GYPSY ending scene please help me remember?

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 10:33am

Clarification please...in the staged version with IMELDA STAUNTON...after "Rose's Turn", when describing the magazine cover she sees with both her and GYPSY ROSE LEE on, in this version Gypsy walks off alone with Rose right behind her...almost in disgust on Gypsy's part...yet in the ROSALIND RUSSELL version after Rose's Turn, it seems they both reconcile and walk off stage to the party arm in arm...which version is correct or closer to the original version...i have only seen the ANGELA LANSBURY version on stage...and can't remember the ending past the end of Rose's Turn...

 anybody???...p.s. you can watch STAUNTON's ROSE'S TURN on Youtube if you haven't seen it already...very compelling performance it looks like!

 

Updated On: 4/16/16 at 10:33 AM

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 10:43am

In the Staunton version, Gypsy does, indeed, put her arm around Rose in the final second or two as the lights fade to black. 

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 10:49am

A typed, non-published script I have as this as the stage directions of the moment: "They both begin to laugh as they walk off). So, I'm thinking is the Rosalind Russell ending.

 

If YOU look on a TUBE of sorts, *sometimes* the '03 and '08 Gypsy is on there, and you could check those out, as well as the Bette Midler video.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 11:01am

^The '08 production with LuPone had that revised ending though where Rose was left alone on stage reaching out for the sign of her name in lights.

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 11:54am

MichelleCraig said: "In the Staunton version, Gypsy does, indeed, put her arm around Rose in the final second or two as the lights fade to black. 

yes i watched it closely,  and at the very end she does put her arm around Rose,  but the way she turns away from Rose before she begins her walk to exit the stage looks like she still has some contempt for her mother even as Rose has given Gypsy top billing!...i really like the way it ends into movie version better...not so much a happy ending but a circle of life ending that sums up the whole show in my mind...

 

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 12:07pm

The LuPone/Benanti ending will always be my favorite. To see Louise walk away from her mother, leaving her like that. It was chilling. And her laugh. Oy. A well deserved Tony win. 

[ComingUpRoses2]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 1:39pm

I thought Laurents' 2008 ending was one of his wisest choices. It was haunting and bone-chilling. I've talked with many people who can't stand the last few seconds of the show when it ends on the happy note. Mainly because it's not earned. I always got the feeling they forced a happy ending, because it was the late 50's and that's how a traditional musical comedy needed to end. 

I loved the 2008 ending so much that I really can't stand to see it done any other way. The BBC version had a nice compromise where Gypsy looks disgusted, turns away, and walks off, but Rose eventually catches up and Gypsy does put her arm around her right as the lights go down. I think that's acceptable, but I hate when they laugh like old friends and walk off into the sunset. There's something so phony about that. Rose is never going to change and Gypsy knows that and needs to get away from her. That's a REAL happy ending. 

[Tag]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 2:17pm

Didn't the 2008 ending have the Rose sign fading out after Gypsy walked off as well?

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 2:23pm

I believe so. I also remember some of the bulbs cracking out, but that may just be me thinking cinematically.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 3:35pm

It's a great moment because as written it can be done many different ways for different intents. I agree the '08 version is so crazy good but maybe a bit TOO downer. I think if I was doing it I would try for something in the middle, something that clearly shows that It isn't all happy but not downright cold on Louise's part.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 4:40pm

The entire 2008 finale should be on YouTube still. It's absolutely chilling. T

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 5:03pm

I love the 2008 ending- probably the best thing Arthur did in that revival. 

 

I do think that a big part of what made it work was the brilliant work LuPone and Benanti did in that scene. I wonder if it would have the same gravitas with lesser performers. Because everything they did in that scene- LuPone's earnestness, Benanti putting the wrap on her, Benanti's laugh as she walked away, LuPone reaching for her name....it was just brilliant. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/16/16 at 5:03pm

In the Lansbury version, they cast very tall Louises (Zan Charisse on Broadway and her sister, Nan Tucker, in the Florida production which followed) so that when Rose and Louise reconciled near the end of that scene, Angela could literally put her head on her "daughter's" shoulder, This was the "objective correlative" of the role reversal in which Louise began to mother Rose.

