The London production of Gypsy starring Angela Lansbury opened on this day 40 years ago

About 11 months after Angie closed the show in New York, stage manager Fritz Holt remounted the production (with Angie and most of the Broadway cast, but a new Herbie and Louise) in Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach. I was the production coordinator for that remounting, which I've discussed in numerous threads.

Was there something in particular you wanted to know?

It was the greatest Rose I had ever seen. Until LuPone, that is.

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I saw ANGELA LANSBURY do this production when it played the old SCHUBERT THEATRE in CENTURY CITY...i was totally enthralled with Angela, having been a big fan before and now even more so certainly after seeing this perfect production...it is a memory i will never forget...

Someone in a Tree.... I couldn't have said it better. Spot on
assessment of Lansbury in the role.

I adore Angela Lansbury. In everything. She was good as Rose but
it was kind of odd to see her in the role as it was not a perfect fit.

She was much more suited to Mame, Mrs. Lovett than Rose.

I know everyone was raving about her at the time but I found it an odd casting because all of the reasons Someone in a Tree pointed out.

^ At the performance I witnessed from the upper rows of the Winter Garden balcony, the applause indeed DID go on for minutes. It's really the only chance in the Act for the audience to reward the actress for the amazement of her performance and we all clapped and cheered like crazy.

At first you thought it was a typical 4th wall-breaking moment like any other ovation. But then bit by bit a cold chill went through each individual audience member when they alone realized that Angie was bowing again and again to a tune in her own head. The hush of realization spread from orchestra to boxes to balcony row by row. When the house fell silent and the slow slow bowing continued, it was one of the few times in my life I can remember actually TREMBLING in the theater, being included in this incredibly intimate moment with the great Angela Lansbury.

Having only listened to the cast recording, I don't really think the craziness is as evident as the comments here would suggest. To me her "Everything's Coming Up Roses" doesn't quite have that tone of desperation that I feel Bernadette's and Patti's roses both have. I can just imagine her singing it with a bright smile on her face.

In comparison, LuPone steamrolls through her performance like a lunatic. And Bernadette is giving absolutely every ounce of her vocal ability to deliver that song like her life depended on it (and indeed, for Rose it did). Lansbury doesn't sound like she is trying to me.

Of course, there are many reasons this might be so. Perhaps it's lost via audio, or her performance is difference on record, or there is simply a different culture in musical theatre acting today - I get the impression more are willing to compromise a good vocal performance in order to 'act'.

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Updated On: 5/29/13 at 06:26 PM

"Of course, there are many reasons this might be so. Perhaps it's lost via audio, or her performance is difference on record, or there is simply a different culture in musical theatre acting today"

Overall, it's a terrible recording and I so rushed I don't think it's an incredibly accurate representation of her performance.

"In those cases, would Lansbury keep bowing the entire time? How long did it take for the audience to catch on that she was bowing in character?"

As a rule, several minutes. For the record, supposedly Arthur Laurents added the famous "silent bow" when he directed Angie in London. (Yes, the bowing extended the applause somewhat, but Angie had a way of spacing out the bows so that the applause diminished naturally. And it's not as if the number wouldn't have stopped the show anyway.)

Will42, I've only seen pieces of other Roses on video, so I can't really compare. I will say that at the time, Angie's Rose was the best performance I'd ever seen in a musical. It still ranks in my top 10.

I don't understand the comments about Angie having to overemphasize the "viciousness". (And how can she be the right social class for Mame and Mrs. Lovett, but not for Rose? Who do ya'll think Mrs. Lovett is?)

If anything, the performance proved that there is a limit to how unlikeable Angie was willing to be. As Joanna Merlin (Prince's casting director and a great actress in her own right) reportedly said: "With Merman it was chills, with Lansbury it was tears."

Except for the silent bow, one of the most chilling moments I've ever seen on a stage.