GYPSY Previews — Page 6

KitKatBoy24 said: "3.5 hours"

I'm crossing and uncrossing my legs just reading this

I've seen no mention of JOY WOODS ... how does she fare in this?

OhHiii said: "I am so sorry but this physical production is uglier than Funny Girl. And I mean UGLY. I’m not sure how you manage to even make the ROSE sign ugly, but they’ve done it. And when Baby June steals the entire show, it’s a problem. I’ve been very candid about my skepticism of this casting and I went in hoping to be proven wrong. I was not. She’s clearly still finding her footing in the character, but there are fundamentals that just don’t work and it starts with her voice. Audra McDonald is a legend, but not everyone is meant to play every role. Unfortunately, this is one of those instances."

A friend txt me that he felt audra's performance was calmly reserved if lethargic and tentative. The score does not fit well for her voice lacking grit and as Rose not there... As for the production he said, fugly and they have a lot of work to do during previews. Orchestra sounded lush and the theatre is gorgeous. That's all for now. O and Leslie steals the show in Gimmick!

Updated On: 11/22/24 at 12:20 AM

Disagree re: orchestra. Mostly the sound levels made it sound small when there are 25! Reminds me of how disappointed I was with how low the orchestra for Sweeney was. And one of the people on trumpet was having some major issues.

Another glaring thing is the lighting design. The color palette is very drab for the most part, and then there are these moments of saturated cyans and magentas. Personally I’ve always felt that is a lazy lighting choice “oh it’s a sad, gotta make things blue!” But here’s it’s used in such odd moments and makes no cohesive sense with other design elements. Not that those were appealing as has been said already.

OhHiii said: "Another glaring thing is the lighting design. The color palette is very drab for the most part, and then there are these moments of saturated cyans and magentas. Personally I’ve always felt that is a lazy lighting choice “oh it’s a sad, gotta make things blue!” But here’s it’s used in such odd moments and makes no cohesive sense with other design elements. Not that those were appealing as has been said already."

The lighting design was particularly awful. Not just in its odd coloring but also the use of textures and patterns. For example, in Rose and Herbie’s final scene, I kept wondering if they were trying to make it look like Herbie was standing in a prison cell or something, truly no idea what the intent was there.

Agree Jordan. The passerelle was entirely unnecessary. Makes you wonder if Wolfe would’ve preferred directing Audra in Hello, Dolly. And that is directorial malpractice to stage the climax of the show out of view of half the audience (and I felt that way re: A Doll’s House).

Updated On: 11/22/24 at 12:41 AM

AKarp2013 said: "Jordan, I think what you're referring to is a passerelle if I'm not mistaken? I've always hated those things. They should ALWAYS be used sparingly."

Yes, thank you. I could not think of that word for the life of me.

Jordan Catalano said: "I'm not going to give my thoughts on tonight, I'm going to wait until I see it again in a few weeks. I want tosay one thing though with the hope that the production sees this.

The idea to perform the amount of material that they do on that front (what do you call it, that part that comes out past the orchestra?) is just AWFUL. We had normal sized people in front of us in the mezz and couldn't see half of what happened there, and that's where Audra performs the entirety of "Rose's Turn". There isAN ENTIRE BARE STAGE behind her to use, where everyone can see her perform the song they all want to see, with no problem. I'm sure not everyone had that problem but the fact we did and others moving their heads around trying to see did too, that needs to be fixed."

I’m not going to give my thoughts…but here are ALL my thoughts…

Anyone claiming there was no chemistry wasn't there tonight. There was an abundance of chemistry.

Joy unfortunately fades into the background the majority of the time. She shines in the end.

There was definitely chemistry between Audra and Danny, they’ve known each other a long time so that makes sense. Otherwise it all felt like they were just trying to make it through it.

And again a shoutout to Mylinda Hull’s Miss Cratchitt. When she was doing her first scene on the phone and the stage manager called for a hold and she said “I’ll have to call you back” without missing a beat and hung up. It was SO funny. And then when she returned she said something like “Sorry, this next act is having issues with their set” and it brought down the house.

congrats Nicole again...?