But IIRC, as they exited, Angela ended up one step behind Louise and cast a brief look as her name flickered in lights. She then seemed to shrug and walk off arm-in-arm with her daughter, as if she had closed a long chapter in her life. Although Angela's mad "Turn" was terrifying (in a deliberate and good way), the ending of the play was quite tender and satisfying.

I am very certain of paragraph #1 above, because it was discussed with me by the Florida director, Fritz Holt. Paragraph #2 is my memory of a production I worked on 39 years ago, so I hope nobody will cite me in his or her doctoral dissertation.

[bear88]

Posted: 6/22/25 at 5:34am

Maybe I missed a this in the thread on the Audra McDonald revival of Gypsy (it’s long) but has there been much discussion of the final scene? This was my first time seeing Gypsy but I have been digging down the rabbit hole.

In the 2008 revival, Laura Benanti - as Louise - laughs in disgust as she walks away from Patti LuPone’s Rose, leaving her grasping pathetically at the ROSE lights that flicker and die. It’s a chilling rejection that reminded me, oddly enough, of the conclusion of Twin Peaks: The Return.

As I understand it, that was a new approach to the end of the musical by Arthur Laurents. In the current revival, directors George C. Wolfe stages the scene - unless I’m forgetting - as an amiable if tentative reconciliation between Audra McDonald’s Rose and Joy Woods’ Louise.

I am curious about the various incarnations over the years, including what happened in the original production with Ethel Merman and the much-praised revival with Angela Lansbury? (I have now seen the ending of the 2003 revival, which provides a stellar acting moment for Bernadette Peters and appears to split the difference, the film (a reconciliation) and the Bette Midler TV movie.

It seems this conclusion can be done a variety of ways, and I’m sure - as with tweaks to all classic musicals - people have many strong opinions and preferences.

My own feeling is that the reconciliation seems like the right response in the Audra McDonald-Joy Woods revival. As unhinged and obsessive as Audra’s Rose can get, she’s presented overall as less of a monster. Woods’ Louise is guarded but not cruel, and we don’t know what happens in the future.

Updated On: 6/22/25 at 05:34 AM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/22/25 at 9:39am

Saw it last night and this is true. I don’t remember that moment with the LuPone version. 

[east side story]

Posted: 6/22/25 at 11:13am

LuPone’s production ending was truly chilling, and seemed to rub some traditionalists the wrong way at the time, but it was the best choice Laurents made, aside from that cast. It did not wrap everything up neatly, and I adored it.

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/22/25 at 11:42am

I think I ultimately preferred the LuPone version too. Audra was sensational but I don’t think the production nor the cast really backed her up. 

[tomorrowBIGLITES]

Posted: 6/22/25 at 12:05pm

My one defense of the “laugh like old friends” of it all is

what is reality of a mother and daughter?

your aging parent says the dumb thing and you laugh it off cause in this moment you just can’t deal with it but are tired of fighting.

There is a “nothing will change but find love where you can” element especially to that era.

the 2008 ending is great but again, this is an era without a ton of psychological introspection. 

people loved their family, warts and all. Even the worst warts.

 

[binau]

Posted: 6/22/25 at 12:22pm

It is Benanti’s cold laugh that gets me. God she urned that Tony. 

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/22/25 at 12:57pm

The LuPone ending was chilling. It was controversial at the time, but I found it really impactful. Patti's Rose embracing her name in lights as the "ROSE" bulbs slowly dimmed was marvelous. One last chance to embrace her dream before it fades away. 

I think it's now safe to say nobody can direct GYPSY like Laurents. We've seen two incarnations without him that produced mixed results. 

Updated On: 6/22/25 at 12:57 PM