Customer Rating: 
Summary: EVERYTHING COMES UP ROSES!!!
Comment: I never got to see either Ethel Merman or Angela Lansbury on the role, but Rosalind Russell and Bette Midler would only hope to kiss the stage where Ms. LuPone stands. She's phenomenal, and you haven't seen this show if she's not in it. Best Gypsy Ever!!! Best Broadway Performer Ever!!! Period!
Customer Rating:
Summary: one for the patti fans
Comment: I saw this on broadway, Patti LuPone was an interesting Rose, she's got star quality but Rose she ain't.
I thought her only really impressive performance in the show was Rose's Turn. This was a barnstormer, she tore the place apart and really deserved the spontaneous standing ovation that she received. It's a bleak production, with hardly any set apart from a crumbling proscenium arch, the emphasis very much on the tawdry side of the last knockings of vaudeville and the sleaze of third rate burlesque. The cast recording is worth getting simply for the bonus tracks, makes you wonder why they cut them, in particular 'Smile Girls' . You Gotta Get a Gimmick is sadly
lacking in percussion , not enough bump and grind, the rest of the tracks are fine if you dont mind Patti's vocal gymnastics.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Rose Yet?
Comment: The latest contender to take on Rose, the "ultimate" woman's theatrical role, is Patti Lupone - and she's incredible. Not that her supporting cast (including Laura Benanti & Boyd Gaines) isn't terrific too, but this production is all about Patti. She certainly earned the Tony for Best Actress & may be the best Rose yet!
I have never loved the overall score for "Gypsy". It contains several great, classic songs that are among theatre's elite, but there are several songs that are simply less than satisfying for me. However, I agree it's a masterpiece & triumph for Stephen Sondheim. This cast recording is very good.
Best Tracks:
Some People
Small World
Everything's Coming Up Roses
Rose's Turn
Customer Rating:
Summary: Everything's Coming Up Poses
Comment: This lumbering CD of the revival of "Gypsy" is something to behold. The production was a qualified hit on Broadway and all three leads earned Tony awards, but you'd never know it from this. Almost everyone seems to be trying to slam their songs up into the balcony with heavy theatrics that are at times quite overbearing. Patti Lupone, always a mush-mouthed singer at best, peppers her performance with odd cadences, jumpstart phrasing and scooped notes aplenty. It's Mama Rose channeling Mrs. Lovett by way of Gertrude Lawrence. Bizarre. In her enunciative universe, "somehow" is "some-hoh", "do" is "dyoo" and "me" becomes "mae". In addition, she punches lines willy-nilly with no respect to their meaning, which draws attention to her as a performer but detracts from the songs. As Louise, Laura Benanti is hardly better. Considered an up-and-comer on Broadway, her thesping here is of the high school musical variety, and her singing is no great shakes either. In her hands, Louise is merely a vapid waif or a conniving huckster, but Benanti's performance is all affectation and posturing so her character makes no sense. Almost every choice she makes as an actor in "The Strip" is utterly wrong, and both she and Leigh Ann Larkin (another balcony blaster) manage to turn "If Momma Was Married" into a coy "show-stopper" rather than a heartfelt lament. Only Boyd Gaines as Herbie and Tony Yazbeck as Tulsa come out unscathed, but since this show is all about the women, they remain in the background.
Yes, we have the immortal overture, and "Gypsy" remains one of musical theater's finest scores, but it's been recorded relentlessly over the years and this version is no revelation. In fact, it ultimately proves to be totally irrelevant. In addition, the overall sound of the recording is muddy and, despite the relentless theatrics, it's a rather lethargic ordeal. There's a "been-there-done-that" ennui that permeates everything. Compare this to the 2003 Bernadette Peters revival. That recording was crisp, clean and sharp as cut glass, with the performers absorbing and inhabiting their roles rather than showing off. It may seem unfair to make comparisons, but that is as much a part of the history of "Gypsy" as the show itself. The 2003 "Gypsy" deservedly won a Grammy award for best cast recording. That one was for the history books; this one should just be history.
Customer Rating:
Summary: AWESOME REVIVAL !!
Comment: THERE'S NOT A DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT "GYPSY" WILL LIVE ANOTHER LIFE THROUGH THIS REVIVAL! CAST IS WONDERFUL!!!
