Gypsy, the best musical of all time? — Page 3

For me, the thing that makes Gypsy stand out as the best musical is that it's the only one I can think of where you could throw away the score and the book would stand on its own as an interesting play. That's something REALLY rare to find a musical as well-crafted as a play. But of course you wouldn't want to throw away the score because that's also brilliant. I think it's telling that, as someone else said, people don't try to cut the show or update it, but more than that, they don't cut the Overture. In this day of short attention spans where many shows don't even have an overture, or are just left with a few bars, people are willing to sit for five whole minutes staring at a curtain just listening to that music.

Two flaws I find with the show, one is that it seems a little bit cold to me at times. I think there are certain plot points glossed over, or not explored emotionally with a song, but then again the show is already really long, so there probably just isn't time to explore all the material that there is to work with in the story.

Second, when I was working on the recent revival, I heard it said that the reason most productions have been surprisingly unsuccessful financially is that theatre people love Gypsy because it's about show business, but regular audiences don't have that natural connection with the subject matter and find it less engaging. I don't know if it's true or not, it very well may be, but if you want to know if _I_ think Gypsy is the best musical, I am a theatre person, and I say it is.

Re.the cutting of "Little Lamb" from GYPSY: I quote from Theodore Taylor's biography of Jule Styne. "Over the next five weeks, prior to New York, Laurents and and Robbins snipped away at the show.It was still a bit overlong.The second or third week, Robbins summarily cut 'Little Lamb', Gypsy's number midway of the first act. The cut was made without consultation with Jule or Laurents. Jule heard of the cut and requested that the number be returned to the score. Robbins refused, without giving a reason. Jule then walked up to the stage and said with great dignity,'Mr. Robbins, I have notified my lawyers in New York that I'm withdrawing the entire score unless 'Little Lamb' is put back in tonight.' Robbins surrendered."

I agree that "Little Lamb", a charming and delicate song, is indispensible to the development of the character of Louise. Thank God Jule Styne won the battle with Jerome Robbins who was known as being a tyrant at times.

---

Little Lamb could never be cut. It - like EVERY song in the score - is extremely important to plot/character development.

---