GYPSY To Close August 17, 2025 — Page 3

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Isn’t the reason to see Gypsy always the star? The show has been around for 66 years, and it’s not like we’ve had some radically reimagined production. The marketing on this one was no different than the others. And Mandy was a dud for sunset just like Montego. People only wanted to see Nicole and Audra.

binau said: "What I will ever be grateful for: Audra's performance including and especially her vocals. I love them and she did truly 'break the mold'. I will never forget what it was like to watch Audra sing "Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn" for the first time feeling great comfort that she did it - she found a way to make her soprano voice thrillingly navigate this score. She did not disappoint, and that is the most important thing.

What I am saying 'good riddance' to - because this has been a particularly frustrating revival and there has been a lot of toxicity to boot too:

1. I thought being in the first (and another) early preview of Gypsy on Broadway with Audra would give me chills when the lights dimmed and this large orchestra played the most famous and important Broadway overture of all time. Instead, the lights never dimmed, people talked OVER it, the Orchestra sounded tinny. Shame, shame, shame. Felt like regional theatre amateur hour. No.

There is no excuse - I don't care that it was a preview, I paid (wasted) $500 for the ticket - the most I’ve ever paid and it hurts me to think about this because I literally have to sacrifice my quality of life for this mediocrity, and it's the 6th production of Gypsy on broadway so it's not as if it was new material that was particularly unusual or complex to stage.

2. How boring and tired the whole production and almost all of the supporting cast felt. We had George C Wolfe who has done excellent work creating chilling and emotional theatre, and we had an apparently new racialised concept that in Audra's word's 'hits differently' that I was very much looking forward to to give this revival a reason to exist. Well, none of it was real or worked. It was all a marketing scam. Danny was boring. Joy Woods was boring. The staging was boring. The Choreography didn't work. The Tesla barely registered. Boring, boring, amateur regional level production.

3. The toxicity of Audra's fans, and fans of the production. The early word of mouth of this show initially wasn't good - not everyone liked Audra's vocals (and they often still don't). I was always an early defender of Audra's vocals and I continue to be a defender of Audra's vocals. However, something happened when the show opened where suddenly fans proclaimed this revival was the best thing ever and if anyone dared challenge they were vilified and called all sorts of names. Gaslighting genuine fans of Gypsy who know what they are talking about. It was vile and toxic.

I also remember people gleefully claiming that Sunset sales were slowing down and Gypsy was the hot ticket to be - even though Sunset had been open longer and Gypsy had not yet passed the 10-12 week 'prestige musical' window that we were waiting in baited breath to see if the grosses would be sustained, and like Company, like War Paint, like Follies once the core theatre audience dried up it did begin to tank. Sunset grossed almost 2m last week and Gypsy only 0.8m. Sunset will end up being seen by more people, recouping more and grossing more.

4. The toxicity of the Nicole/Audra race - and the fact that as illustrated in this thread people STILL can't move on. Audra lost. Nicole won. Not only did Nicole win - she won despite the Patti drama, she won despite people vilifying her for ambiguous instagram posts. This is a clear and unambiguous message that Tony voters believed that Nicole was the best choice. Her win against Audra makes Nicole's win one of, if not literally the most competitive race of all time and Nicole's performance should and will go down as one of the 'all time greats' alongside people such as Alice Ripley in next to normal, Patti in Gypsy etc.

5. The toxicity of the Audra/Patti drama - not that Audra herself had anything to do with this. But following up from point 3 and her toxic fans, the idea that these people would band together (one of them by the way who signed it was that toxic former museum of broadway employee, which by the way has started to make me question the legitimacy of the whole thing in the first place) to try and cancel Patti LuPone, one of our all time greats, because Patti didn't like the show and because she was defending herself against the abhorrent and unfair slander talking about theobjectivelyloud sound levels of Hell's Kitchen (albeit in her distasteful Patti style of course).

This then led to questions about whether Audra would win the Tony because of it (see also, point 4 above). Well, I don't mean to be petty but I am gleeful that Nicole won the Tony to send a BIG message that what matters most is excellence in theatre and not anything else. Meanwhile, Patti gets to keep her status as a Gypsy Tony winner, and Audra's Gypsy is closing early. Maybe audiences agreed with Patti?

6. Audra's poor attendance - sorry but I am not letting history slam Bernadette's performance in Gypsy as having poor attendance after we have just gone through Audra's shockingly poor attendance in Gypsy. I'm sure she had good reasons - as did Bernadette for those early previews. However, Audrahas by far the worst attendance of any Rosein Broadway history. I thought her vocals were so strong (see opening statement) and I always wondered whether she would be able to sustain them, and it seems that the answer is she can't. She is the only Rose in Broadway history that also needed an alternate.

