Review: Patti LuPone stars as Mama Rose in 'Gypsy'

Newsday.com
Review: Patti LuPone stars as Mama Rose in 'Gypsy'
BY LINDA WINER

linda.winer@newsday.com

March 28, 2008

When "Gypsy" had a three-week run as part of City Center's "Encores!" series last summer, the reason was Patti LuPone. Finally, we had the chance to see this singular force of nature become Mama Rose, arguably the greatest musical-female role in probably the most satisfying backstage musical of American theater's golden age.

Much the same production, directed again by author Arthur Laurents, opened last night at the St. James Theatre. "Gypsy" - with its wrenching and brilliant lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and its brassy-bravura music by Jule Styne - belongs on Broadway for as long as people need musicals.

If LuPone was the original justification for yet another staging of the 1959 masterwork, the revival also has turned out to be a showcase for Boyd Gaines, as shattering an embodiment of Herbie, Rose's loving doormat and agent, as I've ever seen. And Laura Benanti continues to be an emotional and musical revelation as Louise, the lesser daughter in the vaudeville sister act - the one who transforms into the famously elegant stripper.

Laurents' production, his third staging of his own script, often seems committed to digging for ever more psychological clarity and urgency.

If I seem to be backing into a description of LuPone, you're right. At Tuesday's press preview, at least, her performance felt rushed, tightly wound and overdone. She is in wonderful multicolored voice, even when she indulges the impulse to croon and swoop into some of the big notes in an otherwise harrowing "Everything's Coming Up Roses."

What defined her Rose last summer, however, was a marvelous new vulnerability and charm. This was a stage mother/monster who, along with the ruthlessness, had a deep playfulness. Missing now, inexplicably, is that sense of fun, an allure that went a long way toward explaining why Herbie and all the unpaid kids in her pathetic act would put up with her.

We still get the ferocity of Rose's restless hunger, but LuPone has toughened her earlier uninhibited sexuality into something harder and less interesting. She allows us a tender glimpse, now and then, into the soul behind the steamroller. Too often, alas, she batters the sweet spot into submission. She turns her big finale, "Rose's Turn," into an operatic mad scene.

Laurents hasn't helped by having everyone hit the jokes too hard and by changing Rose's last moment into a grandstand that isn't quite grand enough to compensate for the lack of psychological intimacy. On the other hand, the tough-nut quality works neatly for Leigh Ann Larkin, who brings a dark edge to the kewpie-doll theatrics of Dainty June, Rose's favorite. And the strippers, especially Marilyn Caskey's catatonically decrepit Electra, are endearingly sleazy in "You Gotta Get a Gimmick."

One may certainly ask why the orchestra - no longer under the concert restrictions of "Encores!" - is onstage. But we buy it, as we buy the theatrical stylization of a stuffed lamb and a stuffed dog instead of live ones.

Less justifiable are James Youmans' modest sets, dominated by the image of a shabby end-of-vaudeville proscenium, which remain just a notch above summer stock. Martin Pakledinaz's costumes still have a dowdy standard-issue look. Couldn't someone find LuPone a less matronly wig?

And yet ... "Gypsy" makes a visceral connection to all our mothers who were "born too early and started too late." Jerome Robbins' iconic choreography still tells lifetimes of stories in the brief turn of a tumble. If only everyone would relax.

GYPSY. Directed by author Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St. Tickets, $42-$117; 212-239-6200. Seen at Tuesday preview.

We remember Mama

Patti LuPone joins a formidable list of bosomy actresses to have a turn at the almost indestructible Mama Rose. Some others:

Ethel Merman Broadway, 1959 Brassy belter was the first and, many still say, best Mama Rose.

Rosalind Russell Film, 1962 Russell took a hit from critics upset that Merman hadn't been allowed to re-create the role.

Angela Lansbury Broadway, 1974 One of two Roses to win a Tony.

Tyne Daly Broadway, 1989 The other Tony winner.

Bette Midler TV, 1993 Campy, but well-received "Gypsy" packed in all the Jerome Robbins choreography.

Bernadette Peters Broadway, 2003 Kewpie-doll actress was the most controversial "Rose," in the only Broadway "Gypsy" not directed by Arthur Laurents.

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