Gypsy 2002 Revival

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 5:02pm

I have been reading Arthur Laurents' book, and he talks pretty negatively about the 2002 revival, especially the set design and direction. Who here saw it, and what did you think?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 5:08pm

Hated it. HAY-TED IT. The set looked like it was borrowed from some dinner theater that had to scale back due to budget cuts and (when I saw it early on at least), Bernadette acted like she was a 10 year old girl trying to be a "big grown up girl" being Rose.

Of course, as always when this revival is brought up, people will say that she got better in the role as time went on. But when I saw her, she (and the show) was just a total miss.

[taximom]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 5:44pm

I saw it very near the end of the run and it wasn't very good then, either. Bernadette's voice was SHOT! She just couldn't sing the role. The role seemed too big for her...and I love Bernadette! The Patti version a few years later was MUCH better.

Updated On: 1/1/14 at 05:44 PM

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 6:27pm

I think Laurents was pissed off because it was the quintessential American musical being 'hijacked' by Brits - i.e. Sam Mendes directed and Anthony Ward designed, and said they didn't understand the musical because it wasn't 'in their bones,' that it is an American art form... Laurents didn't like Mendes's approach to the show as a 'concept' like he did Cabaret in 1994 and again in 1998...

[binau]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 7:07pm

Laurents' comments RE: set design do not make any sense given the 2008 production sets were just as bad. He complained that a certain scene did not work "without walls" - how does he solve it in the 2008 production that also hypocritically had no walls? He cuts the scene :-/.

I don't know how I feel about Bernadette's performance. I enjoy the cast recording and her Tony performance is one of my favourites, but there is a bootleg video of her early into the run and she kind of just stood around and shouted, as if shouting was the only way the audience could hear her or take her seriously. I want to catch the Lincoln archive video soon though that was taken a bit later on.

Updated On: 1/1/14 at 07:07 PM

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 8:20pm

How was Tammy Blanchard?

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 1/1/14 at 9:03pm

What didn't help was Laurents "offered suggestions" to Mendes on how to "improve" his production, and Mendes didn't take it. Therefore, Laurents made his tongue extra sharp when talking about this revival.

[LMcC95]

Posted: 1/2/14 at 12:04am

Is this the revival mama rose took a long time to get down the aisle?