Mendes-Peters GYPSY

I recently read Arthur Laurents' new book Mainly on Directing and enjoyed it; however I still can't get my head around what was so disastrous about the 2003 revival of GYPSY. I'm sorry to bring it up again, but can people who saw this so-called "awful" revival please explain why Mendes destroyed it, what he did to deserve the abuse, and what Peters was like in the role of Rose. Why was this production so bad?

Thanks a lot!

Oh, Lord. People feel as strongly over this as they do over a womans right to choose.

Personally I hated her in the role. She was like a little girl playing dress up and acting like a big girl. That said, I saw it early in the run and hear she really evolved with it as time went on. I'm positive you'll hear more people talk about how amazing she was once that happened.

Her performance of Rose's Turn at the Tonys is my favorite recorded version of the song, but I never saw the show. But I imagine Laurents hated it because he's Arthur Laurents.

The genius set designer Boris Aronson once described Arthur Laurents's Secret to Life as (1) always have a Villain to blame things on and (2) always have a Victim to punish.

When the Villain and the Victim can be made to be the same person, Aronson explained, Arthur is at his most happiest.

When it came to the 2003 revival, Bernadette was miscast and quite bad in the role until she had been playing it for several months. But Arthur had signed off on her casting, so he couldn't blame her.

Sam Mendes was the obvious choice for both Villain AND Victim. Poor Sam Mendes had no idea what was about to hit him. Hell hath no fury like Arthur Laurents on a tear.

Given that Mendes had made a few bona fide directorial missteps, and given that Arthur had directed the production himself before, Arthur set about a campaign to undercut Mendes's authority in the production and impugn his talent and integrity in the eyes of the cast, the producers, the New York theater world and the industry press.

The campaign worked, and Arthur's acting notes started filtering in to the cast. As Bernadette became more self-assured in the role (although still miscast), Arthur delighted in telling one and all, "Sam nearly RUINED her performance until I came in and saved it."

But the meanest things Arthur said about Sam Mendes were not the things he said behind Sam's back. They were the things he said to Sam's face. Arthur would give Sam notes after the previews.

(Forgive me if I've told this story on BWW a dozen or so times before.)

After one last notes session during which Arthur went scene by scene and told Sam EVERYTHING that was wrong with the production, from the sets to the costumes to Bernadette's wrong-headed and vocally undistinguished performance, the usually self-assured Mendes was feeling particularly queasy.

"Well, Arthur," Mendes offered weakly, "didn't the stripper number get a big hand?"

"Sam," Arthur started, going in for the kill, "you could cast Saddam Hussein and his two sons as those strippers and you'd STILL get a big hand."

Who knows what evil lurks in the hear of Arthur Laurents? Yr pal Joey does.

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Updated On: 8/5/10 at 11:57 PM

There was nothing "wrong" with Peters or the production. She was criticized for the fact that she was unlike any Rose before her, but I found her to be very effective (albeit different) in the role. IMO, she was every bit as wonderful as LuPone. I thought Blanchard was very good as Louise (what's she doing now, BTW?) but Benanti was a revelation. Dossett and Gaines both made excellent Herbies. The rest of LuPone's ensemble was slightly stronger than Peters', but Mendes put together a more visually appealing production than Laurents. If Mendes' production was bare-bones, Laurents' was just bones.
All in all, Mendes' production may not have pleased the traditionalists, but to those for whom it was the first exposure to Gypsy (like me), it was phenomenal and will always have a place in my heart.

I love that in his book Laurents complains about problematic scenes in the Mendes-GYPSY as a result of no walls. Then he directs LUPONE!GYPSY with no walls. And he 'solves' the 'problem' by cutting the scene. Nice. (was it the hotel room scene?)

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He didn't cut the entire hotel scene. He cut the faux rape. Another notable cut was the "Small World" reprise. That cut made complete sense. Patti's Rose would never have sat there harping on Herbie's walkout, she was too determined to get Louise on that stage.

This person makes note of all alterations done to the script by Laurents.

http://www.theatreaficionado.com/2009/01/cut-from-the-2008-gypsy.html

Updated On: 8/6/10 at 02:24 AM

The alterations Laurents made to Gypsy may have been lamentable, but the alterations Laurents made to West Side Story were despicable: all meant to diminish the contributions of his collaborators while boosting his own.

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Updated On: 8/6/10 at 08:02 AM

What were the changes that he made to WSS? Unfortunately, this was my first experience with the actual show (not the movie). I thought the cartoony design was completely inappropriate for the "grittier" tone they seemed to be going for and full of cheap, ugly choices. The Spanish didn't make anything feel more real, it constantly called attention to itself, especially when they had to keep stopping to say important lines in English. It only pointed out the artifice of the show. The whole thing moved so haltingy, and all of the book scenes were almost unintelligible. And what the hell was with that 10-year-old in a hoodie coming onstage to sing "Somwhere" and be touched by Josefina Scaglione?

That's what I thought as a stranger to the show, thinking I'd enjoy it (because honestly, I loved the Gypsy revival). I'm curious as to what he cut.

Updated On: 8/6/10 at 10:08 AM

And don't forget that it was also his decision to diminish the power of the dancing in both the Dance at the Gym and "America."

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I always find it funny when actors (namely Olivo, Benanti, and LuPone) speak so highly of Laurents, even though we all knew he has probably ripped them all a new ***hole on many occasions for no apparent reason.

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Also, Laurents kissed Matt Cavanaughs hiney in the beginning of WSS, buying him gifts and dinners and now he is persona non grata. No idea what happened there.

To quote Ouiser from Steel Magnolias in regards to Laurents, "people are only nice to me because I have more money than god." In Laurents case, it is power he has and actors are playing nice.

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"Much like Stritch has done to make herself a living legend."

Talk about an unnecessary dig.