Did Gypsy Entertain Critics?On Saturday evening, the highly anticipated
New York City Center's Encores! Summer Stars production of the
Arthur Laurents-helmed
Gypsy opened. Of course, it has made headlines because
Patti LuPone is in the role she was born to play: Mama Rose. Nearly every critic came up roses, too.
Proclaiming "Ms. LuPone could and should be a Rose for the ages,"
The New York Sun's
Eric Grode is nearly ecstatic: "Hold your hats and say hallelujah. Patti LuPone has finally been allowed to show it to ya....Ms. LuPone has a healthy dose of Merman's legendary vitality: Notes linger in the air with a sort of sculpted robustness, and she knows how to take ownership of the huge City Center stage with a minimum of extraneous movement."
Labeling this production "galvanizing" in his three-and-a-half star review,
Frank Scheck offers high praise: "When this indomitable actress finished her tour de force rendition of 'Rose's Turn,' the audience rose for a spontaneous standing ovation. LuPone acknowledged the applause fully in character as the self-aggrandizing Mama Rose, bowing floridly and in effect incorporating us into her character's elaborate fantasy....LuPone, as might be imagined, is a powerhouse in the role, singing the hell out of the classic Styne/Sondheim score and giving a portrayal that easily ranks as one of the best Roses ever."
Saying that Patti LuPone is proof that "we're living in a golden age for singing actresses,"
Newsday's
Linda Winer is effusive: "The idea that someone was 'born to play' a character sounds like hyped-up old nonsense -- until, that is, Patti LuPone grabs the cliche in her bared teeth and scares the banalities away as Mama Rose in
Gypsy....Statistically speaking, we appear to have no need for another
Gypsy. But now we do.We do because of LuPone, because of the smarts she brings to
Jule Styne's brassy-bravura music and
Stephen Sondheim's wrenching and dazzling lyrics."
With the line that it's "as close to perfection as anything you'll see on any stage this summer,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News is clearly dazzled: "Whether Patti LuPone was destined to play the steam-rolling Rose who pushes her daughters to be famous in the 1920s and '30s, who knows? But she's mesmerizing singing and acting the role created in 1959 by
Ethel Merman. LuPone's work never feels like a performance. From the first line, 'Sing out, Louise,' to her final knockout number, 'Rose's Turn,' she creates a Rose you can relate to and empathize with."
Calling the production "entertaining but unenthralling,"
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times once again proves that there's just no pleasing him: "Ms. LuPone does not, for once, feel like an unstoppable force. As Rose, the child-flattening maternal steamroller with Broadway dreams, she seems to be still fiddling with the gears and looking over her shoulder when she needs to be plowing full speed ahead with blinders on....I suspect there’s still a first-rate Momma Rose waiting to emerge. For the moment we only have the preliminary sketch. Any halfway decent
Gypsy -- and this one is more than that -- is a fine summer night’s diversion. But it needs a Momma Rose in full control to carry its audiences away."
Brantley notwithstanding, it's official:
Gypsy has been annointed
the theatrical event of the summer. With all these huzzahs, could a Broadway turn be in the offing?
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Everything's Coming Up Patti! (July 9, 2007)
SOB's Best Of 2006-07: Top Ten Of The Year (June 4, 2007)
SOB's Best Of 2006-07: Best Revivals Of Musicals (May 18, 2007)
It's Official: LuPone's Triumph Earns Encores! (March 19, 2007)
Will Encores Mount All-Star Gypsy? (March 2, 2007)
SOB's 6 Singular Sensations Of '06 - #1: Patti LuPone (December 30, 2006)
Gypsy (The SOB Review) – Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL (August 14, 2006)
Labels: Arthur Laurents, City Center, Critics' Capsule, Encores, Gypsy, Off-Broadway, Patti LuPone
Everything's Coming Up Patti!Tonight,
the biggest event of year in New York theatre begins. If you guessed it was on Broadway, you'd be close, but you'd be wrong.
