Will Lupone Be The Best Sung Momma Rose Since Merman?- Page 2

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 12:49am

The more interesting question is, what will Lupone bring to the role? I think she will bring a regal quality, a cool classiness to Mama Rose we haven't seen before, that will make Rose's own missed opportunity at stardom all the more poignant.

I guess there's no way this is going to be recorded, eh? Laurents is doing the theatre a great disservice.

[zelda]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 12:51am

i saw betty. she was brilliant and i am certain Patti will not let anyone down. why they didnt get her for the revival is beyond me. BP was good. but lets face it. everyone wanted to see patti or betty

[mentaltenant]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:39am

well, in my opinion, Lupone is an over-singer with a voice that grates on my nerves like no other so she'll be perfect for this role. She's fit for the big belting "look what i can do" roles.

[SahDu]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:43am

Correct me if I'm wrong...but I didnt think she was supposed to be performing this year at Ravinia? (for those of you who dont know, at Ravinia Festival over the summer in the Chicago suburbs they always have a tribute to Sondheim, which the past couple years has starred Michael Cerveris, Patti Lupone, and Audra McDonald...this year they are doing Gypsy.) Did I miss something?

Updated On: 2/15/14 at 02:43 AM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:49am

http://www.ravinia.org/

[SahDu]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:52am

Ha. Thanks. I should prolly try looking a little bit before making an ass of myself. Sorry. I'm assuming this implies no Cerveris/McDonald? Man, I love living literally 10 minutes from Ravinia. :).


Updated On: 2/15/14 at 02:52 AM

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:55am

I only just read about LuPone's tiff with Laurents last year, and to hear that she is playing the role at Ravinia makes me want to eat my own spleen. I live in the South, (Yes, we capitalize it for a reason) and there's no way I can make it to Chicago to see this. I guess that's the trade-off for having 75 degree sunny weather in January.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:57am

I can honestly say that I have never had any particular desire to hear LuPone do Mamma Rose, whereas I just adore Bernadette in it.

Not that I'm AGAINST LuPone doing it, or that I will think it'll be bad, I'm just saying I am not so centric on hearing LuPone belt the songs as to shut out any other possibility.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 7:39am

There is a misconception about Bernadette because of what happened to her pre and post opening. She got sick about three weeks into previews, and then re-aggravated the problem soon after the opening. She missed around 11 performances total during her illness. Once she recovered fully, she sang the role 8 times a week, in good voice, missing almost no performances for the entire run.

And I have to agree that Betty Buckley sang the score thrillingly. She's probably not an ideal match for Rose, but she did things with those songs that I've never heard before. I've seen Gypsy a lot, but it's the first time that "Everything's Coming Up Roses" really scared the **** out of me,

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 9:44am

Bernadette Peters - lets face it - her voice just couldn't handle the score 8x a week. Experienced a lot of vocal strain/problems with this role.

I find that rather unfair. As Smaxie said, she really didn't miss that many performances---other than her illness, she was out only once, to be with her (now late) husband after he had surgery. When she was there, she was spectacular.

Also, Bernadette brought a sexuality to Rose that I had never seen before. I saw Daly, Buckley and Jana Robbins (standby for the 1989 production) do the part, but never really believed any of them to be a real sexpot. All were rather dowdy and matronly, whereas Bernadette had a raw sexual prowess to her Rose. She was the first Rose I've ever seen where I actually BELIEVED that Herbie would give up everything for her.

I believe Patti will be divine as Rose. I have my tickets already!

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 12:00pm

Lupone is an over-singer with a voice that grates on my nerves like no other so she'll be perfect for this role.

--

I guess you haven't seen her in the new Sweeney revival?

[Isabella2]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 12:40pm

um, this should probably be in the "unpopular opinions that you hold" section, but, i really don' like merman at all. I don't like the way she sings or the way she sounds and i have no clue as to why she got so famous in the first place. Lupone is better that merman in my opinion. also i don't think anyone who sings like merman in today's society would be considered a god singer as well.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 12:55pm

I actually enjoyed Bette Midler in the Role.

My only problem with her is that sometimes her acting seemed too large for the small screen.

As for her voice - it has always had a bit of an edge to it, never been some crystal clear voice. Especially her live recordings, there was always a bit of rawness to it.

I have always liked her, and pull out the DVD a couple times a year to watch, especially "Rose's Turn." or better yet, Divine Madness.

But, I am no expert on the various attributes for the role. I just enjoy her in the part. I have not seen many of the others, so I cannot compare performances. But, I do love me some Bette.

[mentaltenant]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 2:31pm

Bernadette's "Rose's Turn" still sends chills down my spine. I think she was one of the few that I've heard that acted the hell out of that role instead of just throwing the songs out there.

And no, I haven't seen Lupone in "Sweeney" but from what I hear it might change my opinion of her but man that might be hard haha.

[moljul]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 7:01pm

Just chiming in to add to those that agree its unfair to say Bernadette couldn't vocally handle the role. Merman, Landsbury and Daly ALL had one kind of vocal problems or another while singing this role 8 times a week so if that's your criteria for not being able to handle the role than they all couldn't handle it. I've heard of Norbert Leo Butz taking some time off from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels several times now since the beginning of the show run for vocal rest. Has anyone claimed he can't vocally handle the role? No. Freddy is also just a very vocally demanding role (and I don't think as demanding as Rose)and anyone's voice is going to suffer temporary problems from it over a long run.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 7:09pm

Buckley, she of the iron clad lungs, ALSO missed about a week's worth of performances, after playing the role for about a week or two. Let it just be said that the role is brutal on any actress that has to play it for an extended period of time. When Rose isn't belting one of - what? - eight songs to the rafters, she's screaming her head off.

[sanda]

Posted: 1/7/06 at 8:50pm

I only saw Lupone in "Regina" live. Singing with a group of opera singer, her voice couldn't shine at all. I still didn't understand the fuzz about her. But I didn't see Sweeney yet. I will make judgement after that.

To me, Peters is brilliant.

[mentaltenant]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 12:34am

I've only been impressed with Lupone on the "Anything Goes" recording and that's only because it's what that role demands. The clips I've seen of Sweeny don't make me want to change my opinon of her at all plus watching her on interviews makes me want to push her down but I can't judge until I've seen her in the whole production I guess.

Bernadette is brilliant and is an amazing song-interpreter for the most part, hopefully one day she'll stop doing revivals and maybe another "Song and Dance" will come along where she can actually shine to her fullest.