http://www.theaterdogs.net/2008/04/29/new-york-fantasy/ San Francisco Bay Area backstage Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:43:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 http://www.theaterdogs.net/2008/04/29/new-york-fantasy/#comment-413 Peter Hall Fri, 02 May 2008 05:05:46 +0000 http://www.theaterdogs.net/2008/04/29/new-york-fantasy/#comment-413 Hi Chad! Love your blog. Glad you are free of the constraints of the puny-minded-corporate-print-media people. I just returned from NYC and was able to see Patti LuPone in "Gypsy". I wasn't eager to revisit this musical since I'd seen the Bernadette Peters version a couple of years ago and wasn't much impressed. I actually thought it had a bad book. Well, I was wrong. Thanks to the finesse of Patti LuPone as Rose and Laura Benanti as Gypsy this show absolutely knocked me out. I don't know what Arthur Laurents did but he was somehow able to strip LuPone of ALL of her LuPoneisms...the strange accent and the irritating covered top notes and open her up to give a completely honest portrait of that most fearsome/lovable of all stage mothers. Laura Benanti was perfect as Louise/Gypsy. The transformation from tomboy to stripper is usually done heavy-handedly but Benanti's transformation seemed to flow organically from the script rather than being used only as a "gimmick". Speaking of gimmick, those three stripper gals were something else all together. They were not only over the hill but seemed to be haunted. Right out of "Nightmare Before Christmas." Loved them. Especially the Mrs Slocum (Are You Being Served) lookalike. She literally does nothing but switch on her lights! Hi Chad! Love your blog. Glad you are free of the constraints of the puny-minded-corporate-print-media people. I just returned from NYC and was able to see Patti LuPone in “Gypsy”. I wasn’t eager to revisit this musical since I’d seen the Bernadette Peters version a couple of years ago and wasn’t much impressed. I actually thought it had a bad book. Well, I was wrong. Thanks to the finesse of Patti LuPone as Rose and Laura Benanti as Gypsy this show absolutely knocked me out. I don’t know what Arthur Laurents did but he was somehow able to strip LuPone of ALL of her LuPoneisms…the strange accent and the irritating covered top notes and open her up to give a completely honest portrait of that most fearsome/lovable of all stage mothers. Laura Benanti was perfect as Louise/Gypsy. The transformation from tomboy to stripper is usually done heavy-handedly but Benanti’s transformation seemed to flow organically from the script rather than being used only as a “gimmick”. Speaking of gimmick, those three stripper gals were something else all together. They were not only over the hill but seemed to be haunted. Right out of “Nightmare Before Christmas.” Loved them. Especially the Mrs Slocum (Are You Being Served) lookalike. She literally does nothing but switch on her lights!

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