Besides Curtains, I bought some scalped tickets on the street to the musical production of Gypsy starring Broadway diva Patti LuPone famous from her Tony winning performance in Evita and her special guest appearance on Will & Grace. My seat, however, was literally the last seat in the house on the second balcony, I had to lean forward to see everything and for the second act I sat on the top of my seat.
Set during the vaudeville era, Gypsy is about the ultimate pushy stage mom, Rose, traveling the country with her two daughters, June and Louise, and their manager, Herbie. While June and Louise wish their mother would settle down and marry , Rose continues to pursue dreams of stardom for her girls...and for the dreams she never got to pursue. When June deserts the act, Rose turns her attention to the shy Louise, whom she hopes to fashion into a star. When the act is booked into a burlesque house by mistake, Louise is forced on the stage to strip and dancer Gypsy Rose Lee is born. Famous songs include "Let Me Entertain You," and "Everything's Turning Up Roses." The songs are catchy and I've been singing "So let me entertain you, let me make you smile, And we'll have a real good time..." since I left the theater. One year shy of its 50th anniversary, I think Gypsy is more for female audiences though.
I had always regretted not seeing Gypsy back when Bernadette Peters was in the starring role of Mama Rose, which is considered one of the greatest and most difficult roles for a musical theater actress. As a result, I couldn't help picturing throughout the show how Peters would do each scene. However, that's not to say LuPone wasn't good as the leading lady, she just wasn't as cute, lol. The famous final scene where she sings "Rose's Turn" she more than wowed me with her strong and emotional singing. In fact, I got teary. For a video of this scene check out the clip on YouTube.
Sounds amazing. There's such magic in live theatre :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clip... I wish I can go back and NY soon. Really miss it
ReplyDeleteYes. I regret it too. But I also wish I could see Patti LuPone's version...
ReplyDeletePatti LuPone's version is great!
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