed to and if that’s the highlight you’re royally f***ed."

It’s only been two days but it’s the ONLY part of the production that stayed with me. That and thinking that Tony Yazbeck totally ruined me for any other Tulsa for life.

So far, responses fall into two camps: she's miscast because the vocal demands are out of sync with her gift; and, she needs a month to create a synergy between her legit instrument and her characterization. I recently heard McDonald say that she'd read the script "hundreds of times," i.e., spent the summer in preparation. To abandon her previous idea of Rose as "a monster." It's feasible that by October she was so immersed, so fully cognizant of self-determined nooks and crannies, she faced a challenge: beginning anew with her director, to find the woman she's playing in the mysterious alchemization of rehearsal.

And so it's possible that she's straddling the results of months of study and the spontaneity of exploration with the company.. Actor friends tell me this duality of process - private text analysis followed by collaboration - can sometimes lead to (temporary) struggle. Preconceptions vs real time revelations in rehearsal rooms, and then previews. It has nothing to do with how experienced an interpretative artist may be; it's the nature of the beast. If it's true of Lear, Hedda, Archie Rice in The Entertainer, Amanda Wingfield and Willy Loman, it's true of Rose. With the added complexity of negotiating a score in the context of storytelling. Songs mastered with a vocal coach or musical director aren't necessarily (yet) tethered to character intention, the motivational triggers in scenes.

Tyne Daly got a lengthy road tour to find her Rose (I saw Daly both in LA and on B'way, witnessed how much her performance grew); so the McDonald process is necessarily at a predictable disadvantage, subjected to home town scrutiny. To echo others, a month from now she may well engender an entirely different set of responses.

Updated On: 11/23/24 at 06:40 AM

I have not seen the show. I have only heard the bootleg audio.

I am a voice teacher. I have been doing it for decades. let me start by saying, of course Audra has an incredible instrument and is a wonderful actress. I have loved her in many performances.

From what I heard, Audra seems vocally lost. She is all over the place with her placement. I don't really hear her "belting". She is singing in her chest voice, which is not necessarily the same as belting. The constant switching of registers must not be that fun to sing for her. It is also causing her to have pitch problems, which I have never heard before in her singing. She is slurring notes all over the place to make her voice sound "rougher" maybe? I am sure that Audra CAN BELT. She is choosing not to. Some legit singers have it in their brain that BELTING is harmful and willl damage your voice. That is an Opera mentality. I believe it is NOT true that a soprano can belt without harm. She chose not to go there. If she had really opened up her voice, I think she could have done it.

As for the production not being ready and all the problems with the set and the orchestra. I ony have three words...WFT! Yes, it's the first preview, but this is not a College production. For me, this is not an excuse. Yes, the show may improve naturally after a month of performances, but it should be ready on the first preview.

She is miscast. But then so is NIcole. The difference it Nicole can sing the score so she gets away with it.

I have tickets to see this in mid December. I knew Audra would sing it completely different than her predecessors, however I was left disappointed a day or two ago after hearing the audio of two numbers. I listened to those same recordings again this morning, and something clicked. Let her do her own thing. She is a national treasure, and once McDonald lands, as she always does, the performance will be stunning. This is the first NY production that does not have the shadow (and input) of the original team informing every single aspect of this presentation.