Audra McDonald as GYPSY on Broadway

It's time for a new revival, and I thought it would most likely go to her. She's got both the vocal chops and the acting talent for it, although I've never seen her play that kind of character before. I hope she can be funny enough (which people often forget is key to the character).

LOVE HER

No, Audra as Rose in GYPSY. Hand in your gay card, OP

What?!

Audra could have played Baby June to Barbra Streisand's Rose.

After her turn as Billie Holiday, where she nailed Holiday’s voice and mannerisms to perfection, I don’t think there’s anything that this woman CAN’T do!

I had a dream

I dreamed it for you, Lanaetria

It wasn’t for me, Da’fwan

Here She Is, Boys: Audra McDonald Will Reopen Broadway's Majestic in Gypsy

The revival will reopen the Majestic Theatre, which has been dark since the historic 2023 closing of The Phantom of the Opera. Performances of Gypsy will begin November 21 ahead of a December 19 opening night.

Folks, it's real. Despite a full-throated denial of the news earlier this year, six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald will indeed return to Broadway in a new revival of Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, and Stephen Sondheim's Gypsy. George C. Wolfe is directing the six-time Tony winner as Rose, often considered the King Lear of musical theatre.

Camille A. Brown is choreographing, with further creative team members and casting to be announced.

The role of the domineering stage mother Rose was originally written for Ethel Merman, with its songs tailored to her brassy belt—the character's lengthy song list includes such favorites as "Some People," "Everything's Coming Up Roses," and "Rose's Turn."

McDonald is a Juilliard-trained soprano who sings mostly in head voice, but that hasn't stopped her from singing belty songs like "Cabaret," "I Am What I Am," and "Home" in concert. All three were included in McDonald's 2022 concert at the London Palladium, which is currently streaming via PBS.

EXTRA! EXTRA! BROADWAY VOWS, "WE'LL NEVER STOP REVIVING GYPSY BUT YOU QUEENS ARE SHIT OUT OF LUCK WHEN IT COMES TO FOLLIES!"

R3,

Sorry, I have an expansive mind and can’t wait to see the 6 time Tony winner as Rose. I’m holding on to my card 😀

She's been so busy imitating others over the last 30 years she hasn't figured out how to present as herself in character.

Imitatrix!

Mama Rose, the maid.

Well, nothing's gonna stop me now...

My team and I (in other words, 'Daddy') were just getting ready to announce me starring in 'Gypsy' when we reopen the Palace again in the spring of 2025. Fine, if Audra wants to play hardball, then we will play hardball. She's unable to belt, but nonetheless, I imagine we will both be competing for the Tony next year. Or perhaps she won't even be nominated. After my sell-out engagement currently smashing Broadway records, Mama Rose is the role I was born to play.

Now out of my way!

R15 needs to end with him storming off the stage and falling into the orchestra pit to his death.

Wouldn’t be the FIRST time Ben Platt died at the Palace!

R16. Take 2:

It's just dumb to have Rose played by a black woman.

It makes no sense. The public won't accept it. It'll bomb.

But the basic story could work. Write a NEW musical about a black woman pushing her kid into showbiz.

Harlem. The Chitlin' Circuit. There is so much to explore.

We need black performers, writers, composers telling their own stories....not this charade.

The Chitlin Circuit?? What else, do you want a number where down-and-out Rose is reduced to tap dancing for watermelon slices in front of the NAACP headquarters?

It appeared to be huge on Broadwaytok today.

For the idiot at R19:

Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ethel Waters, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Al Green, James Brown, Fats Domino, Aretha Franklin....among others....all played The Chitlin Circuit.

I wish her luck, but I see Phylicia Rashad as Mama Rose material.

Rashad?? The cow maybe.

[quote]But the basic story could work. Write a NEW musical about a black woman pushing her kid into showbiz. Harlem. The Chitlin' Circuit. There is so much to explore.

[quote]Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ethel Waters, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Al Green, James Brown, Fats Domino, Aretha Franklin....among others....all played The Chitlin Circuit.

And those would be amazing characters to meet via the fictional protagonists. So much potential there.

R17, TO HIS DEATH.

[quote] It's just dumb to have Rose played by a black woman.

[quote] It makes no sense. The public won't accept it. It'll bomb.

You mean just like how they wouldn't accept her in "Carousel" a full three decades ago because no one would accept Carrie Pipperidge as a black woman?

Why do I have to do all the work?

I love Audra. I love Gypsy. Broadway always needs another Audra show -But I don't think we need another Gypsy so soon after the last one.

