Patti’s Turn

Gypsy is back on Broadway, only a few years after the recent revival starring Bernadette Peters. I saw the BP version, and it left me cold. By that time I’d also seen the movie and listened to the original cast recording with Ethel Merman. I very much felt like I should like this show. It has all the right ingredients, but every time I saw it, I just felt a little bored and underwhelmed.

I’m very happy to report that this new production is nothing short of wonderful, with a cast that really brought the whole show to life. Laura Benanti, for instance, really stood out for me. In the past, she’s been something of a wallflower. I was always more interested in watching those around her, rather than her. You’d think that if anything she’d be totally dwarfed by the other talent on stage at the St. James, but instead she rose to the occasion. Her transformation from second fiddle (does it get any more second fiddle than playing the rear end of a cow?) to the stage-commanding Gypsy Rose Lee is remarkable to watch.

Truly everyone in the cast is great, but the show belongs to the fantastic Patti Lupone. I’m not sure when exactly I started loving her so much, but somewhere along the way it happened. I resisted her a little in Sweeney Todd but she won me over, even if I was reluctant to admit it. I love her on the Sweeney CD, too. And I have to say: she completely inhabited Mama Rose in a way I’ve never seen before. Her performance of the final song, Rose’s Turn, is incredible. This show is definitely one to see.