Designer Zac Posen saw Patti LuPone in Gypsy, and not only invited her to his show Bryant Park, but offered to dress her, too. Girl does look pretty slammin', but she still had to get a word in edgewise about her own (lack of) fashion sense. She told reporters that she doesn't know how to shop. Why? "I've been wearing costumes all my life." Oh, Patti, you so crazy!
Check out how great she looks, though:
As the fug girls would say, well played, Patti LuPone!
Crying babies everywhere are shedding tears of joy, for the strike is finally over. All That Chatters look forward to returning to the "usual schedule of kvetching and bitching", which will probably be all about this, which I saw coming.
I heard through the grapevine that Laura Benanti's agency is a little harried these days. Her manager is saying Ms. Benanti is unavailable for projects in late winter/early spring '08, but they won't tell anyone, not even her agents, what she's got going on.
Looks like Gypsy is on, folks.
I hesitated to write anything at all about Gypsy. Everybody's already covered it, and said all the things that I would say, only better articulated and more concise. But then I thought, no, I have to write about it, because it was the show that made me fall in love with Broadway musicals, and it really did change my life in a more dramatic way than most big events of my life so far.
My parents saw the Tyne Daly revival in the 80s, and brought me back the cassette tape to listen to. I fixated on it the way 6-year-olds are apt to do - Mama Rose was my Dora the Explorer, and I memorized every word of that recording, strutting across our front porch, belting out, "Some people sit on their butts! Got the nerve, yeah, but not the guts!" Listening to that dazzling overture, choreographing "All I Need is the Girl" in my living room, and performing Rose's Turn for an audience of teddy bears ignited a flame somewhere inside me, and twenty years later when the orchestra at City Center played that opening "I had a dream" melody that begins the overture, that flame was burning brighter than ever. Until then, I had still never seen the musical onstage.
Brantley described Patti Lupone's Rose as "the sort of pushy but likable woman you might compete with at the supermarket for that last perfect sole fillet. (You’d lose, but you wouldn’t hate her.)" He's right - Patti is earthy, funny, and likable even as she's shoving her kids onstage and stealing the silverware from dingy chinese restaurants. But contrary to what Ben says, her likablilty is not the downfall of the performance, or the production. It has the opposite effect - Rose is so darn likeable, in spite of her craziness, that we can't fault the few people who stick with her through her stubborn, relentless pursuit of her "dreams".
In fact, Rose's warmth and caring gives Herbie and Louise a real reason to stick around, rather than just ditching her when they have the chance. This gives Herbie and Louise credibility, when it seems like they often come across as weak, spineless people who can't work up the nerve to ditch Rose. Herbie and Louise are sensitive, delicate souls, and any such person would have a really hard time telling Rose, "thanks a lot, and out with the garbage." All the acclaim for Boyd Gaines and Laura Benanti wouldn't be half as strong if Patti's Rose didn't give them so much room to be real, credible characters. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Brantley's review sucks, in case you didn't know.
There are millions of little moments that I'll spare you from my raving about. Here's just one: An insider told me that Arthur Laurents had Patti improvise little bits of choreography during the sweet "Together" number, doing it differently every time. It played really well - Gaines and Benanti looked like they were having a blast keeping up with LuPone's zany steps, and it was a simple way of articulating how Herbie and Louise are constantly struggling to keep up with Rose. P.S. - Check out this sweet interview with Boyd Gaines from Broadwayworld.
So that's my Gypsy religious experience. It was like The Big Voice - seeing the spinning lights and hearing "Sing out, Louise!" was more of a spiritual communion than I've ever had in a church, for sure. I was hoping that it would transfer for a nice Broadway run, but now I just want the whole thing to burn bright and untouched in my memory, just the way it was that night.
From Reidel's column today:
AT City Center last week, Harvey Fierstein, on a break from rehearsing "Broadway Bares," snuck into a nearby studio to watch Arthur Laurents rehearse Patti LuPone as Mama Rose in "Gypsy." (The revival will play City Center for three weeks next month.)
While Laurents was demonstrating a bit of stage business, Fierstein slipped into the director's chair. When Laurents turned round, Fierstein asked, "Can you see an older woman in the role?"
Not missing a beat, the 88-year-old Laurents replied: "Some people never give up. Leave your picture and résumé at the door."
Maryann, one of the more reliable of the chatterati (bitchosphere?) is reporting that Boyd Gaines will play Herbie in this summer's Encores! production of Gypsy. Having just seen Gaines in Journey's End last week, I feel more than confident saying that he's as ideal as they come. He's charming, sympathetic, and warm, and he's both strong and soft enough to stand up to Rose, but eventually fail at being her equal. Exciting!
Update: They're also saying that Laura Benanti will play Gypsy Rose Lee. Eh.
Patti LuPone will play Mama Rose this summer at City Center. To this news, I have two equal and opposite reactions. I am excited, so excited to see a fully-staged production of Gypsy. The show was one of the first cast recordings I ever got my grubby, 5-year-old mitts on, and I remember many an afternoon spent on my front porch, belting out "Some People" - not knowing what half of it even meant. It pretty much lit the theatrical flame in wee Moxie when she was just a babe - and yet I've never seen a full production! So this is exciting news to say the least.
On the other hand, I... ehrm... don't really, well, like Patti LuPone. Flame me all you want, but her brand of over-acting and scenery chewing has always irritated me, and her whole yell-singing thing doesn't turn me on much, either. I'm hoping I'll get my mind changed, because it seems like this is a role she was born to play.
The other side of this news is that the production will be a part of a new Encores! "Summer Stars" series, which according to Playbill is a spinoff of the Encores! that did Follies, The Apple Tree, etc. If my assumptions about the name "Summer Stars" are correct, it's a cool idea - put big stars in limited runs of great shows that are star vehicles. If that's the purpose, it's pretty rad.
P.S. Patti played Mama Rose at the Ravinia in 2006, and Jessica Boevers was Gypsy Rose Lee. Blahhhh... I really hope they cast someone else. She's not available, but wouldn't Leslie Kritzer be fierce?
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