Still, I'll go see it/her...

R26 Carrie Pipperidge is a fictional character.

Rose Thompson Hovick was an actual person, the mother of Gypsy Rose Lee and June Havoc. The musical is based on her daughter's memoirs.

A black woman has NO business playing her than a white woman would have playing Katherine Jackson.

Madame Rose, never Momma Rose.

This is how I find out I lost the part?

Fucking producers just doesn’t get you anywhere in this town anymore.

She’s great and will do a marvelous job in the role. Please, PLEASE don’t tell me that June and Louise are going to be played by two lily-white girls. I’ve had enough of this color-blind casting nonsense.

[quote] Rose Thompson Hovick was an actual person, the mother of Gypsy Rose Lee and June Havoc.

And Alexander Hamilton was also an actual person, and look what a hit the Latino-American Lin-Manuel Miranda had when he played him on Broadway.

Your prediction that race will affect who sees this is unlikely to be correct. These days Netflix had a streaming hit when they had Queen Charlotte played in her eponymous miniseries by a Black woman.

Will Baby June be a blonde little white girl? Audra will look like her Mammy.

Viola Davis IS Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy 2024.

She oozes raw sexual energy, eroticism, and intrigue, Also, Viola has a great set of tits and a pussy that is so wet, she had to take out flood insurance on it.

[quote]And Alexander Hamilton was also an actual person, and look what a hit the Latino-American Lin-Manuel Miranda had when he played him on Broadway.

Hamilton cannot be compared to Gypsy.

Hamilton was a concept. It was purposely created with a black cast. Purposely created with a black cast to make a point. Hamilton requires a POC cast. "It casts non-white actors as the Founding Fathers of the United States and other historical figures".

[quote]These days Netflix had a streaming hit when they had Queen Charlotte played in her eponymous miniseries by a Black woman.

What do you think the reaction would be if Rosa Parks or Harriet Tubman were to be played by a White woman?

R29

I hope the world is not as hung up on race as you. Let’s not forget Elphaba in the movie, “Wicked” will be played by a black woman in green face. If the idea of this musical is too much for you, don’t go. But please don’t deny The rest of us the opportunity to see one of the most talented musical theater Performers in history play this iconic role.

Hmmmm... I wonder why r29/r36 is so adamant that a Black woman cannot make it in this part, even though now multiple comparisons have been brought out to show he's wrong.

Hmmmm... I wonder...

Worth noting that Audra is — like Dolly Parton, Elizabeth Montgomery, Vanessa Williams and a few others — pretty much universally liked at DL.

She could do this, and do it very well.

Yes r39 I wonder what would motivate that kind of vitriol from them?

R32. You've had enough of color blind casting nonsense but you love the idea of a black actress playing a white woman and are horrified at the thought of lily white actresses playing Louise and June who were actually white? I'm sure I'll be labeled racist for having the audacity to question you and I'm ready for it.

[quote]I wonder what would motivate that kind of vitriol from them?

It's a pitch-black mystery!

There was a real Rose Hovick, but she is not the character we see onstage in Gypsy. Our Rose is the creation of Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim, and she bears little resemblance to the historical person (was may actually have been a Lesbian). If an actress is really good, let her play the part. Hell, as with Auntie Mame, I could even imagine a man playing the role. It might even add more depth to the character and the show...

The only time I worry about "color-blind" casting is when the story being told is about race, or the race of a character or characters -and the non-traditional casting would just confuse the audience. I have seen very successful productions of Annie, The Sound of Music, A Little Night Music, Peter Pan, Carousel, Kiss Me Kate, Man of La Mancha, and others where non-white actors played "white roles" -and played them well. I've also seen those same shows done (done in) with all-white casts that made me want to slit my wrists. "Good" is more important than "white" when it comes to actors/performers.

[quote]What do you think the reaction would be if Rosa Parks or Harriet Tubman were to be played by a White woman?

Well, applause for one thing.

[quote] What do you think the audience reaction would be if Rosa Parks or Harriet Tubman were to be played by a white woman?

Ah, and yet here you had kept rejecting previous equivalencies! But now your tune has entirely changed.

Okay, I'll bite: audiences have no investment in the actual historical Rose Hovick because she was not an important public figure until she became transformed into a character in a musical. That's certainly not true for Parks or for Tubman, who are both icons in fact because of their race.

[quote] audiences have no investment in the actual historical Rose Hovick because she was not an important public figure until she became transformed into a character in a musical.

Not only this, but Gypsy Rose Lee's memoir is itself largely a fabrication. See the book Mama Rose's Turn by Carolyn Quinn for more on the real Rose Hovick. The show is even called 'a musical fable'.

