#76
Posted: 10/10/04 at 7:49pm
I saw Bernadette twice in GYPSY. The first time was in previews and she was struggling mightily just to get through the role at all -- cutting off held notes, "crooning" into her mike during the ballads and husbanding her resources during every umber except "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Roses Turn." The role seemed about five sizes too large for her and she seemed in way over her head.
Since I had heard she had "found her own way" into the role eventually during the run, I went to the closing matinee performance, figuring there would be no need for her to hold back anything and I could get a sense of what her voice could do as Rose when she wasn't carefully pacing herself through it. It was certainly a 100% improvement (the super-charged atmosphere of a last performance helped her a lot; there were standing ovations for everything she did). It still didn't equal Daley (and what I know of Merman and Lansbury from the cast albums), but a very solid performance.
Since I had heard she had "found her own way" into the role eventually during the run, I went to the closing matinee performance, figuring there would be no need for her to hold back anything and I could get a sense of what her voice could do as Rose when she wasn't carefully pacing herself through it. It was certainly a 100% improvement (the super-charged atmosphere of a last performance helped her a lot; there were standing ovations for everything she did). It still didn't equal Daley (and what I know of Merman and Lansbury from the cast albums), but a very solid performance.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
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