GYPSY Previews- Page 11

[Kad]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 4:54pm

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. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 5:11pm

There are some shows that just get people's gears turning on this board, with responses ranging from pearl-clutching to hyper-analysis to overhype to rage and everything in between. Sondheim, Jerry Herman...any classic with great ladies or star-casting opportunities. The 2011 FOLLIES felt like the peak of that on here. Some people's originalist tendencies also come out (Tevye's parka or the 2018 CAROUSEL cuts, for example).

Arthur's own vision for GYPSY is also so documented that if you drink his kool aid, you'e never going to be satisfied by any production that deviates from his vision. (His vision which morphed over 50 years, I should add.)

Anyway.

Having heard her ROSES (audio only, out of context, etc etc etc), I thought the end sounded pretty thrilling, if different. The beginning does not pack the same punch, and there's a very awkward key change. But these are all fixable things in previews. I wouldn't be surprised if they've tried multiple keys for every song in rehearsal and are still determining the sweet spot for her voice and what she can sustain.

Updated On: 11/22/24 at 05:11 PM

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 6:06pm

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.  

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 6:07pm

So about the orchestra...

We had a lot of talk, including this BWW article about how this production would fully restore the original orchestrations, etc.  But I'm guessing due to the new choreography, they didn't restore John Kander's dance arrangements (at least not in full) so...  how did any of this work out or show up in performance?   https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/GYPSY-Will-Feature-Music-Broadway-Hasnt-Heard-Since-1959-20240919

 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 6:38pm

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]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 7:14pm

pagereynolds said: "With all due respect to Bette, Madam Rose is a much harder role than Dolly Levi.

Which Bette herself well knows."

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.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 8:32pm

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.

[Bette's Turban]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 9:08pm

No.  That’s why the comparison is stupid and the person referring it to how a performance grows was talking out of their *ss.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 9:19pm

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.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 9:28pm

TotallyEffed said: "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."

 

Hell, let's go back further.  

Patti from Ravinia to CC to Broadway was a huge change (and not just from those awful early wigs).

Give Audra a month.  She'll find her footing.

[BJR]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 9:29pm

TotallyEffed said: "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."

That's exactly what I was thinking when reading these first preview reports, especially those that said it was the "Big Two" numbers that didn't yet feel integrated, or weren't yet a motor for the rest. In fact, that was indeed Brantley's critique of Patti at City Center. But she found it and then some!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 10:27pm

 mean, Bette was playing Bette as Dolly Levi.

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

Bette was playing Dolly Levi in her persona The Divine Miss M. Anyone who knows Bette and her work are familiar with the difference. In her concerts, that’s The Divine Miss M. On talk shows and press interviews, she’s Bette Midler. What we saw in HELLO, DOLLY! was her persona The Divine Miss M, which is what made her Dolly the event it was. 

Here she is talking about the persona around the 3 minute mark:

 

[getatme]

Posted: 11/22/24 at 11:46pm

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.

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 12:12am

Updated On: 11/23/24 at 12:12 AM

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 12:33am

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.

[BJR]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 12:34am

getatme said: "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."

This is fascinating. And it sounds like something that would take time to layer, but when finished, could be so so powerful.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 1:08am

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. 

[Jvj24605]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 1:56am

Play Esq. said: "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."

As much as I enjoyed the strippers last night, they felt like shadows/hommages to actresses who have played them in the past on stage or screen.  Whereas Jordan, Joy (to some degree, it can only strengthen through the preview period)  and- most vitally, Audra- felt alive and dangerous, with a fragile/self-preserving heart.

Updated On: 11/23/24 at 01:56 AM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 6:40am

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

[OhHiii]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 8:17am

Any reports from second preview? Curious if it tightened up a bit after the first night. I think it was evident Thursday during that curtain call that the cast were just grateful to have gotten through it. This is what happens when you close a final dress. Putting a show of this level with this level of expectations in front of a sold out crowd without having given the company an opportunity to perform it in front of the friendliest audience possible (hell even Rudin had a full house for Dolly final dress for that notoriously secretive production). I think Wolfe did a disservice to the actors not giving them the opportunity to have audience reactions before the big night. You could tell they were tentative and nervous. And, as the saying goes a sloppy final dress, a great first preview. 