I have no doubt there are interesting shows to be written about the Chitlin circuit, but the notion that audiences 'won't accept' a black Rose is ridiculous.

I look forward to the first white Martin Luther King!

MLK and Rose are not remotely analogous. But... you knew that, R48. Perhaps you should get back to reading The Epoch Times inbetween your naked attempts at race baiting.

In a less predictable and boring discussion of race. I know there've already been discussions of whether Audra's production will be 'color blind' or perhaps an all-Black production. I'm honestly fine with either. I have no doubt that George C. Wolfe will cast it well either way. What would also be very interesting is is Rose, Louise and June are Black, but the rest of the cast is white. It could add a very interesting dynamic to the story without having to alter a word of the script.

I'm really looking forward to this!

You type boring r49.

There's some cunt ruining all the theatre threads with their obsessive opposition to non traditional casting. The pond life is better left ignored.

R51 - this is Datalounge where 60-somethings are the young kids on the block, so I imagine it's more than one poster that curmudgeonly and relentlessly registers their opposition to non-traditional casting. But, I bet you're right that it's a SMALL number of them constantly talking to one another.

Anyway, am I misremembering, or did Laurents make some changes to the script or traditional directorial choices for the LuPone revival? I'm fuzzy on the details. Anyone remember? If so, do we think those changes will hold?

[quote]What would also be very interesting is is Rose, Louise and June are Black, but the rest of the cast is white. It could add a very interesting dynamic to the story without having to alter a word of the script.

Then the show becomes a story of racial discrimination rather than abut a domineering mother, living her life through her children. But, that's probably where this show is going to go.

The show is old enough and has been revived enough to ask different questions than the default. I just saw a production of Love's Labour's Lost at the Royal Shakespeare Company that was set in a pan Polynesian version of Love Island that was engaging and very well done. The same as done with operas all the time, and it's the highest compliment that this can be done with works of musical theater like Carousel and Gypsy.

r28: I'm with you. I'm really really sick of GYPSY.

[quote] this is Datalounge where 60-somethings are the young kids on the block, so I imagine it's more than one poster that curmudgeonly and relentlessly registers their opposition to non-traditional casting.

On other forums, like for movies and popular culture, the people I see stating that they are tired of seeing actors cast strictly for diversity despite being a terrible choice for a role are actually relatively young, so I doubt age is a factor.

I think Audra is a great choice for this role though.

Anyone who lived through Bernadette Peters as Rose cannot be expected to endure Miss Audra McDonald present her pride, her dignity, and her mellifluously aging voice in a bad-concept stunt casting turd.

It would be too cruel.

Will we get a new production of Dreamgirls with Idina Menzel, Kelli O'Hara and Kristin Chenowith? It seems only fair!

R54 Whites don’t have a problem with Asians doing this.

They have a problem with black people doing this, specifically black Americans, who they hate.

[quote]this is Datalounge where 60-somethings are the young kids on the block, so I imagine it's more than one poster that curmudgeonly and relentlessly registers their opposition to non-traditional casting.

This opinion piece in the NYTimes covers the subject brilliantly. I agree with every word. And in the comments section, it seems most NYTimes readers agree too.

"Hollywood’s New Fantasy: A Magical, Colorblind Past"

[quote] a bad-concept stunt casting turd

Casting a major star/legend in this case is a “stunt”, yes, but it’s what is needed. Audra made being a black mother superior in a Salzburg abbey in the 1930s work by being so good, so she should be able to handle this role. A lesser actress of color, one cast solely because she’s a PoC, would be an issue.

I thought Audra’s Mother Superior was awful. Dial it down, woman.

She's corny and unattractive.

There is no topic that DL can't turn into a race fight.

The last three or so theatre threads have been obsessed with the with topic. I no longer follow them. The Audra hate here is also bizarre and way out of step with pretty much the rest of the world.

Some of the theatre board kids were wondering if they were going to be selling $1,000 tickets for this. Here's a question: Has Audra ever been in a show that turned a profit? Perhaps Master Class, but are there any others?

These casting arguments always revolve around the same unanswerable question: Why is wonderful when a black person plays a white character when a white person playing a black character is the most offensive thing in the world?

[quote]You mean just like how they wouldn't accept her in "Carousel" a full three decades ago because no one would accept Carrie Pipperidge as a black woman?

That was pretty dumb too, but it was not spoken of, but many thought it a bit ridiculous. I did.

