Thank God Patti LuPone decided not to spend the summer at her South Carolina beach house. She's right here in New York City at City Center, and wow!, does she entertain.
The "musical star built for another age, an Ethel Merman without portfolio," as the New York Times' Jesse Green recently referred to her, is receiving cheers and standing ovations -- before the show is even half over -- for her Rose's turn as the stage mother from hell in Gypsy, the quintessential Broadway musical from another age. With her astounding performance, she can hang her portfolio with pride right next to Merman's star.
In Styne/Sondheim/Laurents' Gypsy, the first musical revival of the season and a special, limited "Summer Stars" engagement (through July 29, 2007) of City Center Encores!, LuPone is a musical force of nature. This Gypsy is hers. Her Rose is in a word, dazzling; a tour de force. It will be talked about for months and remembered for years.
If in 100 years, you wanted theatergoers to experience the definitive and classic Broadway backstage musical and the dynamics of a dynamic leading lady, put a video of this revival in a time capsule and bury it under the bleachers of the TKTS booth.
It's simply mind-boggling to think that when originally presented on Broadway in 1959, Gypsy was totally overlooked by the Drama Desk and didn't win Tonys for Best Musical, Actress and Director (Jerome Robbins). (Back then, a nomination for Best Musical included the composers and book writer.) Can't you just hear The Merm's reaction when Tony honors went to Fiorello! and Mary Martin (Sound of Music).
LuPone comes to City Center following her acclaimed Tony and Drama Desk-nominated Mrs. Lovett in John Doyle's 2005 revival of Sweeney Todd and, between regional theater and concert dates, doing Rose last summer in a semi-staged production at the Ravina Festival outside Chicago with the Chicago Symphony.
The Tony and Olivier Award-winning belt queen is a formidable presence. She's not known for giving laid-back performances, but here she seems to be drawing energy from a nuclear power plant. Her diction is so clear and precise you might think she works part-time as a traveling elocutionist.
Whether in glacial eye-to-eye combat with Louise or a stage manager, charming the pants off Herbie with calculating but disarming ease, lurking upstage, being twirled by him in a playful dance that ends with him dipping her to a back-breaking, spine-tingling depth where she ends up rolling on the floor or as a woman on the verve of a nervous breakdown railing against the world in front of a ghost light, LuPone is unstoppable.
Once her train leaves the station, the actress' fierce, unrelenting engine that surely, surely can makes incredibly steep climbs and dizzying descents.
If beverage makers could discover the secret of what sustains and propels LuPone at 58 -- seven years older than Merman was when the musical debuted -- well, move over Red Bull and all those assorted vitamin and caffeine-laced drinks.
If, as is the buzz, buzz, buzz along the stem, the show goes to London, LuPone, already beloved there, will be the toast of the West End. One can only hope that then the show will return stateside and to Broadway.
However, although LuPone is the sum of all of this Gypsy's parts, there are other noteworthy elements. With City Center's limited stage facilities and the fact that this is a three-week run, James Youman's scenery (with vaudeville announcement signs so hastily written that they appear to be still dripping paint) is necessarily no-frills; but there's nothing no-frills about Martin Pakledinaz's costumes, Howell Binkley's lighting, the direction and, especially, the cast.
The production is blessed with two extraordinary costars. Laura Benanti grows from awkward Baby Louise to a radiant, sexy Gypsy Rose Lee. Boyd Gaines tries hard to melt into the background as weak Herbie, but his poignant, fine-tuned stage presence just won't let him.
Gaines, a Tony nominee and Drama Desk winner for the recent revival of Journey's End, is back in his first "traditional" musical since appearing in later casts of the Roundabout's Cabaret and Company revivals and his Tony and DD-winning role in their 1993 She Loves Me revival. For his non-singing role in Lincoln Center Theater's 2000 Contact, he received Tony and Drama Desk nominations.
It doesn't stop there, which is one reason this Gypsy never goes flat when LuPone's not center stage. Writer/director Arthur Laurents is a legendary pro's pro when it comes to book. His book for the show has been heralded as a master class in musical-theater libretto, but one might forget its endearing moments and ton of one-liner zingers.
As director of the 1974 (Angela Lansbury) and 1989 (Tyne Daly) Gypsy revivals, he's on familiar turf, but even at age 90 (is he emulating George Abbott?, Laurents is never asleep at the wheel. He keeps this Gypsy moving fast, belying its two-hour-and-40-minute running time.
Laurents also has a flair for casting. Some examples are the scene-stealing Alison Fraser, Nancy Opel (not only as trumpet-blowing Mazeppa, but also as wise-cracking Miss Cratchitt) and Marilyn Caskey; a star-making turn by handsome Tony Yazeck (as Tulsa); Leigh Ann Larkin's anything but subtle Dainty June; Sami Gayle and Emma Rowley as young June and Louise; and a well-assembled ensemble (with special praise going to the acrobatic talents of the newsboy kids).
Gypsy, which doesn't have a huge number of songs, is nonetheless packed with showstoppers. Of Act One's nine songs and production numbers, there's "Some People" with LuPone pulling out all the stops, "You'll Never Get Away from Me," "If Momma Was Married," Tulsa's' "All I Need Is the Girl" with poignant back-up from Louise, and the Act One curtain of Act One curtains: "Everything's Coming Up Roses." In Act Two, there's Rose, Herbie and Louise's "Together," "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" by Mazeppa, Electra and Tessie Tura; and the finale of all finales, "Rose's Turn."
Sid Ramin and Robert Ginzler's original orchestrations and the dance arrangements by none other than John Kander (who was rehearsal pianist on the original production) are in the capable hands of music director Patrick Vaccariello and the 25-piece orchestra.
Let's not forget the imprint of another formidable force-of-nature, Jerome Robbins. Bonnie Walker faithfully recreates his choreography, a highlight of which is the time-travel sequence, which remains as jawdroppingly awesome as it was when first introduced.
Gypsy officially opened last night. Today will be dark, with LuPone on voice-rest after almost ten back-to-back shows. Performances resume Monday. There's only the slimmest chance of an extension of even a few performances, but the good news is it's summer and not everyone's in town to fill City Center's 2,700 seats. You can get in, but hurry. There'll be long lines at the box office and the phones will be jammed.
