Gypsy Live At Savoy-Link to Watch Replay Here — Page 5

I've been trying to get through this the last few days. Gotten about 50 minutes in, and it's painful. how was this production acclaimed? not only is Imelda much too angry from the first scene and far too old, but all the other casting is wrong. Those farm-boys must be pushing 35. Rose's father seems to be younger than her. Both Baby and Dainty June were so grating at every moment. At first I was glad when she transformed, only to have that joy become chagrin. I've kind of liked Herbie and Louise so far. I will attempt to power through the rest tonight. A shame, since my boyfriend knows this is my favorite show, and he's been absolutely disappointed (I told him this production is the problem and not the show, I hope he believes me).

When I saw Tyne Daly, I thought that the whole performance ran at the pace of a freight train. I think that the reason we have had so many revivals is because of how great the musical actually is. There is really not another musical that can compare to the drama and musicality of "GYPSY"...maybe we need to wait until Idina Menzel is old enough to put on Rose's coat...

http://i66.tinypic.com/2czcx28.png

Due to things beyond my control I had a ticket to see this in November and had to miss it. Just finished watching the broadcast twice and for me, it was amazing, loved every single minute of it..

This was the first production I have ever seen ( Australia hasn't seen a professional in years ....The production company semi stage does not count )

She scared the crap out of me when she tried to strangle Louise dueing "Everythinhgs coming up Roses".

so where does Bette Midler fall in qolbinau's scale? LOL

Having seen Gypsy with Tyne Daly 5x Linda Lavin, Betty Buckley, Bernadette Peters , and Patti Lupone I can honestly say that the one thing they all had in common was they were not overacting...while I think Tyne was the best...and her singing in the theater was perfectly fine (the recording is not) she was Rose...100pc... Imelda seems to be overacting and angry throughout...just to over the top for me. I don't like her Roses turn at all just to much.....but any version of Gypsy is worth seeing for the different takes on it.

BTW ..Betty Buckley was my 2nd favorite Rose...she killed it and it is a shame they never let her bring it to NYC

It's off topic, but I'm listening to older Gypsy recordings today and I'm currently on All I Need is the Girl from Tyne Daly's recording, and several times (3, I believe) there are what I assume to be sounds of a member of the orchestra coughing in the background. Very strange.

Happy New Year everyone! (I am 16 hours ahead of the NYC timezone).

Regarding the chart, obviously it is just my opinion so happy to be challenged. Though it's always more interesting to provide some actual detail if you do want to challenge it. And that opinion has been formed primarily based on recordings (including professionally shot videos at the Lincoln Archive, cast recordings, audience recordings, the BBC broadcast etc.) or in the case of Ethel Merman, I've also factored in some second hand opinions given that visually, her performance is not well documented.

I haven't fully made up my mind about Imelda's performance yet. Vocally, to me it's nothing particularly special at all and out of all the major stage roses, the only one it tops for me is Tyne's (who based on available recordings really was not THAT much better in the theatre than on the cast recording. e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJM6nNMXJlc. She is a great example of an actor who sings).

However, there is no doubt in my mind that Imelda is a great actress. She is also a classically trained, acclaimed actress. And looking at the scenes leading up into "Rose's Turn", for example, I am impressed at how convincingly fractured she makes Rose seem. Her facial expressions, overwhelmed emotion, posture, hand shaking etc. - all seems very skilful to me.

So the question for me is whether the vision of how she played her character is 'wrong'. I always have felt that Rose has some kind of mental illness (she lies, uses people, is impulsive, and can be aggressive). So I can definitely understand some of the choices that were made. But, like other unpleasant characters in our cannon (e.g., Fosca), it can sometimes be a bit hard to care about an unpleasant, difficult, awful person.

Updated On: 12/31/15 at 08:41 PM

"So the question for me is whether the vision of how she played her character is 'wrong'. I always have felt that Rose has some kind of mental illness (she lies, uses people, is impulsive, and can be aggressive)."

What crap! Rose does not have some kind of mental illness! The fourth examples you list usually not a sign of mental illness. I wonder, if a man lied, used people was impulsive and was aggressive would you say he had some kind of mental illness? Perhaps you are shocked that a woman lies, uses people, is impulsive and is aggressive.

for those of us who were too damned slow, GYPSY has been removed from YouTube. Thankfully I saw it live in June, but it kills me that I missed this performance. Perhaps I'll try hola...

I was exhausted after watching the BBC video. This was the first production I've seen that emphasized Rose's unrelenting anger and resentment rather than ambition. I've never before sensed that what was driving her all those years was anger at being abandoned by her mother at an early age. For me, that came out crystal-clear during "Rose's Turn." The irony, of course, is that she has herself inadvertently driven away all those who have attempted to love her. Even at the end, post "Rose's Turn," Louise turns and starts to walk away, something not in any previous versions I've seen. Yes, she does eventually put her arm around Rose, but not at first. That was very telling.

I'm having flashbacks to heated discussions about 'the laugh', haha.