Tickets are reasonable, considering what an event this might be. I got an orchestra seat on the aisle for under $200.

R63 You bite your tongue.

It's weird to me that the knee-jerk DL reaction seems to be white resentment at a black person getting a "white" role.

Thank you R44 & R46.

To the folks who can’t accept a black person in the role, no ones forcing you to buy a ticket. Just sits this one out.

I don’t have a problem with casting a Black actor in a role that was written as a white person, even if the character is based on a historical person, if race is not an element of the story. I suppose Opera has been good training because Black singers often play roles that are not written as Black I can program my mind to ignore the actor’s race. However, ignoring race would be a problem with a role like Scarlett O’Hara or Othello.

I also think it’s fine—perhaps even interesting —to reimagine characters that were originally white as explicitly Black, as would be the case if the entire Gypsy family were Black in Gypsy, but the story should probably be adapted to reflect the different experiences that Blacks would have had in the time and place the story is set, or the time and place should be explicitly changed, if possible. Here it would be difficult to move the time forward as Vaudeville only existed in the past. But one might easily move the story to the Black vaudeville circuit

The article at r60 is about something different—rewriting history to suggest a degree of racial equality and interaction that is false. Similar problems might occur here if the Gypsy family is explicitly Black, the setting is still the 1920s white Vaudeville circuit , and the racial attitudes of the era are not addressed.

[quote] white resentment at a black person getting a "white" role.

R70, I’ve seen black people on TikTok and X expressing resentment that black actors are being cast in hand-me-down white roles (or roles where being black doesn’t make sense) instead of shows and movies creating great black characters/roles for black actors. Racist Hollywood won’t go as far as creating great black characters. Even Black Panther was just an adaptation of an existing character.

A movie like Frozen, for example, didn’t have to be set in a European, Norway-like environment. It could have been set in Asia or Africa with Asian or African characters. It’s the movie studios who are creating and using white roles, and then going back and casting PoC to fill them to make up for it.

It's funny how black actors are dying to recite dialogue created by white men for white people.

Because of the realities of our culture, many black roles have race as a component (or at least shadow across) the story.

So, yeah, it can be ridiculous to consider casting white actors in those roles.

In our culture, whites have been privileged compared to blacks. To act likes it’s an apples-to-apples comparison is dim witted.

[quote]That was pretty dumb too, but it was not spoken of, but many thought it a bit ridiculous. I did.

And yet she won the Tony for the performance. And she went on soon after to play on television another famous musical theater part, Grace Farrell in "Annie," also originally created by a white actress.

That train left the station a full three decades ago, sweetie.

Here is the issue, those who are upset by this almost always end up blaming black people for this, when all the black actor did was accept a job. Black people weren't asking for a black Little Mermaid. What ends up happening is producers feel that if they diversify those in front of the camera or on stage, no one will pull back the curtain and see who is really making all the decisions behind the scenes. Talk to any minority creative in entertainment and they will all tell you that many of their pitches for original content and characters get nixxed for some retread with some minorities inserted.

Audra McDonald is a gifted actress who will do a great job in this. Don't blame her for accepting a job. Take it up with the backers and the producers.

She also played Lizzie in 110 in the shade, a color blind production and received another Tony nomination.

[Quote] Hamilton was a concept.

All theatre is a concept. All of it. Every single performance is always an amalgamation of a series of conceptual and creative choices. The idea that there’s a correct or proper way to do anything is a fallacy - it’s just that some concepts are more conventional than others.

What is the issue here?

Is this somehow a betrayal of the real (long dead) Rose?

Is this supposed to be another example of Black people usurping whites? (Hah.)

This is a fantastic role. Why should she be excluded from playing it?

Can we now expect Jews to stop playing Italians and vice versa? People without medical degrees from playing doctors? Natural blondes donning wigs to play brunettes?

[quote] Here is the issue, those who are upset by this almost always end up blaming black people for this, when all the black actor did was accept a job.

I blamed the producers, not the actors for taking the roles.

The most awarded musical theater actress of our time is taking on what most people consider the most challenging role in the musical cannon. And she shouldn't do this role because she’s black?

The only person of the right age who would have the right vocal chops to sing this part and who would be a genuine Broadway box office draw I can think of besides Audra would be Idina Menzel. But she doesn't seem to want to do those kinds of old-fashioned Broadway parts.

Chenoweth and Kelli O'Hara do not have the right kind of voices. Victoria Clark and Christine Ebersole are too old. Sutton Foster is not all that much younger than Audra, but she's already employed--and she should wait a few years to do it, since she always looks younger than she is.