If Michael Riedel would have dared to comment on this, he would have been cancelled and set upon by Audra's rapid fans. But I'm sure cowardly he'd never do this, only to Bernadette.

On the flip side, the online chatter surrounding this revival has never been boring at least.
"

I enjoy reading your middle of the night posts, binau (I understand the time zone difference lol).

1. I hate to think about you being forced to eat Heinz on toast for a month because you wasted money on that first preview.

2. It's crazy that Wolfe was apparently brought out of retirement with a very hefty salary, only to produce this mid work.

3. The Reddit thread on Gypsy closing had to be locked because one of those toxic fans blamed the closure on "white gays who wanted a belter."

Binau,

I very much enjoyed reading your perspective on this all through out. You are one of very few people that I go out of my way to see what they have written. I will just add that the whole affair seemed tired from the get go. From the day they released the presentation of the overture and it sounded so thin. To Audras interviews on tv where everything came out so pre calculated and disingenuous. I am a fan of Gavin's.. but I really don't need to hear that story again. I also have a distaste for a newly recent performers habit of things like missing performances but yet managing to post on social media about your gardening and other things. I know. I know. And it's not just her. Look at the whole Death Becomes Her PR spin on absences. Vocal injury claims while continuing to attend your husbands plays or the other one doing a daily golden girls pod cast. Don't come for me.. it is just what I see and the bad taste it leaves with me. You all come up with all the excuses you want to make it alright.

Anyway... shelve the thing for 10 years.

Updated On: 7/17/25 at 09:32 AM

Blow Gabriel said: “That being said, Audra is extraordinary in it and deserved the Tony, which had it not been for Jasmine Amy Rogers taking votes away from her, she would have. And this production would have run a lot longer. They need to move to a rank choice voting system so we don’t end up with winners and their stupid pluralities. Dreadful Nicole and her $hit performance."



so jasmine should have withdrawn from her nomination in order to help out audra because she automatically deserved to win the tony

u dont know anything

the only tony award which potentially extends the life of a musicals run is best musical

patti lupone gypsy won 3 of the 4 best acting awards and it didnt help extend their run in any significant way

did u even see nicole in the show or just watch some youtube bootlegs

nicole was extraordinary and earned the tony, period

ppl like u who act as though its audras turn to play the role and its her turn to win the tony are part of the entitled mindset plaguing society

gypsy needs a good long rest from broadway

this revival was premature

regarding sound design sunset blvd blew audra gypsy out of the water



MezzoDiva47 has spoken

bow down accordingly

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "For what it’s worth, Audramissed twenty performances between the December first preview and hervacation in June. I have no doubt that people would still be pissed if she went on knowingshe wasn’t able to give100%. Damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t.God forbid she get sick or rundown, while carrying the entire production on her back (as so many claim). She can’t even agree to an alternate without being criticized for it. People were far too eager to tell on themselves with their reactions to this production…not that any of them are introspective enough to see that.

binau - Theirony of several paragraphs complaining about “toxicity” (most of them having nothing to do with the actual show in question, just noise around it egged on from outsiders, people online, and you) with barely a point that isn’t unnecessarily harsh and toxic in nature…We get it, you didn’t like this production. We got it the first fifteentimes you posted about it on this board. Still going on about “Patti being cancelled” when that has not a damn thing to do with this show is ridiculous. Move on, or at least stay on topic.You yourself sound just as“toxic” as those you’re pointing fingers at.

“Sacrificing your quality of life” was a choice you were not obligated to make, and one no sane person wouldever do.It’s even sillierthat it was donefor a first preview before finding out howexactly the production was “breaking the mold” in the first place. Younot being happy with the end result does not make the entire production a “marketing scam”. Talk about melodramatic. Simply make smarter decisions, and try learning some descriptive buzzwords beyond “toxic”. Six times in a single post is something else. 😵‍💫"

1. This thread is like a post-mortem of the show, so I am summarising my thoughts and yes if you read my posts you will see that I'm not saying anything too much new, just wrapping it up in one post. What's the deal? So what? Are people only meant to post "ohhh sorry to see it go" or post new thoughts? I really don't understand the complaint. God forbid I spend time clearly articulating and summarising my thoughts in a way that clearly also shows my passion for theatre and these issues. Is that not the purpose of this board?

2. RE: Toxic. I don't currently have another word in my vocabulary that describes some of these problems. Do you have another word I can use to describe people unfairly trying to destroy the career of Nicole and Patti instead of toxic? Toxic seems to fit best to me. And I strongly reject the idea that calling out toxicity makes me toxic. Someone needs to stand up and call out this behaviour (the treatment of Rachel Z is also an example of something I'd describe as Toxic).

