rOcKS @ NY City Center's 'Gypsy'

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/14/07 at 4:26pm

I went Wednesday afternoon and enjoyed the show thoroughly. 'Gypsy' is without a doubt one of the best shows ever written and many argue that it reigns the top of their "best ever" list...well, while this current production running for the next few weeks at City Center doesn't exactly make a strong claim of that point, it does have enthralling moments and a great lead performance from Patti LuPone.

I actually am probably in the minority with this, but I have to admit that I liked the 2003 Broadway revival better than this current production and after days of trying to figure out exactly why, I couldn't. Something about the 2003 revival made the show plow like a freight train through two and a half hours and I must admit the current NY City Center production lags at some parts (the Baby June and her Newsboys scene, in particular, seemed endless and a bit tiring here while I found it to be much more exuberant and funny in the most recent revival...if this had been the original mounting of Gypsy, I would have said that it should be shortened, but it's just not done very well...I am sorry for my vagueness but I am trying to express how I felt in the most descriptive of ways...).

I'll start with the good first:

The overture, entr'acte, and most of the show's best songs sound first-rate thanks to a stunning orchestra under the baton of Patrick Vaccariello and Sid Ramin & Robert Ginzler's vibrant orchestrations.

The costumes were wonderful (Martin Pakledinaz is a great costume designer, but his costumes are always a bit too 'beige' and not colorful; here he was able to show off both darker designs as well as some bright ones.)

Howell Binkley's lighting designs are good (especially during "Rose's Turn").

and of course, the cast, particularly the three principals:
Boyd Gaines was the most memorable Herbie I've ever seen. He's such a fantastic performer...

Laura Benanti is spectacular as Louise...this is her finest performance yet, in my opinion. She really shows a noticable transition for the character and injects every scene that she is in with charm and grace.

Patti LuPone is a great Rose. She delivers what might be the most multi-faceted Rose I've ever seen. And that's what she does best; is reinventing classic quintisential Broadway roles (case in point: her Ms. Lovett). She takes such a new approach to every role she tackles and makes them seem so real and fresh. Her voice has never sounded better, her stage presence is unbeatable and it really shows here, how much "it" factor she has in her, and she did was no Rose I've ever seen was able to do. She showed a clear and cohesive transition that Rose makes from the beginning of Act I to the end of Act II. Her "Everything's Coming Up Roses" was infused with incredibly powerful moments and "Rose's Turn" brought the house down. She's wonderful.

And, the bad/disappointing:

I know I am going to get stoned for saying this, but I was not a fan of Arthur Laurents's direction. There were some moments where everything worked and others where everything...didn't. I wasn't a fan of Mendes's direction either and definitely prefer Laurents's work on the show to Mendes's but for someone who worked so closely with the show for all of its mountings and who has been with it from the beginning, Laurents and his direction for this production disappointed me. He's no doubt a Broadway legend and a major talent, but he could have done so much more with this production than he did...sorry; please don't kill me.

The sets were unmemorable and unoriginal. James Youmans did a boring job with the set design for this production, IMO...

And honestly, the show wasn't as cohesive as it was when I last saw it in 2003. This production seemed a bit anti-climactic (besides Rose's Turn, of course) and mostly unoriginal. I thought it could have been so much better. It's not a terrible production by any means; but with such first-rate material and a brilliantly talented director, it should have worked a a lot better than it did...

**1/2 out of ****
B-

[RocksInMyBed]

Posted: 7/14/07 at 6:00pm

This is a really thoughtful review. Thanks for that! I saw the show on Thursday, and I'm going back tonight, which I think explains in itself how fond I am of the production.

For me, this entire production came together seamlessly. I'll certainly concur that the sets are a bit uninspired. And I have to mention the lamb puppet. What were they thinking?? Regardless, for a show that has a three week run that was billed as "scaled back," I found those things easy to overlook in the face of such brilliant performances.

Patti is electrifying. Her performance, to me, is almost not worth talking about because I'm not sure how to capture exactly what it made me feel in adequate language. But we all (or almost all) expected brilliance, didn't we? The stunner, for me, was that the rest of the cast was with her, at her level, every step of the way. Laura Benanti, who I somehow keep missing in other shows, was a revelation to me. And the ever wonderful Boyd Gaines really did present the definitive Herbie. I was also thrilled by Leigh Ann Larkin as June who gave the character a lot more edge than I think we're used to. I thought she was stunning and unexpected.

I'll politely disagree with your opinion about the pacing. I had the very opposite reactions to the two versions you mentioned. Thought I found much more to appreciate about the '03 revival than a lot of people seemed to, I thought that was the one that lagged. I remember Tammy (Tammie?)Blanchard's "Little Lamb" being one of the most excrutiatingly dull moments I've ever spent in the theater and "All I Need Is the Girl" to stop the show in its tracks.

And in this production...oh, how I loved it. I felt it charged on at a thrilling clip while also presenting exceedingly three dimensional portraits of its characters.

I didn't think I'd say much about Patti, but I do want to add: it would have been so easy for her to tear her way through this show vocally and dominate everything around her. What I found most thrilling about her was that she was so modulated. "Some People" was filled with mild fury and desperate hope, but she didn't oversell it. "Everything is Coming Up Roses" hinted at a battleax on the verge. And when she begins "Rose's Turn" hinting at what she has "bottled up inside," you believe her. You haven't seen everything. But for the next four minutes you do. And that renders those minutes all the more explosive. If her final note doesn't rip your heart out of its chest, I have no idea what will.

This is the closest I've felt to musical theater perfection since City Center's last major triumph with Chicago (was that really over a decade ago??). I can't wait to see it again in a few hours. And probably once more in the coming weeks.

I'd give it **** out of ****.