I love the visual of Audra being presented with the role and being told it will make pinheads explode.

“I’ll take it!”

I don't like mixing and matching in a different time period. I hope Herbie and her father are played by black men.

Billie Rose knew Rose and said she was far worse than what is depicted on stage.

Did anyone see Audra’s 110 Degrees? I like the OBC recording and wondered how the actual show was.

There have been situations where I understood the complaints. The talent sucks and it's obvious they were being diverse just to be diverse. Or the person was too new and hasn't paid their dues and they're trying to make them a star for the sake of "diversity". Or they're just trying to be edgy or political with the casting for the sake of being so. Or whatever.

But how you don't see that Audra is an amazingly good fit for Rose in terms of talent, resume, vocal type, and star power is beyond me. If you're doing a Gypsy revival in 2024, who else? That AUDRA/GYPSY poster works so well for a reason.

[quote]And yet she won the Tony for the performance.

Yes, awards mean everything (eye roll). I didn't say she was untalented, but middle class, small town Maine was not an integrated society in 1906, and to force this aspect into the production makes no sense other than on modern Broadway which sees "color blind" casting (but NEVER SAY "I don't see color", if you're white!) as their primary goal over the story and text.

It's dopey, so naturally dopes love it! The acclaimed late playwright August Wilson thought it was a rotten idea, but what would he know?

R78 and r86, I saw her in 110 and it was not colorblind casting. Lizzie’s mother is dead, but her father was played by John Cullum and she had one light-skinned brother and one white. It was a mixed race family.

She was thrilling. It was shortly after her father had died unexpectedly, and she poured herself into that role a flinty edge and a lot of raw emotion. It’s hard to think of anyone who can do what she does.

Several years ago, this would have been a role for the ages and the role of a lifetime for Liza Minnelli, right up there or surpassing 'Cabaret.' Liza would have been the most brilliant of them all.

[quote]Will we get a new production of Dreamgirls with Idina Menzel, Kelli O'Hara and Kristin Chenowith? It seems only fair!

They'd have to change the title to "Dream-Postmenopausals"

[quote] Please, PLEASE don’t tell me that June and Louise are going to be played by two lily-white girls.

They will be played by trans actors, one Asian and one Native American.

Pronouns TBD.

Sing Out, Shalimae– SING OUT!

"I don’t have a problem with casting a Black actor in a role that was written as a white person, even if the character is based on a historical person, if race is not an element of the story. "

I think it comes down to this: for the overwhelming majority of the history of musical theatre it was written and performed by white people for white audiences. Consequently, nearly every role in the canon is traditionally a "white" role. This was probably more to do with white cultural privilege than actual overt racism -but the effect is the same. When shows were written by and for non-white people they were almost always about that non-whiteness. That's why Audra can do Carousel, but Chenoweth can't do Raisin. Cast a white actor in that show messes up what the show is about, and what the authors were trying to say. If Audra had been around when the original Carousel was cast she'd never have been considered for the role -not because of her talent, but because casting her THEN would have had a similar effect to casting Chenoweth in Raisin today. Everyone would have been trying to figure out the special meaning behind the casting, saying that that actress couldn't really play that character... We're in the 21st century now, and bit by bit we are coming to terms with race and privilege. We're not "there" yet, of course. We still fight the "once you go black you can't go back" thing, where specific roles are considered "black roles" because of the casting of a previous actor somehow claiming the part -even when race had nothing to do with it. (Think John in Miss Saigon, Judas in Superstar, or the fracas of Mandy Patinkin getting hired for The Great Comet...)

She'll probably be very good. BUT FUCK GYPSY REVIVALS. LET IT SIT FOR 30 YEARS BEFORE ANOTHER REVIVAL.

[quote]Will we get a new production of Dreamgirls with Idina Menzel, Kelli O'Hara and Kristin Chenowith? It seems only fair!

Hold on there Baba Looey, what am I, chopped liver?

[quote]Anyone who lived through Bernadette Peters as Rose cannot be expected to endure Miss Audra McDonald present her pride, her dignity, and her mellifluously aging voice in a bad-concept stunt casting turd. It would be too cruel.

Eh. Whatever. I unapologetically and wholeheartedly LOVED Bernadette in the role. Patti you just KNEW was going to kill in the part. It made sense on paper. Bernadette was less obviously 'Rose' and it made her revelatory performance that much more thrilling. I know the earlier part of her run was plagued by a terrible respiratory illness, missed performances, the terrible Michael Riedel's unwarranted scorn and, reportedly, Arthur Laurents' stubborn insistence on interfering with Sam Mendes' intended direction. From what I recall, this all combined to limit Bernadette's performance in those early months. I saw her late in the run and she was a total knockout. It was a searing, psychologically complex performance. Even her book scenes were strong. Just watch her last scene here.

