Who Sang The "Rose's Turn" Climax The Best?

my favorite is Ethel. i also hate when people sing “may” instead of “me”

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I'm kind of shocked at how great Angela Lansbury is there.

Tyne Daly - hands down! She may not have the best singing voice, but such raw emotion in her delivery. This wasn't Tyne Daly - this was Mama Rose.

Mike66 your post have me goosebumps. Cherish that great memory. You re lucky to have it. I was born during her run in Dolly, so I never got the chance.

I saw Tyne Daly in "Gypsy" here in LA July 1989 before it moved to NYC.  My friend and I were so looking forward to seeing it, but were very disappointed by TD.  Then she won The Tony.  Who knew?

Linda Lavin was the absolute worst Rose I have ever seen.  Period.  And I have seen at least two Summer Stock productions.

For my money, Angela Lansbury was the most passionate performance and Bernadette Peters sand the most ferocious song.  I will never forget her 'wellllllllllllllllllll someone tell me when is it my turn'.  It was such a fresh take on the whole song.

Patti Lupone also gave an excellent rendition, but her Rose's Turn may simply have been impacted by 'Rose's Turn Burnout'.  It is not in the same category as a several of her songs from both Evita and Anything Goes (one of the great, praised but still under appreciated musical comedy performances).

I am mixed onTyne Daly's performance of the song because I couldn't get past her terrible singing, although I thought that her acting choices.were excellent.

I agree Bernadette's "wellllllllll" in Rose's Turn was an amazing moment. What I love about her performance is she is trying very, very hard - as if she is trying to prove that "she got it" (and does, unlike some other Roses). It doesn't come easy to her like it seems to LuPone. There is something a little fitting in the character about that. Perhaps similarly, her "Everything's Coming Up Roses" is so desperate. It was easy to put Bernadette's cast recording in the drawer once LuPone's Gypsy came out - but I've been revisiting Bernadette's performance recently and there are some interesting choices she and/or Mendes made that I am enjoying.

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lovebwy said: "I'm kind of shocked at how great Angela Lansbury is there."

I haven't seen all the Roses. Certainly nobody sang it like Merman.

But the 34 times I saw her (I was working the show in Florida), Angela not only got a standing ovation (no small feat considering the age of our audiences) after "Rose's Turn", but when the audience finally sat down again, her "silent bow" was one of the most frightening things I've ever seen in a theater.

I don't know enough about acting technique to describe how she did it, but with just a slight change of expression she went from triumphant to demented. Absolutely chilling!

I always say “Roses and Normas are like pizza to me. Even when it’s bad I still like it.” I find Rose such a great character that I usually find something to appreciate in each take. I haven’t seen them all but I wept during Patti’s, I held my breath and clutched my pearls during Bernadette’s and was confused during Staunton’s (with hers I felt like I was seeing all the technique and choices and it took me out. That being said I was still awed.) Some play it hurt, some play it angry, some play it mentally ill. Or a combo. I’m always excited to see what they pick.

One of the reasons seeing Glenn revisit Norma was so exciting was the empathy and compassion infused the second go around. Far less crazy and kabuki, Norma was far more sympathetic. As Close aged she clearly understood Norma more.

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Bettyboy72 said: "I always say “Roses and Normas are like pizza to me. Even when it’s bad I still like it.” I find Rose such a great character that I usually find something to appreciate in each take. I haven’t seen them all but I wept during Patti’s, I held my breath and clutched my pearls during Bernadette’s and was confused during Staunton’s (with hers I felt like I was seeing all the technique and choices and it took me out. That being said I was still awed.) Some play it hurt, some play it angry, some play it mentally ill. Or a combo. I’m always excited to see what they pick.

One of the reasons seeing Glenn revisit Norma was so exciting was the empathy and compassion infused the second go around. Far less crazy and kabuki, Norma was far more sympathetic. As Close aged she clearly understood Norma more."

I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment Bettyboy72.

I've only seen two stage productions of Gypsy. Sam Mendes' woefully misguided 2003 revival starring Bernadette Peters and the more recent one with Patti LuPone.

Although both actresses brought something unique to each of their interpretations, overall I preferred Ms. LuPone but as a whole my heart belongs to "The Merm" - - - no one can touch her.

I didn't see Close in the original run of Sunset Boulevard, but I did catch her most recent turn. I would have loved to have compared the two. I thought she was brilliant.