| Gypsy: A Great... | |
| Posted by: Musicals54 05:25 pm EST 11/29/24 | |
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| Musicals are plays. Greek plays had music. Opera arose from that rediscovery. Gypsy is a great, very great play. Right up there with the greatest of Shakespeare, Molière, Shaw, Ibsen, Wilder, Albee, Williams. Gypsy is what Death of A Salesman pretends to be and isn't, a tragedy of a commoner. Willie is just a pathetic schmuck. Rose is both tragic and an awful mother, but more. I see Gypsy on Tuesday. I've seen Merman, Lansbury (6x), Daly (2x), Peters, and Lupone (2x) as well as movies Roz (not as bad as said, but they fucked with the book and she doesn't have the gravitas for tragedy. Midler is having fun and hence is awful.., Look at me I'm getting to sing Rose's Turn and it is fun. That's why I'm smiling. Staunton is first-rate, but the production has a whiff of English kitchen sink. I've seen Audra sing Rose's Turn (Saratoga 2023) and I can't wait. I saw a lot of theatre from '54 on (I was younger then). My dentist was in the Steinway building (don't look now) so I made sure my appointments were Wednesday morning. Also Saturdays. I'd walk thru Hotel lobbies and pick up twofers. As well, family and our specialist doctor were near New Haven so lots of Saturdays at the Shubert. Saw good bad and awful and great. I won't list much except to say, in 1956 Waiting For Godot (which confused everyone) made perfect sense to me. After all, we had drills in school in case of a nuclear bomb blast. Under my desk or in the hall would certainly save us all. I also found it funny. When I saw LAHR the following year in Hotel Paradiso, I concluded they were both farces of frustration. Godot never comes and neither did Lahr's character. Angela Lansbury was terrific. My favorite Rose and my favorite Lovett Mame, every thing. GYPSY was the first show that spoke to me and family. My mother was no Rose. My mother felt (wrongly) that she never had opportunies so she did her best to make sure her kids didn't. She failed. So Gypsy is really an important marker at various times in my life. Audra will be great as I think of all the Black Women of talent who never had a chance at all. I'm working on a piece about Anne Brown (created Bess and was Gershwin's muse)who fled the US and lived a very long, very honored, very public life and a great private one in Norway and Europe(her husband was a famous author and Olympic ski jumping medalist. Her father-in-law was leader of the Oslo resistance to the Nazis and a justice of the Supreme Court. I am so excited. Theatre is my church. And Gypsy is the highest of holidays. |
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