I have some minor worries about the suitability of Audra's voice for the role, but she surprised us with her Billie Holiday. I think she'll nail this one, too. I'm SO interested to see who else they cast!

And, of course, her Rose's Turn on the Tonys was triumphant (despite being forced to perform an abbreviated version) and left so many puzzled as to why the cute chubby girl from Hairspray won over her.

Bernadette was terrible in the role. Rose has brass and moxy. She brought none of that.

Bernadette wasn’t remotely credible in the role and, at least on the day we saw it, couldn’t sing the role.

Bernadette was charming and inventive, but absolutely broke my heart when she realized that she in fact had the talent, but missed her shot. Patti was fine, but I don’t really need to see “brass and moxy” as much as an actual human being. I’m looking forward to seeing what Audra does, but I know it will be deeply honest and powerful.

She knew that you were there r99 and she phoned it in because you're a cunt.

[quote]Several years ago, this would have been a role for the ages and the role of a lifetime for Liza Minnelli, right up there or surpassing 'Cabaret.' Liza would have been the most brilliant of them all.

SHUM people shit on their BUTTSH!

Got the dream, yeah, but not the GUTSH!

[quote] Bernadette was charming and inventive, but absolutely broke my heart when she realized that she in fact had the talent, but missed her shot. Patti was fine, but I don’t really need to see “brass and moxy” as much as an actual human being. I’m looking forward to seeing what Audra does, but I know it will be deeply honest and powerful.

**AHEM**

I think you forgot someone.

What am I, chopped liver?

AHEM R102

[quote] Write a NEW musical about a black woman pushing her kid into showbiz.

You mean the Cissy / Whitney Houston story as a musical ?

A lot of people are saying this will have the same fate as the Bernadette Peters revival in 2003...a flop.

Funny enough, Denee Benton who plays her daughter in The Gilded Age might make a good Gypsy, too.

I'm sure Sunny Hostin won't mind when they cast Kristen Chenowith in 'Showboat' singing "Old Man River."

Patti was outstanding in the role. The general consensus is she was one of the all-time bests.

People trash her but she was mesmerizing.

[quote]I'm sure Sunny Hostin won't mind when they cast Kristen Chenowith in 'Showboat' singing "Old Man River."

Go to 18:10

And Co-Starring Glenn Close, as Herbie.

[quote]I'm sure Sunny Hostin won't mind when they cast Kristen Chenowith in 'Showboat' singing "Old Man River."

I can't stop laughing at this ! Good one !

I saw Tyne Daly in the role back in 1991 - that performance has stayed with me for the past 33 years. It made me love Broadway musicals.

Patti was memorable alright. She missed every BIT of humor. She just steamrolled the thing. There wasn’t a single believable moment. No nuance, no humor, no vowels.

R102, Liza was approached and offered the revival that went to Tyne. She responded by asking for a fee that offended the wishers. They didn’t respond. Liza priced herself out and, in turn, robbed us of what was certain to be the greatest musical comedy performance in history. I’m not kidding.

Bernadette was the greatest Rose I have ever seen. Genuinely charming, as Rose should be. Peters was an absolute revelation.

It's Angela for me.

The only thing I loved about the Patti LuPone version was actually Leigh Ann Larkin, who nailed the part of Dainty June. It's one of the hardest parts in the show because unlike Louise and Rose she does not have a lot of stage time, but she's absolutely crucial to the big crisis of the first act: you have to feel she's sickeningly sweet and annoying during "The Cow Song," but then also enormously talented in "Broadway," so you can see how much is really at stake for her with her mother holding her back. And, she also has to be both believably warm and tender towards Louise and completely fed up with her mother during "If Momma was Marrried." Larkin did all that, plus she was (unexpectedly) very funny too.

LuPone just did her usual honking she's done in everything else I've seen her do.

Liza Minnelli 1980 Her Best Performance of 'Some People' from 'Gypsy'

R110. You funny bitch.

I'm happy to read some other love for Bernadette -- I went in a little skeptical of her casting and came out thinking it was one of her finest performances.

Two things make me NOT excited for Audra in GYPSY.

1. her voice - too operatic

2. Has she ever been funny?

R114 I’ve read that before that Liza was the first choice for that revival.

