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| Lisa Peluso, Angela Lansbury, Bonnie Langsford. |
GYPSY [Musical Revival]
B/D: Arthur Laurents; M: Jule Styne; LY: Stephen Sondheim; CH: Robert Tucker
[using Jerome Robbins’s original choreography]; S/L: Robert Randolph; C: Raoul
Pene du Bois (Angela Lansbury’s costumes by Robert Mackintosh); P: Barry M.
Brown, Edgard Lansbury, Fritz Holt, and Joseph Beruh; T: Winter Garden;
9/23/74-1/4/75 (120)
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| Angela Lansbury. |
A limited engagement of the 1959 classic musical comedy
based on stripper Gypsy Rose Lee’s memoirs, this revival was first seen in
London—to critical acclaim—and brought to Broadway with several of that
production’s leads intact. These included Angela Lansbury as Rose, Zan Charisse as
Gypsy, and Bonnie Langford as Baby June. The production, directed by the book’s
author, meticulously recreated Jerome
Robbins’s original dance numbers under Robert Tucker’s guidance, and Raoul Pene
du Bois’s 1959 costumes were similarly back on view.
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| Zan Charisse. |
Gypsy proved a
smashing success to several critics. Walter Kerr claimed that is seemed “as
entertainment and as craftsmanship . . . as dazzling as it was on the day it
was so felicitously born.” Clive Barnes raved that “it is the kind of revival
we cannot have too much of. Everything about Gypsy is right.” But Edith Oliver admitted, glumly, “everyone else
. . . likes it more than I do,” and she proceeded to pan the “unremittingly
self-centered” character of Rose as being too inhuman to enjoy. John Simon admitted
to a great fondness for the material, but noted that it was almost, but not
quite, hidden by “the somewhat humdrum staff of this production.” For Simon,
the show’s “darker implications” were missing.
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| Mary Louise Wilson, Zan Charisse, Angela Lansbury. |
The reviewers were generally lavish in their praise of
Angela Lansbury’s Rose as an acting feat of major proportions. Barnes called her
“enchanting, tragic, bewildering and bewildered.” John Beaufort said she gave “a
whirlwind, dynamic performance that is both hilarious and moving.” The most
remarked on feature of her work was the dimension of humanity, sensitivity, and
vulnerability she gave to what is often considered a monstrously arrogant
woman. Oliver, indeed, felt that Lansbury had played a role not invented by
Laurents. Her big weakness was her inadequate vocal range and quality. In this,
Ethel Merman, who originated the part, was, of course, light years ahead of her
(and of practically anyone else attempting a Merman role). Many
readers will no doubt immediately think of Rosalind Russell’s vocally problematic performance in
the movie version.
The show snared a Tony win for Lansbury as Best Actress,
Musical; a Tony nomination for Laurents as Best Director, Musical; a Drama Desk
Award for Lansbury for Outstanding Performance; a similar award for
Laurents for Outstanding Direction; and a Theatre World Award for Zan Charisse.