It's on West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues, where
New York City Center's Encores! Summer Stars series is inaugurated this evening with
Arthur Laurents at the helm of
Gypsy. Nearly one year after its star
Patti LuPone took
Ravinia, Manhattan will likely be firmly in her commanding grasp later this evening.
Yesterday's edition of
The New York Times celebrated LuPone's impending hold over the city with an
illuminating story by Jesse Green, which provides an inside look at the much talked about "ban" imposed by Laurents on LuPone and their meeting of the minds. Thank goodness for the swallowing of pride and a certain three hour conversation!
Joining LuPone will be
Boyd Gaines as Herbie and
Laura Benanti as Louise.
Performances run through July 29. Don't miss it! Because as much as LuPone would love 220 more chances on Broadway to portray Mama Rose, it's down to the 22 performances at New York City Center.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:SOB's Best Of 2006-07: Top Ten Of The Year (June 4, 2007)
SOB's Best Of 2006-07: Best Revivals Of Musicals (May 18, 2007)
It's Official: LuPone's Triumph Earns Encores! (March 19, 2007)
Will Encores Mount All-Star Gypsy? (March 2, 2007)
SOB's 6 Singular Sensations Of '06 - #1: Patti LuPone (December 30, 2006)
Gypsy (The SOB Review) – Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL (August 14, 2006)
Labels: Arthur Laurents, City Center, Encores, Gypsy, Musical, New York City Center, Off-Broadway, Patti LuPone, Ravinia, Revival, Stephen Sondheim
It's Official: LuPone's Triumph Earns Encores!
Apparently, City Center is "spinning off" a new summertime series called "Encores! Summer Stars." Gypsy will be showcased as the first concert performances of that series. Opening night is scheduled for July 12.
Now New Yorkers will finally experience the thrill...no, make that the chills that Chicago audiences had up and down their spines last summer from LuPone's bravura performance. It's one that they won't soon forget!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:
Labels: City Center, Encores, Gypsy, Patti LuPone
Will Encores Mount All-Star Gypsy?
For anyone who witnessed last summer's bravura performance by
Patti LuPone in
Gypsy at Ravinia Festival, you know what an event it was. And you also know that you have bragging rights to something truly special. Those nights have long since become fabled.
So much so that many are clinging to the hope that they may have their opportunity to see the woman who was born to play the role of Mama yet again. Will
New York City Center Encores! provide the vehicle for a similar staging near Broadway?
When asked whether she was going to take part in the "rumored" production at Encores! "this summer" alongside LuPone, she said:
I hear they're looking for celebrities, which I'm totally bummed about because I would love to do it. I hope maybe I'll get really lucky and all of those fancy people will say no....Even better, if Scarlett Johansson says yes and the day before she backs out, and they call me, desperate.
Of course, Ravinia's "concert" staging of
Gypsy dovetails nicely with the
Encores! format that's been around since 1994. Stay tuned for more information on what would likely be
the theatrical event of the summer for New York.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Encores, Gypsy, New York State, Patti LuPone, Ravinia
Is Broadway Buzz Pure Follies?
But for those of us who missed the festivities, we can all take heart in
Michael Riedel's column in today's
New York Post. Seems the show was deemed by many as just too good to let slip by with so few performances. Most tantalizing is the prospect posited by Riedel that a limited engagement of
Follies sans Donna Murphy could possibly keep the St. James Theatre warm:
Various scenarios are being spun out this week about moving Follies to Broadway. One depends on whether Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane decide to jump back into The Producers.
If they pass, The Producers is likely to close at the St. James in the spring, and Follies could slip in for a limited run before Young Frankenstein arrives in the fall.
Riedel even suggests that a film version of Follies may even be considered. You can bet I'll be keeping a close eye on developments in the weeks and months ahead.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Encores, Follies, Revival, Stephen Sondheim, The Producers, Young Frankenstein