Lainie Kazan also did an interview where she said that producers reached out to her during the pre-Broadway tour because allegedly they had cold feet about Tyne being able to sustain performances on Broadway. I don’t know if that’s true but that is how Lainie tells it.

Arthur Laurents gave an interview before the 2008 Gypsy where someone asked him about Patti LuPone and he said that she “begged him to let her do it” in 1989, but he “cast Tyne Daly.”

It’s kind of odd to go from Liza to LuPone to Kazan to…Tyne Daly.

I saw LuPone in Gypsy. She was amazing... "a bulldozer picking up speed." It was a great performance.

[quote] These casting arguments always revolve around the same unanswerable question: Why is wonderful when a black person plays a white character when a white person playing a black character is the most offensive thing in the world?

It’s not unanswerable, more like bleeding obvious: because socially and economically and historically in the USA, racial equality is a ideal rather than a truth, as white people are all the way up here and black people are all the way down there.

“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”

My issue with this is that it takes a talented, accomplished performer like Audra McDonald and places her in within a situation that appears to be a publicity stunt, designed to create chatter about a production that’s been done to death with constant ongoing debate about who’s been cast as Rose. She’d be wise to walk away. She doesn’t need it.

[quote]2. Has she ever been funny?

Yes, as Carrie Pipperidge. That's a soubrette's part.

[quote]She’d be wise to walk away. She doesn’t need it.

It's the King Lear of musical roles for women, r125. No reason for her not to do it. She's certainly proven herself. But to you it's...a publicity stunt.

Your only post in the thread, r125?

Why not look at it this way, those of you complaining that this show has been done to death, maybe rebooting it with a different spin on casting will allow new eyes on the show. Audra is no slouch and quite talented and seems to be beloved by everyone except some on DL for some odd reason. It will be interesting to see what she does with it.

R128. Yup. And I’ve read them all.

[quote]R54: The show is old enough and has been revived enough to ask different questions than the default. I just saw a production of Love's Labour's Lost at the Royal Shakespeare Company that was set in a pan Polynesian version of Love Island that was engaging and very well done. The same as done with operas all the time, and it's the highest compliment that this can be done with works of musical theater like Carousel and Gypsy.

R54, simply typing "I am a moronic Philistine cunt" would have saved your some time with your post.

How NICE that there have been so many productions of "Love's Labour's Lost" that the RSC doesn't have to answer default questions, but create new ones that have nothing to do with and undermine the credibility and integrity of the show. Invoking opera? Yes, of course, exploring issues of race with "Gypsy" and "Carousel" completes the transformation of American Musical Theatre into the Superior Political Badgering with Stars, Noise and Distractions, which can best display the true talents of all involved in the enterprise. Stand on the rubble and turn "Rose's Turn" and wait for the fucking MLK image on the curtain as she delivers "I had a dream..." to the standing-and-screaming audiences, night after night.

Christ on a cracker.

R129 Isn’t the news about Gypsy revivals always about the casting of Rose? And the debates start immediately and last until said performer steps down. Those debates always center on whether their specific skills help or hinder the performance and can be lively and fun but have never centered on race.

I remember reading in an interview that Liza Minnelli said she was never asked to star in the 1989 revival, despite the fact that she really wanted to do it. Bette Midler said the same thing.

Laurents said he knew Tyne Daly was 'Rose' when he saw her singing on Dolly Parton's short-lived variety show (1987-88). He claimed (when the show opened) he never asked any other actress - he offered it to Daly, she accepted, and the revival moved forward.

In related news, Lea Michele has been cast as 'Deena' in the DREAMGIRLS revival, and Beanie will be playing 'Effie'. Al Sharpton and Sunny Hostin are exec producers of the Broadway show.

You try too hard, r134.

R135 Hard work always pays off !

Audra, with six Tonys on her mantel, does not need to justify why she is right for this role. Literally, she is being asked to be twice as good to get half of what came all of her predecessors in the role,

^ Oh bullshit. ANYBODY taking on that iconic role is going to be picked apart.

I wonder if anyone yet will come up with the hilarious joke about thinking of a white person in a black character's part! No one has made that original joke yet, and it would be so funny and so relevant!

R133 I think that is one of Liza’s stories just like “Peter and I had a fabulous sex life and I had no idea David Guest was gay.”

The truth is Liza was pursued for the Gypsy 1989 and boxed herself out of it.

r134 - don't you have a Proud Boys rally to get to?

It was cruel twist of fate that took our dear Bonnie Franklin before she could give the world her Madame Rose.

Everthing'sch com in roseschez thisch time for me!

