GYPSY Previews — Page 27

Oh I loved this. My friend (who I think liked it even more than I did) put it best: my mind NEVER wandered. My mind wanders in many shows, many of which I love. Not this one. This show and, more specifically, Audra, grabs you and never lets you go. For a show to have showstoppers deep into it like Everything's Coming Up Roses, Gimmick, and Rose's Turn and not have me at any point thinking "I can't wait to get to the showstopper" is significant to me. I LOVED Sunset and I still found myself getting excited for the title number and As If We Never Said Goodbye pretty early in the show.

Audra is in fine fine form. It felt like witnessing something that will be talked about for a LONG time. Absolutely a Tony-worthy performance (although I still think Nicole takes it). Look, I can't wait to hear Lea Salonga power through Everything's Coming Up Roses in Old Friends and I can't wait to one day hear these songs belted as designed out in a future production. But, I really couldn't care less about that not being how they're sung in this production because anything would be worth it to get Audra as Rose. The complexity and layers of this performance are nothing short of incredible. The moment I'm still thinking about is the scene where Rose volunteers Louise to strip. Wow. It was incredible work from all three of Audra, Joy, and Danny (easily the latter duo's best scene too).

As has been pointed out, the Junes and Strippers absolutely steal the show. We had Marley Gommes, who was absolutely adorable and SO talented. Jordan Tyson is a star in the making with real raw talent. Can't wait to continue to see her do great things. All three of the strippers were perfect and Gimmick was a showstopper that had the audience roaring in both laughter and applause.

Definitely want to go see it again and would recommend it!

Happy to echo the reports that the production (and Audra) are much stronger than they were at the start of the preview process. The production still has issues, but Audra is now giving a towering performance.

RUkiddingme said: "Audra is good. She's always good!

But nothing about this production is life altering - it's just a revival of maybe the greatest musical ever written. it's hard to mess up.

The only accolades - they there should be plenty - are for the brilliance of the show itself.

"

Genuine question: Do revivals need to be life-altering to be considered successful? I prefer my revivals to do something different, sure, but I would rather they present the material successfully than radically. And I would say George C. Wolfe, Audra McDonald, and co. have done that. It is a very well-done production of Gypsy with a thrilling central performance. People’s mileage may vary on how they prefer their Rose’s to sound, but on the night I saw Audra, she was absolutely on fire.

Updated On: 12/19/24 at 12:21 PM

I can't wait until the show opens and hopefully they can get rid of this ridiculous ad campaign of staring down the camera like it's the opening credits of a soap opera.

To me, it sounds like the show is schizophrenic on the issue of race. On the one hand, you have the preferred, light-skinned daughter and what seems like an attempt to make her pass. On the other hand, you have dark-skinned Rose bullying and shouting at the white people around her (secretaries, managers) which could never have happened in a million years in the Jim Crow era--or if that did happen, would likely have had her and her act booted out fast and permanently. And there is just no way that a white parents would allow their children to act as a supporting chorus for a Black child, no matter how white-skinned. Or that the act would be allowed in white vaudeville theaters (unless literally no one knew June was Black, similar to Magnolia in Show Boat) or that Minsky would hire a Black stripper.

I wonder what suggestings Sondheim might have made had he lived to see this. He obviously thought the show could work with Audra. What form might he have suggested such a production take?

My guess is that a lot of people are going to be unsatisfied as a result of choices that seem to hover between choices that emphasize race, others in which it seem to rely on subtext and still others in which the show seems to be operating according to a color-blind/color consciousness.

I should add, I don't think this will hurt box office, or even be the determining factor in whether they liked the show or not. I just think it will be something that nags at many. And maybe that's a good thing?

Updated On: 12/19/24 at 04:45 PM

BewareTheUndertoad said: "ChairinMain said: "There is no whiteface in this production and as far as I know never has been. Wolfe doesn't need it to make his point."

Second preview, definite white face on the Junes. Purposeful, noticeable and discussed by my party and everyone within earshot."

For the billionth time, this is not a thing.

pagereynolds said: "BewareTheUndertoad said: "ChairinMain said: "There is no whiteface in this production and as far as I know never has been. Wolfe doesn't need it to make his point."

Second preview, definite white face on the Junes. Purposeful, noticeable and discussed by my party and everyone within earshot."

For the billionth time, this is not a thing."

Oh I didn't realize Michael Clifton was posting as pagereynolds. Thank you for your authority.

Anyone who wears makeup onstage or not, can have a noticeable makeup line if not fully blended. Again it is stage makeup to reach the back of the Majestic. Jordyn is NOT wearing white face in the show. She is, as are the other light-skinned Black actors wearing a pancake MAC foundation NW20 or NW30. As a light skinned Black person myself who often wears makeup onstage and not, it does make me appear lighter than my skin tone but not by much. Add the stage lights and the white coat we see her in for her final scene, and you have what she looks like. We are light skinned Black people, I can assure (and this is from production) there is and has never been "whiteface" in this show.

Shanel Bailey is on for Louise this afternoon.

if the production wanted us to walk away with the notion that June was in whiteface (and yes that would make sense re Rose doing whatever she could to "make her a star" in that day/age), then it failed, because I was in the mid mezzanine and i had absolutely NO inkling that Tyson was in anything other than normal stage make up.

im not offended by the concept, im not saying it doesnt make sense, but as of last week, if thats what the production intended, it certainly didnt come across.

It seems like it’s more like make up design being refined in previews than anything else. Given how charged any kind of racial makeup is, it’s kind of far fetched that any director, let alone George C. Wolfe of all directors, would leave it so ambiguous to the point that nobody can agree if it was there at all.

Updated On: 12/21/24 at 03:48 PM

Saw the matinee this afternoon. Got to speak to Jordan afterwards, she is not in whiteface and has never been. It's the same makeup the entire preview process. Please let's put an end to that. We even joked about light-skinned actors onstage under lights. Anyone suggesting otherwise...well I think you should check yourself and the inherent colorism that is being addressed in the show. Maybe it resonated in way you still might need to investigate.

Anyway, OMG Shanel Bailey was incredible as Louise. Got to speak with her afterwards as well, she had a couple of hours notice and practically no rehearsal at all. She did the GOE number once before the show and never rehearsed all of the quick changes. She was flawless! Also to note and I don't want to compare or shade JW in any way...I think she is doing a wonderful job and have said my notes on this thread before, but damn did Shanel nail the transformation from Louise to Gypsy! I mean it was crystal clear, from the moment she "heard" the audience reaction to the first glove...she started to transform. She definitely had a girlie innocence still in the dressing room scene before which carried up until she dropped the strap which was playful and actually got a huge laugh. From that point on the transformation was in full bloom, she ate the choreo for GOE and was very very sexy through all the numbers. She also found humor with the sexy in each of the changes, which I found so fascinating given that Gyspy Rose Lee was known for that. Dressing room scene was different, Gypsy really cared for Rose and truly wanted her to just leave her alone and do something else. She didn't blow the roof off the scene but more than told her off, the colors, the layers and nuance she played and found were fabulous. She was in perfect voice. The woman can act and sang! George was also there, I'm sure because having an u/s on for the lead the first day after opening is not ideal lol. She nailed it though. Hope Joy is okay and in tonight.

Everyone is abuzz at the theatre because of the great reviews and settling in for a nice year long run!

Updated On: 12/21/24 at 06:36 PM