I also think absolutely every single point I said was on topic. It was speaking about the production of Gypsy and the fanfare/reaction to it. I accept and agree that in many ways the latter has nothing to do with the show. But it's still part of the overall experience of being a fan and I'm just commenting on it. The whole events around this were also highly unusual and something I've never seen before to this degree and scale. I really don't understand your point, do I ignore it? I don't want to ignore it. So I chose not to.

Almost every production of Gypsy or at least recently such as the Bernadette/Sam Mendes and Patti/Laurents Gypsy have had their own story and saga. The Audra Gypsy is no less and this is part of the theatre history books or at least collective knowledge.

3. RE: Sacrificing my quality of life and whether I'm 'sane'. I don't claim for a second to be 'sane'. Did I ever suggest I was sane? I think I have a borderline addiction for theatre and I don't really have a choice unless I go to theatre-holics anonymous or something. It's extremely important to me and my life, above most other things.

Of course I accept in reality if I blow $500 on a first preview that's on me in literal terms. However, at the same time I have never been to a first preview in my life (and I have been to many) that couldn't do something as simple as get everyone into the theatre in time and start the Overture in darkness. That was amateur. And it cost $500, which is not good value. So I think it's well within my right to express my disappointment about this. Do you think it's good value or ethical for producers to charge $500 for this? On Broadway and in New York City, which has the highest standards of musical theatre of anywhere in the world, I don't personally think so.

4. RE: Me being melodramatic. I think I have posted here for long enough and people know me well enough to realise that I love to be a bit over the top sometimes - gurls this is theatre do we not want to be theatrical? I am passionate about theatre and I do try to to entertain and be playful a little (thanks Bwaygurl2, denali.fire and Dame for appreciation). So people don't have to take everything I say literally. The reason I describe it as a 'marketing scam' is because it was hyped up in the marketing and interviews and chatter and yet I don't think they delivered the goods. That's all. I know it was not literally a scam they probably tried their best, but it wasn't good enough for me.

5. RE: Audra's absences, I agree it's absolutely a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. And there has been very few instances of people suggesting Audra has phoned in a performance or had vocal problems live (seriously I can only think of a couple of comments, and I guess some of the Tony vocal issues). Which is very respectful. I believe Audra is a consummate professional and would not simply call out lightly. She knows the entire show is riding on her shoulders. However, the job isn't just to give an excellent performance it's also to run a marathon and it's not for everyone. It's not even about blame it just is what it is - sometimes people can run this marathon, sometimes they can't. Unfortunately for Audra, she appears to be struggling a little running the marathon right now.

Someone on Reddit (thank you Bwaygurl2 for suggesting it does indeed seem locked now, very strange) speculated that Audra might actually have some vocal damage and is potentially trying to ride it out, hence the Montego alternate and an early closure. This doesn't sound impossible to imagine. I hope Audra is ok and does not put her voice at risk.

Updated On: 7/17/25 at 11:30 AM

One thing that I noticed about the social media discourse was that everything she posted on IG because "YASSS QUEEN" and "I cried 20x last night over Rose's Turn" and after awhile it seemed like ... I won't say bots bc I think the people were real, but I wondered if it was people artificially drumming up enthusiasm on social media during the Tony campaign.

Bc the actual word of mouth (meaning the people I knew who saw it and I asked them how it was, and these were all longtime theater nerds) was not good. Most people had great things to say about Audra's performance but not great things to say about the entire production.

Blow Gabriel said: "Patti in Gypsy has to be the most overrated performance in Broadway history. Patti’s whole shtick is mugging and belting high notes. No wonder she loved Nicole in Sunset. I soured on that woman years ago when I saw her in concert and she was boring as $hit. She was Christine Ebersole’s maid in War Paint. She was MiaFarrow’s maid in The Roommate. Shes way more exciting off the stage than on it, which is a criticism she’s faced throughout her career. Everytime she popped up on the stage in War Paint, I thought “oh you’re still with us”? The writers CLEARLY didn’t know what to do with her and just wanted to work with the fabulous Christine. Last weeks episode of And Just Like That…sure enough, Patti was dreadful. I can’t wait til we get SUTTON GYPSY to blow Patti out of the water yet again, just like she did with Anything Goes."

Sutton Foster is 50 years old and her voice already shows some signs of decline. There is absolutely 0 chance she will ever play Rose on Broadway. In 10-15 years when another revival happens she will be aged out. Even now, Audra she ain't.

Updated On: 7/17/25 at 12:09 PM

I actually think Audra’s performance would have been much more successful in a less traditional production. Her Rose had a grotesqueness at times (I don’t say that as a diss) but the production around her did not reflect that. I wonder how it could have been under the direction of a Marianne Elliott or Sam Gold or our Brit boy of the moment — or even just a different approach to the material by George Wolfe.