Laurents on Merman

[zamedy]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 2:21pm

Wow. So did he like her or not? After watching the archived interview with him featured on the homepage, I'm not exactly sure what to think. He didn't think she could really act, just pretend to be playing a character. Yet at times, he thought she was brilliant in a role (I can see him telling LuPone "YOU can act. Merman couldn't act!")

He loved her belt and believed her singing was unmatched.. but did he love her singing? Did they maintain a mutual respect for one another and a friendship or relationship in the years after Gypsy? Cleary, each is at least partly responsible for the other's success thanks to the magic they created together in 'the greatest musical ever. Ever.'
Updated On: 5/6/11 at 02:21 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 2:38pm

This has been debated before and frankly, I think what Laurents is saying isn't especially disrespectful to Merman.

He doesn't question the power of her performance in 1959. He's saying that she was primarily a singer - that her singing was unparalleled, but as an actress, he's not sure her acting performance would be especially convincing to modern audiences, and he backs this up by saying that musical theatre performers in the 1930s and 40s weren't generally asked to portray emotionally challenging roles and so Merman was coming at the role of Rose with little in her experience to prepare her for the complexity of the character.

Merman was notorious for 'freezing' her performances - she took pride in the fact that every performance was virtually identical. That, as Laurents says, is sort of contrary to the approach of modern method acting that equates craft with an actor's ability to think and respond directly in the moment.

People debate film performances from the 1930s and 40s with this same scrutiny



Updated On: 5/6/11 at 02:38 PM

[Henrik_Egerman]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 4:37pm

A friend of mine was in the original production of GYPSY with Merman, and recalls that Merman never looked her in the eye during their scenes together- she'd focus instead on her forehead. It was part of Merman's method of keeping her performance "frozen;" by not engaging with the other performers onstage she couldn't be distracted by any variations in character anyone else might have over the course of a long run. But she also recalled watching her perform "Rose's Turn" from the wings every night, and how Merman would often be in tears throughout the number.

[egghumor]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 6:40pm

Was Mr, Laurents an equally tall giant among his musical theater contemporaries, Sondheim and Bernstein? ABSOLUTELY!

With that said, I cannot say that I am exactly mourning this loss as Mr. Laurents made many a performer cry in his lifetime, but I am sincerely grateful to the posters here who have already provided memories/tributes here. Thank you!

[zamedy]

Posted: 5/6/11 at 10:50pm

Great responses. I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. Thank you, gentlemen! I love this board!

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 5/7/11 at 2:04am

Happy Hunting wasn't a flop, though, so Laurents is (at the very least) wrong about that. I also find it hard to believe that Gypsy had no advance before opening. I've never ready anything in my numerous readings about Merman and Gypsy that suggested anything of the sort.

Guess we all choose to remember the past differently, even with written proof to dispute our memory.

[A Director]

Posted: 5/7/11 at 3:39am

Was Mr, Laurents an equally tall giant among his musical theater contemporaries, Sondheim and Bernstein?

No, he was not! You didn't mention Jerome Robbins. Laurents was not a tall giant with him either.