Sunday Showtunes

Saturday evening I headed over to the St. James (former home of “The Producers”) to see the latest revival of the oft-done “Gypsy,” which will be 50 years old next year.  This is the highly-touted production starring Patti Lupone, the diva in the role many (including Stephen Sondheim) feel she was born to play.  It also stars Laura Benanti (“The Wedding Singer’s Julia) as Louise and Boyd Gaines as Herbie. 

Patti played the role at Encores last year, and for this production the band is also onstage as it was there.  It’s mostly hidden upstage behind a drop so they can stage the show fully with scenery the old-fashioned way, using drops, pieces, and wagons.  For some reason we do see the orchestra during two of the numbers (“All I Need is the Girl” and “Rose’s Turn”); though I couldn’t figure out why – it took me out of the “traditional” staging of this classic show.  But the one time the sight of the orchestra is welcome is at the very beginning, when the curtain rises to reveal it at the start of the Overture.

The Overture to Gypsy is one of the most beloved and well-known of all musical theatre overtures, and many believe it is the best overture of ANY musical, ever.  It’s also a personal favorite of mine (duh, along with every other musical theatre geek and conductor).   Featuring the orchestra on-stage was not only wonderful but also seemed perfectly natural, like a symphony concert.   The audience was full of people who appreciate Gypsy (and many gents who were obviously big fans of Lupone; one guy rather rudely yelled out “I love you Patti” at her TWICE in the beginning of the second act!) and their appreciation obviously extended to the famous overture as well.  It got cheers when it started and cheers and applause before it even finished the last drawn-out B-flats of the final chords.  Even though it wasn’t perfectly performed (the brass didn’t quite land the opening phrase and I thought the tempo of one of the pieces seemed a bit rushed), it was still thrilling, and hearing the audience response to it and feeling all that excited, anticipatory, and appreciative energy brought tears to my eyes by the end of it!  It seemed we were all in for a special night.

Gypsy is a huge, sprawling show; 3 hours long and very difficult to pull off successfully.  I have watched many, many (MANY!) amateur productions of it and have rarely seen a production that is consistently of high quality.  This one got good reviews (many said forget about that terrible one 3 years ago with Bernadette Peters; THIS is the revival to define all revivals) and I had fairly high hopes to see a wonderful production.   But although it was very good I have to admit it didn’t quite match the usual “Broadway perfection” I am used to seeing.   The first two shows (“Passing Strange” and “Cry Baby”) were absolutely flawless (well, there’s that sound mix thing with the drums in “Strange”), and I have to say that I noticed several areas of sloppiness in “Gypsy” that were more obvious by comparison.  Besides the aforementioned trumpet sloppiness in the Overture (perhaps it was a sub tonight!), there were musical timings that weren’t caught (it was a sub conductor, so that must have been it) such as the percussive timing with Baby June’s splits.  One of the vaudeville signs didn’t get changed.  Gaines flubbed a line (though he covered for it excellently).  An ensemble member was late sitting down on the button of the scene change into the hotel room.

There were a few things I had issues with directorially – besides the jarring appearances of the orchestra mentioned above.  The tempo of “Goldstone” was breakneck speed from the very beginning instead of accelerating, which robbed the song of ‘build’ and comedy and made it seem sloppy as well.  In “Little Lamb,” a “list song” in which Louise sings about a variety of animals, none of them are around (should have been stuffed animals all over her mattress) so she is forced to make it sort of a metaphysical interpretation to the air.  The strippers are performed glassy-eyed and mono-toned as if they are on heroin and drunk, and Electra in particular is directed to be almost motionless – they took the lyric “I’m electrifyin’, and I’m not even tryin’” literally and made that her entire characterization.   She stands motionless and expressionless and the only “movements” we see are the areas of her lighted costume lighting up.  I understand the concept, but sustaining comedy, it did not.  One of the audience members thought the general staging was “flat” and boring, but it didn’t strike me as that.  He probably just isn’t used to an old-fashioned musical performed in front of drops and wagons.

The part of Mama Rose is considered by many to be the “Hamlet” of musical theatre female leads.  One would think if anyone could pull it off it would be Lupone.   Well I think that she did, but it’s very qualified kudos.   I must admit I am not as big a fan of Miss L as you probably think I am; while I think she was brilliant as Evita, that was nearly 30 years ago and now I think she is more “diva star presence” and sheer reputation than talent.  I had no problems with her acting (unlike the Broadway newcomer who played June, who was either bad or badly directed to be purposefully wooden).  But every time I have seen Lupone lately (the last being Doyle’s no-orchestra “Sweeney Todd”) she seems to either have vocal problems or has no shyness about coughing (clearing her throat) in between lines.  In “Gypsy” she not only did it a couple of times in between lines, but once she coughed right in the middle of a song, between phrases!  It’s as if she thinks they turn her microphone off in between lyrics (which on second thought isn’t such a bad idea!)  She also seems to have trouble getting enough breath support these days and despite having NO dancing to do, I got tired of hearing her gasp each time she took a breath, especially when her phrasing broke up the lines into annoyingly short chunks.  For example, she sang, “That lucky star / I talk about / is due” and “You’ll / never get away / from me.”

None of this seemed to bother her fans, who ate her up.  She did quite a good job with the famous Act I finale “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” which got the expected huge response, but the one thing she really earned her money for (and finally was the performance I had hoped to see) was “Rose’s Turn,” the big climax of the character’s emotional arc.  It was absolutely wonderful, complex, and breathtaking.  The denouement from there to the end of the show (her final scene with Louise) was great and the ending was shattering.   I know what the ending of “Gypsy” is SUPPOSED to be like, but until now I have never seen it actually BE a shattering experience for the audience.  Louise leaves for the party and Rose pauses briefly to collect her thoughts before starting to walk off.   As she does, the lighted “Rose” sign lowers again.  She stops and tries to reach for it (yearning for one last “dream”) but it is vain; as she desperately tries to grab her final glory, the lights start to fizzle and burn out, the orchestra plays a tense “everything’s coming up roses” tag, and as the word “Rose” deteriorates and fades away, she is left utterly alone and finished.  Blackout.   Chilling.

After the show I bought a poster and program (BC/EFA was selling signed ones, but they were $100 and I just couldn’t bring myself to buy it as I had spent over $300 on swag earlier in the day) and then for no reason I waited around with the mass of fans at the stage door to try to get a photo of Lupone and Gaines.  “Miss Lupone will NOT pose for photographs; do not even try and ask her,” a guard announced imperially before she came out.   Gaines did if someone asked, but never when I could get a good shot.  I got some quick snaps of them both, though not very well.  (Lupone dutifully stopped to sign a couple of autographs before jumping into her limosine; I think she would have rather not stopped at all).

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