Patti LuPone GYPSY Cast Recording

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 4:19pm

For Christmas I received the cast recording of GYPSY starring Patti LuPone. I had seen the show last May and, for the most part, loved it. I just listened to the LuPone recording which I followed up by listening to the OBCR with Ethel Merman. I had seen the OBC in 1959 and 1960. So, how do the two albums measure up for me?

The LuPone album is more complete and it is great fun to hear the several songs that were cut, probably in Philadelphia where GYPSY was running past midnight. Since I have the Barnes & Noble edition I also get to hear the entract and the exit music, nice additions that I don't think have ever been done before. Also included is the final dialogue following "Rose's Turn" in which Rose tells of dreaming about a women's magazine with the headline "Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy". Louise then laughs which annoyed me in the theatre and continues to annoy me. Rose is trying to make amends and Louise just laughs. It is not in the original script and it is mean spirited to me, even if Rose may deserve it.

Back to the music. In the LuPone recording, everyone sings well but I remain disappointed in Patti LuPone's performance. She doesn't sound as good as she did in the theatre. For one thing she has too much vibrato. And her screeching at the end of "Rose's Turn" is just too much. She sings "Everything's Coming Up Roses" much too fast. The orchestra in the Merman recording is just as good and I prefer its tempos, possibly because I have played that recording countless times. The two most important songs for me are "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose'Turn" and Merman surpasses LuPone in both of them. In "Rose's Turn" there is supposed to be a stutter at the word "M..m..m..m..Mama" to accentuate the fact that this
number is actually a breakdown. LuPone does not stutter whereas Merman does, very effectively.

I'm still glad to have the LuPone recording because of the fine performances by everyone else; it's just that I was disappointed with Patti LuPone's work. I'm afraid that some members will consider my views as sacrilege.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 5:10pm

Nope. I fully agree with your assessment on La LuPone and her GYPSY.

I'm one of the many who never fell onto the PATTI LuPONE IS A GODESS AND CAN'T DO NO WRONG band-wagon. From the first time I ever saw her work 'live': September 1980 in EVITA (I was 15 years old), her voice and acting has annoyed the crap outta me. No matter what she's done since, I still see the same one-trick-pony/annoying performance. To me, LuPone sings EVERYTHING with the exact same approach: play it angry. There's so much truth in that lip snarl/curl she sings with.

As for her Mama Rose... I found her portrayal flat, fake, aloof and had a 'phoning-it-in' style. Even her line readings had a somewhat monotone interpretation. Having the rest of the cast give their own peculiar interpretations added to the whole odd effect of this revival: Benanti's Gypsy with the yelling and madwoman laugh; Larkin's cartoon and over-the-top Dainty June, etc. I only enjoyed this revival simply because it was the first time seeing GYPSY done with these outlandish exaggerated interpretations, which was refreshing... especially after seeing so many carbon-copy productions. I guess Laurents expected the performances would 'fill up' the stage, hence the cheap set design. I still can't get over that lame attempt at symbolism with Rose's paint spotted grey smock. Oy!

[alxscrz2]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 7:11pm

I actually didn't like this recording of gypsy. Patti yelled through out all the tracks she was in. We get the point that rose is troubled but Patti is makeing it seem like rose is just a angry women. I think Bernadette's recording of gypsy is the best. She put emotion into the songs and showed us how hurt rose was during rose's turn

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 7:24pm

I agree with your assessment of the recording. I hadn't listened to it since I first purchased it as I really didn't care for it. Ironically I decided to listen to it again today, and like it a bit better. Some things that worked in the theatre don't necessarily work on the recording (speech inflections). The end of Leann Larkin's small monologue on track 11 is a bit much. I enjoyed her performance live though. I also agree with Patti's scream at the end of Rose's Turn. Ugh. I don't like that it's a part of this recording.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 7:34pm

Each to his own taste, of course. BrodyFosse, as long as you're not on the Lupone Can Do No Right bandwagon, I still think your opinions are valid.

I thought LuPone's performance was brilliant--some of the finest acting I've ever seen, musical or otherwise. I will say that I prefer my "Rose's Turn" a little more sung than LuPone does, but I am in awe of the detailed specificity she brings to each moment of the scene.

Gypsy9, how amazing that you were able to experience all those performances! It's funny: I've always found Merman's stuttered "momma's" to be just nonsenscial. I haven't the slightest idea what she's trying to do. Maybe I would have gotten it if I'd seen it live and in context. They just sound like noises to me.

But this is what I love about the theater: it can arouse such passions, positive and negative, and roles and plays are open to so much interpretation.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 7:37pm

To be fair, the role was written for Ethel Merman. If it were written for LuPone it would have been a different score. Time/Life's CD accurately captures the performances on stage. It would be my second choice after the Merman recording. Far superior to the Lansbury album (very sloppy production on that one), the Tyne Daly (poor vocal performance) and the Peters (a good try at something different, but it doesn't succeed.)

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 9:06pm

My thoughts on the new ending:

I think it is really a great concept, and works quite well after Gypsy leaves the stage because the ONE problem I had with it was that she did not make any physical contact with her mother. It made it seem unnatural and very cruel, when their conversation beforehand was not so. If she were to perhaps pat Rose's hand or cheek and then leave, the same idea of the staging would still read, but more successfully. (And I do like it)

Updated On: 1/1/09 at 09:06 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 9:15pm

I actually had a totally different reaction to Louise's laugh. I don't find it cruel at all--in fact, just the opposite. To me it reads as rueful and accepting: Louise realizing that her mother, even if she has some realizations at last, is never really going to change. And realizing that that's okay.