She would have brought One Day at a Time realness, r142.

Liza did a Jule Styne tribute concert at the Palace Theatre in the early 70's and knocked "Some People" outta the park. (She also did a mesmerizing "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry"). Jule was so overwhelmed he wanted her to play Rose then and there, even though Angela had just done it, and Liza was far too young for the role.

DAMMIT, Herbie! DAMMIT, Dainty June!

I can picture the scene where she slaps both June and Louise. And maybe Herbie.

I wonder if she'll play Rose as uppity.

R74 It’s funny how white people take black music, fashion, dance, and lingo and still hate black people.

Liza sang Some People and Rose’s Turn during her Liza’s Back concerts in 2002. To do both in one concert felt like a bit of an audition, but I suppose plans were already in place for the Bernadette production the following year.

THISH people'sh got it, and thish people'sh shpreadin it around!

In this version, will Rose get tasered after stealing silverware from the Chinese restaurant?

Will the strippers be trans women of color?

Honestly, after surviving the new crop of performers who wail, hoot, and bray with a lot of effort to avoid creating a character or inhabiting a lyric, I am eager for this. This season has a record number of new musicals, but the only shows worth seeing were the revivals and plays.

When GYPSY starring Midler was premiering on TV (1993), Laurents did a few interviews about GYPSY. Some of the info he put forth was that he asked Barbra Streisand to do the movie remake shortly after she released 'The Broadway Album' at the end of 1985. Streisand already had a project lined up ("Nuts") so she passed. He then decided to do a Broadway revival, and that's when he saw Tyne Daly on television and offered her the role. Laurents said in 1988, Streisand contacted him and told him she was ready to make the movie - and had the idea of Madonna costarring as 'Gypsy'. Laurents told her about the revival he was planning, and didn't want a movie competing with the revival. He said he contacted her in early 1992 about doing the movie, but she told him she had lost interest. That's when he asked Midler to do the movie, but scaled back the budget to make it a television movie.

Please tell me the rumor if Paul Giamatti as Herbie is false.

R74 nails it.

“Dying” to perform? That’s an unfortunate choice of words. But r74 and r157 aren’t exactly good people.

Audra McDonald has six Tonys. She also has been nominated for nearly every role she has played on Broadway. She has earned the right to play whatever she wants.

R157 here. I COMPLETELY misread R74 and withdraw my support. Thanks for pointing out my error (though you may have been able to do so without dismissing my integrity).

Forgive me, DL. Sincerely. I remember reading it and thought it was a post mocking white outrage that a POC would play Rose (I mean, it’s a musical, racists — it’s fantasy. People don’t suddenly burst into song — unless it’s Manhattan, but that’s different).

Not only do I disagree with R74, I have tickets for the very first preview! I am incredibly pumped.

Actually, I have 3 tickets. A pair of my husband wants to come with (Row M, house right) and a single (Row F, center orchestra) if he doesn’t!

R159 - we forgive you. But, you should probably start taking your ginkgo biloba before you and Patti start rehearsals!

Does anyone know what the racial casting was around Leslie Uggams’s Rose?

According to someone on ATC, the casting notice has been posted and Herbie is to be cast with a white actor, June with a biracial actress and Louise with a Black actress. Interesting! Based upon those descriptions, who would you cast?

[quote]A pair of my husband wants to come

Pics please.

Danny Burstein would be a great Herbie. Norbert Leo Butz. Jeremy Shamos. Stephen Pasquale. And God forbid, Christian Borle.

I’m surprised the play’s name hasn’t been changed to “ROMA.”

Amazing. The casting notice is actually ruling out trans men and drag queens for all roles in Gypsy. Producer Tom Kirdahy. What a guy.

Beyonce as Louise

r164 - those are all great choices for Herbie (except for Borle). I'd add Brian Darcy James to the mix.

BD(face) James would be a great Herbie!

Can we manage a nude scene in the revival? Or at least a shirtless scene? Pretty-please?

BD Face was so good in that Irish play... the IRA early 80s period piece

I just read that bird-like soprano Natalie Dessay is starring in a production of Gypsy in Lorraine next year, with I’m guessing her daughter as Louise.

Dessay will be having a very Sondheimian 2025 - she’s playing Mrs Lovett in Strasbourg, too.

Apologies to Audra, but if the producers wanted to do alternative casting of Rose, Lea Salonga would have been a much better choice. But then, she's obviously not black.

Next up: "The Sound Of Music" with Willow Smith.

I was thinking, Lea might be a good replacement rose if they’d ever get that far

Lea would kill as Rose.