WANTED: Reports From the 2007 GYPSY OF THE YEAR BC/EFA Production

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 5:48pm

The show should be ending soon with BWWers rushing to the closest internet cafe and giving us their reports! BRING 'EM!

Can't wait to see BWW's own photo coverage and video coverage from Broadway Beat!

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 6:36pm

In the words of Peter Griffin, "C'mon!"

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:08pm

The skits were very strong this year, beginning with a fabulous opening of a West Side Story medley featuring many original cast members as well as current Broadway dancers. Chita showed that she's still got it as she kicked up her heels & skirts with the rest of them. The audience gave them two standing ovations before the competition skits began. Many of the skits dealt in some way with the strike. There was a noticeable lack of the URINETOWN sketch this year, which I was sad to see. They are always one of the highlights of the show.

The hosts for the afternoon were Mary Testa, Jackie Hoffman & Bob Saget. Testa & Hoffman were hilarious with their improv & deadpan humor. Saget though, oh holy God he was awful!! I don't know who approved him but his kind of humor was so inappropriate and painfully unfunny that I heard many cries of "enough!" from the audience during his moments. Thankfully after a while it seemed like they were keeping him offstage and just using Testa & Hoffman (& Chris Sieber as the Voice of God introducer.)

Some of the highlights for me were:

CURTAINS: "Broadway Family Feud" with the producers vs stagehands. This was my favorite of the day, and they even made great use of the MARY POPPINS house set to begin the skit.

FRANKENSTEIN: THE MUSICAL: A funny tongue-in-cheek poke at their own show and its recent closing, with an uplifting coda of how even though their total attendance during the run was only 4,997, they managed to raise $10,000!

PHANTOM, a takeoff of the Lucille Ball 'vitameatavegimin' sketch with them doing a commercial selling the Phantom Ballerina Calender.

AVENUE Q: A very funny song about "slow-moving tourists in Times Square."

SPELLING BEE: A parody of "The Bitch of Living" called "The Bitch of Aging," wherein they lamented how they will no longer be asked to play kids in SPELLING BEE because SPRING AWAKENING actually uses real teens.

THE RITZ: Seth Rudetsky at his best! Telling tales of gypsy lore and bloopers from shows past in the way that only Seth can.

The event closed with Reri Grist from the original company of WEST SIDE STORY singing "Somewhere" which again brought the audience to it's feet.

All in all, a wonderful and very funny afternoon and I look forward to finding out who wins tomorrow!

[MotorTink]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:23pm

Sounds like an amazing time as usual! Thanks for the recap!

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:38pm

Thanks for the report, Cape Twirl of Doom!!!

I can't wait until the DVD is available for purchase!

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 8:46pm

I really can't put into words what a treasure it was to see the original cast from West Side Story perform.

It pretty much went as the video did, but with costumes. Still, to see it live...damn. Hope I didn't hurt anyone's ears in the rear mezz. Damn, Mickey, Carol and Chita, and the cast as a whole can still sing amazingly.

Of course, the score being made for a 33-piece band didn't cut it with however many they had there. It sounded very thin, and they were very much using the movie score. Bleh.

And was I the only one to silently bawl uncontrollably thinking of Larry Kert while we were silent for the people who have died from AIDS? I feel like between the event and the cause, Larry should have gotten some sort of special mention, or maybe an empty spotlight next to Carol at one point or something. It was in the program, but I dunno, I thought it could have been vocalized. Oh well.

And wish I didn't hafta miss half of "Tonight" for the screaming standing ovation (okay, I was leading the way, but I just let out one scream and wanted to hear the song) At least they quited down when they went into the quintet.

And what a surprise treat to have Reri Grist close the show with Somewhere! How old is she, and to still reach those notes? Damn. And then to have the whole cast join in for the second verse, reminiscinet of everyone singing "There's A Place For Us" together.

The rest of the show...(wait, there was a rest of the show? Who knew?)

To those skits, I have to say LEGALLY BLONDE'S "Hill Sisters" impersonation was right on. I was actually thinking I hoped they would do that...and Rent having those teens act out all those shows was pretty cute, loved the white girl singing "I'm Here" from The Color Purple, and the Blonde wigs for "Omigod you guys."

Yeah. So getting back to WEST SIDE STORY...

I was so excited for this event that I friggin forgot my sharpie, and didn't have one pen. It prob didn't make a difference because when some of them first came out, especially Mickey Calan, I just kinda froze. I did rub up against him, and decided that was more exciting than rubbing against Antonio Banderas at the Chicago anniversary...anyway, finally I recovered, the nice stage door man gave me a sharpie, and the Gypsy playbill waas nice enough to include a little WSS section, with a photo of the original playbill that I had them sign...Carol Lawrence signed right on her skirt, as she said she always does, and even I have some more things to learn about WSS...Carol D'Andrea was Velma in both the OBC and movie, and Tony Mordente who I saw right away and thought Action (he was so nice btw), I checked my playbill to see that he was originally A-Rab, but then went to Action in the movie. Interesting. But yeah, everyone was really nice, and seemed to appreciate my "enthusiasm," and the fact that I was cutting my music of Leonard Bernstein class to be here. They all agreed that was okay

In addition to the photo of the playbill, the Gypsy playbill has the original cast listed as it appeared in the opening night playbill, and production photos around the names of dead cast members, which was quite touching. here's what it says (I'm adding in who they played):

In honor and memory of:

Larry Kert (Tony)

Tommy Abbott (Gee-Tar, Jet)
Lee Becker (Anybodys)
William Bramley (Krupke -- also in movie)
Wilma Curley (Graziella -- main Jet girl)
Al De Sio (Luis, Shark)
John Harkins (Gladhand)
Arch Johnson (Schrank)
Eddie Roll (Action)
Lynn Ross (Estella, Shark girl)
Art Smith (Doc)

"Now it begins, now we start
One hand, one heart;
Even death won't part us now"

Thank you soo much to everyone who made this event possible! It is truly something I will *never* forget!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 10:03pm

Lee Becker (the original Anybodys) was the founder of the American Dance Machine, under her later married name, Lee Theodore. She re-created the dances for the 1980 revival, along with Tommy Abbott (the original Gee-Tar), a wonderful man who had become Jerome Robbins's ballet master at the New York City Ballet.