I’ve been thinking about this more. And really what doesn’t work isn’t Audra’s to bear, she was cast for her star power. Her voice doesn’t fit the character, but if we take that as an understanding going into it and put it aside, the issues remain. 
The production itself is frenetic around her. Unfocused. It’s clear they’re playing up context of June being white-passing while Louise is darker skinned like her mother. But without really mining the text and making adjustments, you blink and you miss it. The only time I felt this really landed was when talking about bleaching the girls’ hair to make them blonde. The racism aspect is unspoken and the audience is expected to draw the lines themselves, but there’s not much of a breadcrumb in the text to lead people there that wouldn’t otherwise click into it. So it doesn’t illuminate much new in the material. Which wouldn’t be an issue if that wasn’t something that they intended to highlight. I hope they’re able to flesh that out more because there really could be something special there.

Another thing that kind of didn’t make sense to me is they completely stepped on the Rose’s Turn finale moment with the sign. Why was there a backdrop with bigger and brighter lights on it at the beginning of the song just for them to drop in a sad excuse for the final moments when Rose is finally in the spotlight? One of many directorial choices that I’m still scratching my head about. 

And the show, while ugly, is actually over designed I think. Large set pieces for scenes that aren’t even touched that we see once and then they’re gone. Like the producers office door facade. It comes in, but no one enters or exits through the door that’s right there in front of us, they just come in from the wings. It’s confusing in terms of the rules the production is setting for itself by way of world building. The boarding house room seemingly has two front doors. And I’m sorry but Louise’s apartment is the most garish set piece I’ve seen in a LONG time. And in an otherwise largely dull color palette, it’s a glaring outlier in the production. I’d be able to get past it more if the scene that happens there between Rose and Louise wasn’t so critical to the story. It’s swallowed by set piece. The actors are cramped into it to boot. It’s just a very very odd choice that steps on the material. Which is a surprise to me knowing it’s Laquasto. And the costumes are rather incongruous with the set (Laquasto typically does sets AND costumes for his shows, so this was likely why those two aspects felt disjointed). They appeared to have been designed in silos rather than cohesively. I’ll give the lighting a pass since that’s typically the aspect that really gets fleshed out through previews, but as I said before, there’s a lot of work to do on that. 

I also can’t get over how small the orchestra sounded being that it was just 2 members shy of Sweeney. After hearing how an orchestra and voices can be mixed to a satisfying degree at Sunset Boulevard, it’s hard to accept mixing like this that has come to be too often. Not every show is right for that level of bombast, but damn TURN THE VOLUME UP. And struck me how sloppy the orchestra sounded as another person validated for me. Not something I’ve really experienced from a Broadway orchestra or this size.  Particularly the trumpets in a very horn-heavy orchestration. Sounded like their lips were tired from the beginning. 

Anyway, i think it’s a positive that people are still thinking about it, but I think there’s a lot of hope on this board that things that aren’t quite fixable will get a pass as it goes on. I hope that comes to be, but the parts don’t appear to equal a sum we were hoping for. 

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 8:18am

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.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 8:35am

I'm seeing this Wednesday night. My expectations have definitely been tempered based on these early preview reports. I saw both Shuffle Along and Gary in very early previews and again post-opening, and in both cases, they were vastly different shows later in the run.

I know George C. Wolfe really takes advantage of the preview periods for his productions, but some of these initial reports have me concerned about just HOW much can be "fixed" in a month.

[Synecdoche2]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 9:13am

CurtainsUpat8 said: "I have not seen the show. I have only heard the bootleg audio.

Does this not seem wildly disrespectful to you, to listen to an illegal recording and post a lengthy critical review of her performance on a public forum?

 

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 9:18am

No. I heard what I heard. After doing this for decades, I get what she is doing. I heard the Everythings Coming Up Roses audio.

Auditions are 32 measures for a reason. A trained ear can hear what they need to hear quickly.

I am not writing this to be "mean"... I am telling you what many other people are hearing as well.  We aren't making it up.

I didn't comment on her performance. I commented on the rather large cut of music I heard her sing.

I

Updated On: 11/23/24 at 09:18 AM

[east side story]

Posted: 11/23/24 at 9:19am

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.