What Happened to GYPSY?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 9:38am

GYPSY is one of my favorite shows so I thought I would never say this, but ENOUGH, already!
Except for LuPone's singing, Caines' acting, Yazbeck's dancing and the three strippers, this production is totally unneeded.
Don't go expecting to see a set, or a well paced show.
Patti has some womderful moments in the songs, but I felt she and the director forgot to create a character, she is walking all over that stage aimlessly with very little focus.
Boyd Gaines still shines as Herbie (the best I have ever seen)
Benanti looks great, (too good actually)) but her acting has two levels: wooden and shouting.
When did Dainty June become such a monster?
She sounded like Bette Davis an Baby Jane.
I don't get that.
Paklediez' costumes are the only improvement over CITY CENTER.
But the farmboys still wear what look like paper shirt fronts in the CAROLINE section. (tacky)
The time it took to change some of the minimal sets was so slow it stopped what little momentum the show had going.
I was embarassed that Ms. LuPone was acting with a stuffed dog and the Lamb puppet is really stupid and jarring.
Again. I love GYPSY, but this production looks cheaop and had nothing new to bring to Broadway.
I was very let dowm.
Updated On: 3/4/08 at 09:38 AM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 9:42am

I know it is a little small detail, but the name is Patti LuPone, not LaPone.

Enjoy the pies.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 9:43am

Oh, thanks.

[iluvny04]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 10:13am

curtain, agreed I like Gypsy and Patti, but it seems like this production is uneeded,I mean what its only been 4-5 yrs since the last one and I feel its way too soon to do another. In terms of awards, I think they should go to sunday or south pacific since, since these shows haven't been seen since the yr they premiered and I feel like there is a fresher aspect to them,whereas with Gypsy, it seems like there has been a revival every yr since it permiered except the 60s and 90s when the movies came out (if you call those pseudo-revivals) Just some thoughts.
Updated On: 3/4/08 at 10:13 AM

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 10:22am

It was only the first preview, after all.

Isn't the shoddiness of the sets and costumes intentional? The troupe is performing in seedy second-rate dying vaudeville, and Rose is putting things together on a shoe string. You can hardly expect the numbers to look like Gower Champion's Hello Dolly.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 11:06am

"isn't the shoddyness of the sets and costumes intentional" - yes and no.

The designers did try to emphasize the realism of the sets and costumes, but the fact is this show was done with a VERY low budget by Broadway standards - and it shows.

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 11:21am

"When did Dainty June become such a monster?
She sounded like Bette Davis an Baby Jane.
I don't get that."

I've seen many productions of Gypsy, and this is the first Dainty June that actually seems like a young June Havoc.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 11:46am

BrianIdol - where do you get your information about the budget? I hadn't heard that they were cutting corners on this one, so I am curious.

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 11:47am

The performances here should completely make up for the cheapness of the set.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 1:14pm

I know there has been talk of two missing scenes, and I am puzzled by there omission.
The fake "rape" scene is very funny and shows how witty and fast on her feet, Rose can be.
And the reprise of SMALL WORLD shows for the first time that Rose does have a breaking point, but she can just push it aside.
For me this is the telling clue that Rose will someday have to face the truth and will have a breakdown.
Why the author/director chose to leave them out is just baffling.

Also the lack of set just confused me, In the hotel room, there is a table, a door,a chair and mattresses, but at one point Louise "mimes" (not too well) opening a window?
And Grazinger's office had a huge arch dooeway stage right, but the actors kept leaving the room in front of it. ?
Updated On: 3/4/08 at 01:14 PM

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 4:05pm

Curtain, do you think the same issue some people had last year is still there, that LuPone plays LuPone and not Mama Rose?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 4:19pm

No, that was not the problem for me.
Every actress brings some of herself to their role and there are plenty things LuPone brongs to Rose and they work.
But there just seems to be a lot of needless movement, starting right out with SOME PEOPLE, first she's on a chair then she's circling the table, doing all kinds of stuff, when the song gets kinda lost.
I've always thouht Rose knows just where that placque is, she speaks her mind, grabs her coat and the placque and gets the hell out.

Updated On: 3/4/08 at 04:19 PM

[DrTheatre]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 4:28pm

who is Caines?

[Tom148502]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 4:56pm

CurtainPullDowner said:
"Patti has some womderful moments in the songs, but I felt she and the director forgot to create a character, she is walking all over that stage aimlessly with very little focus."

So she's playing Patti, which is what she usually does. No big surprise. Aside from Evita, the only time in her musical theatre career where I thought she played the character well was in the Encores! production of Can-Can. I guess that was just a fluke in her career

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:15pm

Cecelia Caines, she took my ticket and showed me my seat.
Updated On: 3/4/08 at 05:15 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 5:55pm

I hate miming, especially in a Broadway calliber show. That sounds like a dumb directoral choice.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 3/4/08 at 6:36pm

The miming of Louise opening the window was HORRIBLE!!!! Couldn't she just have pretended to look out a window? There wasn't even a gobo of light coming through a window on the stage. UGH.

[kissmeimirish]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 1:04pm

I agree about the sets and costumes and the bare bones production values. So, if that's what you're looking for get tix to Mermaid or YF or Mary Poppins (she flies at the end!) BUT, if you want a great score, a book that could stand on it's own as a straight play and actors giving the performances of their career, then see Gypsy. You won't be sorry. WARNING: no one glides across the stage on roller skates and the only way a chandelier could fall from the ceiling is if Patti's vocals bring it down - and that's definitely a possibility.

What happened to Gypsy? She's older and better than ever.
What happened to audiences? They want pretty pictures on stage so they feel they got their $ worth (even at TDF prices)

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 1:18pm

I think the concern is not with having a minimal set, but with it being cheap and distracting.

[kissmeimirish]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 1:37pm

the sets aren't as cheap and distracting as they are over at The Little Mermaid.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 5:10pm

umm actually you're quite wrong. The Little Mermaid's plexiglass sets were VERY expensive, whereas Gypsy's were done on less than a shoe-string budget. Is it wrong to want a great show AND great sets/costumes??? I dont' think so.

[kissmeimirish]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 8:48pm

i stand corrected. the mermaid sets are VERY expensive. they just look cheap.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 9:07pm

It honestly depends on the show when talking about a minimalistic or cheap looking design. (Not that the two should be grouped together, but often minimalistic designs do look cheap. However, many can be very effective.) I can't think of many ways Gypsy could work with a cheap looking set, and it probably would have been better if the sets were "spectacular" and "dazzling" because (for me at least) the show is about never achieving what is right in front of you.

I haven't seen this version of Gypsy yet, and if I get the opportunity, I certainly will. I don't think the scenic design would matter all that much to me (even as a student studying scenic design), because the show is so good.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 9:52pm

When I say minimal, in this case, I don't mean as an artisitc choice.
These sets look cheap, and don't enhance the production at all.
Theatre is a colabrotive art, and when one or two of the artists fail it does effect the entire production.

And the Jerome Robbins choreography is starting to look tired.
I mean 4 revivals with the same tap steps over and over is a bit much.
The Robbins Estate needs to lighten up with this one.

[haddaddy3]

Posted: 3/6/08 at 10:27pm

I just hope it lasts long enough for me to see it.