Summary: EVERYTHING COMES UP ROSES!!!
Comment: I never got to see either Ethel Merman or Angela Lansbury on the role, but Rosalind Russell and Bette Midler would only hope to kiss the stage where Ms. LuPone stands. She's phenomenal, and you haven't seen this show if she's not in it. Best Gypsy Ever!!! Best Broadway Performer Ever!!! Period!
Customer Rating:
Summary: one for the patti fans
Comment: I saw this on broadway, Patti LuPone was an interesting Rose, she's got star quality but Rose she ain't.
I thought her only really impressive performance in the show was Rose's Turn. This was a barnstormer, she tore the place apart and really deserved the spontaneous standing ovation that she received. It's a bleak production, with hardly any set apart from a crumbling proscenium arch, the emphasis very much on the tawdry side of the last knockings of vaudeville and the sleaze of third rate burlesque. The cast recording is worth getting simply for the bonus tracks, makes you wonder why they cut them, in particular 'Smile Girls' . You Gotta Get a Gimmick is sadly
lacking in percussion , not enough bump and grind, the rest of the tracks are fine if you dont mind Patti's vocal gymnastics.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Rose Yet?
Comment: The latest contender to take on Rose, the "ultimate" woman's theatrical role, is Patti Lupone - and she's incredible. Not that her supporting cast (including Laura Benanti & Boyd Gaines) isn't terrific too, but this production is all about Patti. She certainly earned the Tony for Best Actress & may be the best Rose yet!
I have never loved the overall score for "Gypsy". It contains several great, classic songs that are among theatre's elite, but there are several songs that are simply less than satisfying for me. However, I agree it's a masterpiece & triumph for Stephen Sondheim. This cast recording is very good.
Best Tracks:
Some People
Small World
Everything's Coming Up Roses
Rose's Turn
Customer Rating:
Summary: Everything's Coming Up Poses
Comment: This lumbering CD of the revival of "Gypsy" is something to behold. The production was a qualified hit on Broadway and all three leads earned Tony awards, but you'd never know it from this. Almost everyone seems to be trying to slam their songs up into the balcony with heavy theatrics that are at times quite overbearing. Patti Lupone, always a mush-mouthed singer at best, peppers her performance with odd cadences, jumpstart phrasing and scooped notes aplenty. It's Mama Rose channeling Mrs. Lovett by way of Gertrude Lawrence. Bizarre. In her enunciative universe, "somehow" is "some-hoh", "do" is "dyoo" and "me" becomes "mae". In addition, she punches lines willy-nilly with no respect to their meaning, which draws attention to her as a performer but detracts from the songs. As Louise, Laura Benanti is hardly better. Considered an up-and-comer on Broadway, her thesping here is of the high school musical variety, and her singing is no great shakes either. In her hands, Louise is merely a vapid waif or a conniving huckster, but Benanti's performance is all affectation and posturing so her character makes no sense. Almost every choice she makes as an actor in "The Strip" is utterly wrong, and both she and Leigh Ann Larkin (another balcony blaster) manage to turn "If Momma Was Married" into a coy "show-stopper" rather than a heartfelt lament. Only Boyd Gaines as Herbie and Tony Yazbeck as Tulsa come out unscathed, but since this show is all about the women, they remain in the background.
Yes, we have the immortal overture, and "Gypsy" remains one of musical theater's finest scores, but it's been recorded relentlessly over the years and this version is no revelation. In fact, it ultimately proves to be totally irrelevant. In addition, the overall sound of the recording is muddy and, despite the relentless theatrics, it's a rather lethargic ordeal. There's a "been-there-done-that" ennui that permeates everything. Compare this to the 2003 Bernadette Peters revival. That recording was crisp, clean and sharp as cut glass, with the performers absorbing and inhabiting their roles rather than showing off. It may seem unfair to make comparisons, but that is as much a part of the history of "Gypsy" as the show itself. The 2003 "Gypsy" deservedly won a Grammy award for best cast recording. That one was for the history books; this one should just be history.
Customer Rating:
Summary: AWESOME REVIVAL !!
Comment: THERE'S NOT A DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT "GYPSY" WILL LIVE ANOTHER LIFE THROUGH THIS REVIVAL! CAST IS WONDERFUL!!!