Gypsy with Patti Lupone

I direct you to this link: http://www.ravinia.org/generalpages/genericpage.aspx?ID=51

also, arthur lurents (sp?) wouldn't let her near it (on broadway) if his life depended on it.

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I'll give you the condensed version, others might be more elaborate: Patti LuPone played a role in an Arthur Laurents' play out of town, then she decided not to do it on Broadway (apparently the play was far too mediocre). The play never made it to Broadway and Laurents blames LuPone for it, although the play probably would have never gotten to Broadway anyways. Since then, he has a big battle against her playing Mamma Rose on Broadway, and they're just not on good terms. You'd think Sondheim could have changed that but apparently Laurents is a big bitter homosexual.

Foscas' basically got the story. The play was JOLSON SINGS AGAIN and as the result of the fallout from it, Lupone cannot play Rose in a major revival of GYPSY on Broadway as long as Laurents is alive (he's 87).

The Ravinia concert promises to be quite an event -- I already have my tickets (and I hear they're already going pretty fast).

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Actually LuPone was the first choice for the recent revival of GYPSY. However, Laurents started getting all huffy about her playing the role and they went with Bernadette Peters. Patti was very, very upset when she lost the role.

I've already got my tickets for the Ravinia production--for all three performances!!!!!!

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It was recorded but it did not have a commercial release, and from what I've heard it's Laurents fault, only rumors though.
I thought Bernadette Peters had been hand-picked by Laurents to play Mamma Rose after seeing her perform "Some People" in her concert. I am quite content with his choice though, Ms.Peters was mesmerizing in the role, many people would disagree but to me she gave an inspiring and haunting performance.
Back to LuPone, I believe she's going to give another magnificent performance as she has in the past 30 years or so. I imagine she'll accentuate the sexiness of Rose even more than Peters did; after seeing her in Sweeney Todd she really proved she can take a role, deconstruct it, and put it back together to suit her, she's a real actress.

thats a shame that laurents got huffy because luPone will be AMAAAAAAAAAAZING in that role! wow...nothing against Bernadette but that was one of the worlds biggest miscasts. IMO.

I'm pretty sure it's been said many times before that Bernadette Peters "found" the recent revival, the recent revival didn't "find" her.

In other words, there were no plans for another Broadway revival of Gypsy until Bernadette Peters expressed interest and enthusiasm in playing Mama Rose (when asked what shows she wanted to do). Her own interest (and her Broadway star power) generated the plans in producing yet another revival.

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NO question that she put her all into that role.
it just never really suited her and it just sounded like she was really hurting herself vocally. she is an amazing presence on stage but not enough of a larger than life presence for THAT role. again ...MY OPINION! it means NOTHING!

Eh...meaning I can't go to Best Buy and get the DVD of Gypsy with Bernadette Peters.
I'm still pretty sure Laurents knew the next Broadway Mamma Rose would be Peters, she had been very open about her dreams of playing the role, but I don't think the show happened just because she was interested. Then again, I don't know Peters herself or Laurents to give a solid argument.

It was Laurents' idea to have her do it and he approached her with the idea. I just found this interview on the net:

"GM: But Gypsy seems to have been done quite a number of times in the past few years - why do you think its all of a sudden become so hot? Angela Lansbury did it and Tyne Daly and Bette Midier did it, and now you're doing it, all in the space of about twenty years.

BP: That's a pretty long time, and it's a great show. The last time on Broadway was over ten years ago, when Tyne did it, maybe twelve years - I'm not sure. It was Arthur's idea to have me do it. Arthur said, "You know, they want to do Gypsy again, and I keep saying no, no, no, no, but I would do it again with you, because you would be a different kind of Rose than the way it's usually cast," except for Angela, who was very different I think than Ethel Merman's. But the reason was that the real Rose was 5'2" and blonde, she wasn't the way it had been played."

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4129/is_200301/ai_n9310696

Also there's also this:

"Laurents is the show's librettist and Sondheim wrote the lyrics to the late Jule Styne's high-adrenalin music. It was Laurents who got Peters to participate in a benefit concert for the Gay Men's Health Crisis at Carnegie Hall in 1996 singing "Some People" from "Gypsy." She belted it out like the pro she is, and the idea to revive the show with her as Mama Rose was born. "

http://www.upi.com/inc/view.php?StoryID=20030606-023237-7469r

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Thank you, Margo. I knew I had read/heard Peters' Carnegie Hall concert had been the reason for Laurents' selection.

Hey! I was one of those theater queens so more respect, please :)