They were able to recreate the ballets and all of the Jet movements, but Peter Gennaro was there to recreate all the Shark movements. It was then that I found out that Gennaro had created all the Latin choreography in the original--not Jerry Robbins! This fact is repeated by Chita in her new show, but back then it had to be WHISPERED, because Mr. Robbins had made Peter Gennaro sign a contract signing away all rights to the Shark choreogreaphy.

One day, when I was supposed to be taking notes at a book-scene rehearsal, Gerald Freedman, whom I was assisting, told me to look in at the dance rehearsal, because Peter had brought Chita in to help him remember all the flourishes he couldn't remember in the America choreography.

Well, there was no reason for me to be in that dance studio rather than at the book-scene rehearsal--I think Gerry Freedman just wanted to give me a thrill.

And I got one! For 90 minutes, I sat on the floor and watched Chita Rivera and Peter Gennaro show Debbie Allen how to make the most out of America. You can see, in the clip from the 1980 Tony Awards, that she did!

I was, as Sondheim wrote, years later, "someone in a tree"! I saw EVRYTHING!

Updated On: 12/17/07 at 10:03 PM

[being.jeremiah]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 10:05pm

Anyhow, here's my two cents.

I thought the West Side Story opening and closing numbers were great ways to start and end The 19th Annual Gypsy of the Year. The rooftops of London became the streets of Hell's Kitchen, 1957 for the medley in the beginning. For "Somewhere," it was Ms. Grist, a piano and a cello with the star curtain as a backdrop. What a picturesque performance! Then the original cast came out again to sing with her, ending with an abrupt announcement of "see you tomorrow."

I kind of disagree with wickedrentq, "I feel like between the event and the cause, Larry should have gotten some sort of special mention, or maybe an empty spotlight next to Carol at one point or something." They couldn't really change the tradition of current shows (not-so-much with The Ritz, which I really enjoyed anyhow) doing skits and numbers to pave way and turn this to a grand tribute to the golden anniversary of West Side Story. Though, I wish some producers would stage a benefit (one night only kind of event?) for West Side Story and its fifty years. That would be more exciting! Nonetheless, this was a fitting occasion to recognize the show and the people behind it.

And to the show...

I really liked Curtains with their "Broadway Family Feud," taunting both producers and stagehands, and of course, the strike ("Strike? That's a long strike!").

Frankenstein was hilarious in the skit, "The Sorrow Born of Dreams." I can't really spill their lines, because some people will see Gypsy of the Year tomorrow and ruin all those one-liners.

The one for Dancers Responding to AIDS was great- The Chase Brock Experience members were phenomenal in their dance number, "Summer Study." It was prettier with their "Jolly Holiday" backdrop. How funny was Jackie Hoffman's "Fire Island Dance Festival" pronunciation?

MY FAVORITE: Xanadu and Stomp combined efforts to bring "Stompadu," which featured Sandi Thom's "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers on My Hair)." This is what collaboration is about- a mix of talents that an ensemble can bring. True spirit of being a gypsy, or so I think! Loved it!


* to be continued...

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 10:55pm

Whoa being.jeremiah, I wasn't saying they should change the whole thing into a WSS tribute (not that I of all people would very much object), just that during whatever time the WSS things were going on, or maybe a brief mention during the speech, not a whole 5-minute tribute or anything. I guess it doesn't matter that much, it's just it occurred to me that the two mesh so wonderfully it moved me terribly, and I thought it was a moving idea. But hey, to each his own, I still think it was a fantastic event.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:08pm

STOMPADO was also my favorite so far but since i was backstage most of the time I missed a few, I will try to see more tommorrow.
Another favorite was Natalie Joy Johnson's Bundy/Britany take.
As far as the WEST SIDE STORY tribute, you had to be there to believe it.
Carol Lawrence and Chita singing A BOY LIKE THAT?
Are you kidding me?
I can die a Happy Man now. and all those original cast members combining with Chita's dancers and the young dancers doing the Choreography Montage....
Damn I am Lucky to work in the theatre!

[being.jeremiah]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:46pm

Sorry if it came out aggressive!

I just wanted to point out that what they did was good, I personally wouldn't change anything about it. It just went oh so smoothly.

Boy I was really happy with their presentation!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 10:57am

Also from that rehearsal: Reri Grist sings "Somewhere."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MGPCwr2WXig

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:00am

Can't find the original thread but here's the link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=B6gok589fVg

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:48am

Those are great for the time being but BC/EFA needs to get this on DVD real quick or I may not make it...

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 12/26/07 at 12:00am

Now broadway.com has a video, brief scenes from the performing including Carol Lawrence's classic "too-night" in I Feel Pretty at the actual performance, but mostly interviews with the original cast members! Something I was waiting for!

http://www.broadway.com/Gen/Buzz_Video.aspx?ci=558332