Patti VS Marissa?

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:04pm

In the New York Magazines photo diary of a day with Patti Lupone, it said she was originally planned to play Mama Rose in the 2003 production of Gypsy.

That year Marissa Winokour beat out Bernadette Peters for the TONY. If Patti played that year what do you think the outcome would have been?

[ljay889]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:08pm

Patti.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:18pm

I was hoping for some kind of smackdown video.

But I agree with ljay, and I'm not a particularly huge fan of either.

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:26pm

Well, Marissa did beat out Bernadette so I wouldn't put my money on Patti necessarily. That's just me.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:29pm

^^^
I agree.

[inick122492]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:34pm

i think Marissa still would have won. It was a new show so why not?

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:36pm

Marissa would still have won considering all the Hairspray momentum that year.

I know this is a tired debate, but I still wish Bernadette would have won. Even though I do think Marissa was deserving.

This is pretty much blasphemy to say at this point, but, while I love Patti, Bernadette's Rose was the superior of the two in my book.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:44pm

I feel like Hairspray is a wonderful show, but honestly, I'm still a bit surprised that Marissa won, just because Tracy kind of seems like a 'nothing' role to me. The character's never appealed to me-- basically a constant stream of perky chirping. Mama Rose is such a classic role that seems to me worlds more challenging from an acting standpoint (although Tracy's dancing must be really exhausting!)

I never saw Bernadette Peters' Rose, so I can't give an opinion on that.

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:47pm

I think what made Tracy such a stand out role that year was the standar Marissa sent. She really had a spirit for Tracy that made the role so much more than anyone ever thought it could be.

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:50pm

Even though Patti being in it would not have necessarily meant a complete cast change, had this Gypsy existed then instead, I wonder if Krakowsi still would have taken home the Tony for Best Featured Actress. That year Blanchard was nominated for her Louise and lost. So if Laura Benanti had been nominated that year would she have taken home the Tony?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:53pm

The buzz around a Patti/Sam Mendes production would have been much more positive than the Bernadette-is-miscast/Bernadette-can't-sing-the-part buzz that made the 2003 revival seem like such a mistake.

Patti would have walked off with greater reviews and greater momentum going into Tony-voting season. It would have been much more difficult for Marissa to take that Tony away from her.

Many of Marisa's votes came from voters who couldn't vote for Bernadette because they just didn't think she was good enough in the part.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:54pm

If Patti and Marissa were both up for the Tony, and Marissa won...do you think there would be an uproar like when Patti lost for Anything Goes

P.S. One of the best Broadway references in tv history, was on "Will and Grace". When Will is still very angry about her losing the Tony. And how he sent a very angry letter to the Tony Committee. I know Will isn't Canadian, but Eric is, and what a Canadian thing to do, write an angry letter!

I'm Canadian too, so I can say it

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:57pm

Even though Patti being in it would not have necessarily meant a complete cast change, had this Gypsy existed then instead, I wonder if Krakowsi still would have taken home the Tony for Best Featured Actress. That year Blanchard was nominated for her Louise and lost. So if Laura Benanti had been nominated that year would she have taken home the Tony?

well, a problem there is Laura Benanti was also in Nine that season. obviously she could've chosen Gypsy over Nine, but I think now you're just throwing too many variables in. what if the actress who played Claudia instead of Laura was beyond amazing and got a Tony nomination, too?

Updated On: 2/1/09 at 04:57 PM

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 4:58pm

Beltingbaritone, that is a good point. She has so much spunk and personality, though honestly, her voice isn't my favorite.

[LansburyLuPone]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 5:05pm

I thought Bernadette's Rose was so bad that I almost left at intermission.

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 5:05pm

Y'know I completely forgot Laura Benanti was also in Nine that year. Good point. Oh, and since I forgot to cast my vote I would go with Patti taking the win. I do wonder, though, why there was a supposed uproar over Patti losing in '89 with Anything Goes. It went to Joanna Gleason, which I think is one of the more deserving performances in Tony history. I did not see Patti in Anything Goes so could someone please explain?

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 5:15pm

I...also did not see Patti in Anything Goes, and I think Joanna Gleason totally deserved a Tony, but I know that Patti got completely ecstatic reviews for Anything Goes. I don't know why everyone was completely convinced she was going to win over Joanna Gleason, though.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 5:27pm

Patti in Anything Goes captured a Zeitgeist. She was brash and insouciant, totally 1988 but reinventing the 1930s in fresh and fun way.

Her self-confidence (and even her vulgarity) was at once a tribute to Ethel Merman and a brand-new thing.

The production was perfect, sets and costumes, her co-stars delightful, the direction and choreography exciting and fun and the music was played flawlessly, from the scratchy Cole Porter vocal that began the overture through the ballads and the tap numbers.

Frank Rich wrote in the NY times: "With her burst of Lucille Ball red hair, a trumpet's blare in her voice and lips so insinuatingly protruded they could make the Pledge of Allegiance sound lewd, Ms. LuPone's Reno is a mature, uninhibited jazz dame: loose, trashy, funny, sexy."

Here she is, if you haven't seen it, doing "Anything Goes" on the Tonys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVsD0rltRr8

And here she is doing a spectacularly vulgar "Blow Gabriel Blow" for George and Barbara Bush at the White House, including the now-legendary butt-slap at 2:55:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keixiITpUPU

Updated On: 2/1/09 at 05:27 PM

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 5:28pm

Joanna Gleason was AMAZING in her role.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 5:34pm

I was too young to have seen both. I did see Patti's performance from the Tony's, and I have seen Joanna Gleason's performance on the DVD of Into the Woods. I do love Joanna's "Anything Moment/Moments in the Woods" before she "exits" the show.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 5:56pm

I was either not conceived or still gestating when Joanna won the Tony.

[logan0215]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 6:19pm

Yea I'm sure that MJW would have beat Patti in the "role she was born to play" whilst playing the "only role she has ever played" in Hairspray.

puh-lease.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 6:52pm

I'm pretty sure Marissa Jaret Winokur also played Jan in Grease.

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 7:09pm

You'd be correct Schmerg. Here's a cookie. =)

[dg22894]

Posted: 2/1/09 at 7:55pm

Marissa would win