Patti LuPone Sizzles in Broadway Revival of Gypsy
A Standing O for Mama Rose
By: Charles Giuliano - Apr 02, 2008
Book by Arthur Laurents, Music, Jules Styne, Lyrics, Stephen Sondheim, Director, Arthur Laurents, Choreography, Jerome Robbins reproduced by Bonnie Walker, Music Director and arranger, Patrick Vaccariello, Scenic Design, James Youmans, Costumes, Martin Pakledinaz, Lighting, Howell Binkley, Sound, Dan Moses Schreier.
Cast: Patti LuPone, Rose, Boyd Gaines, Herbie, Louise, Laura Benanti, Baby June, Sami Gale, Baby Louise, Emma Rowley, Dainty June, Leigh Ann Larkin, Tulsa, Tony Yazbeck, Strippers; Alison Fraser, Lenora Nemetz and Marilyn Caskey.
Saint James Theatre, 246 West 44th Street, Manhattan, 212 239 6200. Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes.
After years of endless touring with a now down on its heels variety act, built around two daughters and several young men, the last stop is a shabby burlesque theatre. Daughter June has deserted with a potential partner, Tulsa, to form a new act. Out of pure desperation, the less talented daughter, Louise, has been lured into a debut as a stripper, and soon to be star, Gypsy Rose Lee. All is lost and even the ever faithful and much harassed, under appreciated, Herbie, has abandoned the relentlessly controlling Mama Rose.
It is the darkest hour for Mama Rose. After all she has done over the years to keep her little troupe together Rose is washed up. Ever the fighter, Rose does not go gently into that good night. There is something left in the tank even though by now, at the end of the second act, she is running on vapors. Cursing them all to hell Rose, Patti LuPone, reaches back to deliver one last gasp of rage and resentment. After a lifetime of thankless giving to others, in her narrow view of events, Rose unleashes a show stopping, screed belting out "Rose's Turn."
It is a stunning and riveting moment sending a shock wave of chills up the spine of the audience. Which, following her final withering note, burst to its feet with a richly sustained and much deserved standing ovation. It was the evening of the final preview before opening night with its grand slam of rave reviews from the tough to please New York drama critics. The word was not yet out that this is far and away the best Gypsy dating back to its debut in 1959. But the audience didn't need to read the reviews to sense that they were participating in a truly amazing moment. The response was true and entirely spontaneous unlike the knee jerk bravos one hears at even the most mediocre performances of opera. This was the real deal.
LuPone seemed taken aback standing before a packed house offering a cacophony of sustained applause. However, never losing character she sailed about the stage graciously blowing kisses to adoring and appreciative fans.
What endures about Gypsy, which was last revived on Broadway just five years ago, is its compelling combination of a truly powerful story, not the flim flam of most musicals, the rich and resonating music of Jule Styne, and the masterful lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. The book by Arthur Laurents was suggested by the memoirs of one of the all time greats of the era of burlesque, Gypsy Rose Lee. Now 90 years old, Arthur Laurents has directed the definitive production of a true masterpiece of musical theatre. In the canon of great roles few compare to the meaty and audacious Mama Rose. And no living performer is more capable of bringing her to snarly life than Patti LuPone. She was born to play Rose.
While LuPone dominates this stunning production she is supported by an enormous cast of 41 with many superb individual performances. The sisters Baby June, Sami Gayle, and Baby Louise, Emma Rowley, get things rolling with the duet "May We Entertain You." June is all ruffles and lace with a mop of Shirley Temple curls as she executes effective dance moves accented by her trademark split. Louise is the tom boy and will remain dorky and plain until, at last, she emerges as the sexy stripper when seemingly all hope is lost.
The ultimate stage mother, Rose aspires to get her daughters booked into the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. For this ambition she seduces and recruits the compliant ersatz manager with a heart of gold, Herbie, Boyd Gaines. Their foreplay is wonderfully conveyed in the duet "Small World."
But the kids are growing up and the act is getting old. This is brought home during a birthday party when year after year there are only ten candles on the cake. You can only delay adolescence just so long before things fall apart. The act has evolved into Dainty June and Her Farmboys. Louise and June speculate on a promising future in "If Momma Was Married." But, instead, Louise, now grown, departs with Tulsa, one of the Farmboys, who pitches a new act to her in "All I Need Is the Girl."
When the act breaks up and Louise, her pride and joy, departs with Tulsa, the response of Rose comes in the show stopping "Everything's Coming Up Roses." Good riddance she insists turning attention now to the less talented Louise and a sudden ambition to turn her into the star she had always hoped for in June. The reconfigured troupe is now down to Louise, Herbie, and Rose who gamely carry on with "Together Wherever We Go."
But it is the end of vaudeville. Its last gasp is burlesque and the inevitable bump and grind along the rough road of show biz. There are no other options as a smarmy theatre manager offers a job if Louise will don a g-string and pasties. Rose will have none of it. Not for her daughter. But Louise understands that there is no other option.
Just how will the nerdy Louise, until now presented as a shy wall flower, emerge as a Rose, Gypsy Rose, the legendary ecdysiast? The gawky, self conscious Louise, Laura Benanti, gets marvelous and hilarious advice from three, over the hill strippers who bring the house down with "You Gotta Get a Gimmick."
The point is well taken as Louise evolves into one of the most classy and famous performers of her generation. She is a star at Minsky's with a private maid, endless well heeled suitors, and even a tutor teaching her to speak French. Ironically, now that Louise is a star, Rose is rejected. In a cutting reversal Gypsy unleashes the venom of years of pent up resentment for abuse and manipulation.
After all those years on the road surely Mama Rose can at last unpack her bags and settle in for a long run at the Saint James Theatre as the toast of Broadway. It just doesn't get better than Patti LuPone in Gypsy.