I felt it gave the show one last note of enlightenment: a further coda of realization at the end of "Rose's Turn."

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 9:20pm

Sorry I wasn't clear, but I didn't find it cruel either, and I see it the same way as you. But in the initial analysis, before she begins to walk away and give playful glances on exit, makes it seem otherwise. It was the initial execution that bothered me, and I think some people read it the wrong away because of the physicality (which I think is due to the direction).

I adore it, though. Because of the reasons you listed, I find it thought provoking, and it says a lot about what kind of relationship the two will have in the future.

[theminutepast]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 10:30pm

I agree, but I think the laugh is cruel to Rose. When Laura laughed, Patti winced. There was certainly pain in her expression. I think the ending is supposed to engender different interpretations and not be clear.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 12:43am

At one point during the discussion with the Gypsy cast at Barnes&Noble from the CD signing over the summer (I wasn’t there, but I found videos on youtube), Laura talks about the relationship between Rose and Louise as well as the laugh at the end. It’s in the first minute and a half of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6yV42rNgpQ&feature=related

I think she really sums it up nicely and that’s pretty much how I interpreted it myself. It’s pretty clear that Rose will never change, but Louise accepts it. While she has become her own person, she still maintains a relationship with her mother.

[Usnavi]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 12:49am

if i remember correctly doesn't natalie wood also laugh as well in the original movie?

[rjjn]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 1:02am

I prefer the LuPone recording to Peters, but I might be biased based on how I liked the stage performances. While Bernadette Peters is an amazing singer and perfect for Sondheim shows, I don't think she pulled off diva as well as Patti LuPone, which I also think comes across in the recordings.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 1:09am

Laura Benati was amazing on the recording patti was off key.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 2:41am

The scream on the recording is too much.

When I saw it live, it worked. She slid up to a more natural place that sound less "This is me....acting crazy" and more of a final explosion.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 2:52am

The scream on the recording is how she did it at City Center. It was frightening live.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 7:26am

Reginald Tresilian: The repetitious stuttering of mmmMama... mmmMAMA....mmmMama... was Stephen Sondheim's idea to illustrate Rose's breakdown. Merman asked Sondheim, "Do I sing that on the upbeat or the downbeat?" wanting her aria (as she called it) to be perfect. Incidentally in an extended interview that Frank Rich had with Stephen Sondheim, Sondheim said that Merman was very cooperative with him. And she referred to Jerome Robbins as "Teacher". So much for the Diva in her.

Regarding the ending of GYPSY, I want to quote from the original script, because it offers a look into how Rose and Louise will get along with each other, without the one sided laugh from Louise which simply doesn't sound friendly the way that Laura Benanti does it.
**************************************************************
Rose: You know, I had a dream last night.(She links her arm through Louise's as they start slowly across the stage) It was a big poster of a mother and daughter--you know, like the cover of that ladies' magazine.

Louise:-Warningly) Yes, Mother?

Rose:-Stops moving)Only it was you and me, wearing exactly the same gown. It was an ad for Minsky--and the headline said: (She traces the name in the air) MADAM ROSE--(Louise gives her a look; Rose catches it and, moving her hand up to give Louise top billing, says) AND HER DAUGHTER, GYPSY!(They both begin to laugh as they walk off).

THE CURTAIN FALLS
****************************************************************
Having them both laugh is far different than having just Louise laugh, in my opinion.

Updated On: 1/2/09 at 07:26 AM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 8:38am

Gypsy9, I've heard versions of that story as well, and it sort of speaks to exactly what my reaction is: Merman sounds as though she's repeating something she's been taught, but it doesn't resonate with any meaning at all (to me).

[canmark]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 9:58am

Although I enjoyed the bonus material, I was slightly underwhelmed by the LuPone Gypsy recording, having heard all the raves (much as I was underwhelmed with the South Pacific recording; I imagine both shows were much better live and the recordings do them no justice).

I don't have the Merman, Landsbury or Peters Gypsys, but I actually thought Tyne Daly's recording really revealed her great *acting* (albeit with weak singing). Wonderful emotion-filled "Rose's Turn."

Laura Benanti's moo moo moo-moo's, however, drive me into hysterics. More "muh" than "moo", she sounds disinterested in performing, so different from June's overexuberant performance, and so appropriate for Louise.

Updated On: 1/2/09 at 09:58 AM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 11:17am

I preferred the Lupone Gypsy recording to the production itself. I'm not a LuPone fanatic, but think she has rarely sounded better than she does on this.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 11:50am

Now maybe I'm bias becuase La Lupone is one of my two idols (the other being sondheim) but I thought that while she is wonderful on the recording she is far superior live. Maybe its cuz I saw all the acting and build up to each moment but I felt that while it is probably overall the best gypsy recording the show live is far superior. Then again you could argue anything live is better than recording but I have sometimes gone in listening to a recording and been less than enlightend so who knows. That being said I really think each Gypsy recording should stand on its own. I know that it will always be compared to each other but of the 4 I have (Merman, Lansbury, Peters, Lupone) I think each is so differnt. Merman was the first and set the bar. In many ways I feel Lansbury surpasses that bar and adds some anger and much needed sass to the character. Her Some People is awsome. Peters added a massive dose of humanity and fault in herself and I don't think she was bad. Now maybe its bad but I dont know exactly what makes Lupone so good in the role. I dont know which definitive quality she brings. But she is just brilliant in the role. I know that it isnt a fair argument to make with nothing to support it but if you have seen the show youd understand. (end rant)