I may not have seen all of them, but I've heard all of them. Bernadette is the best on stage, but as far as the best Rose ever, I gotta go with Bette Midler. She is the reason I fell in love with the show "Gypsy" to begin with.
"Arthur Laurents (the librettist) and Steven Sondheim (the lyricist) both hated Bette Midler's take on the role. Arthur Laurents has said on many occasions that his favorites were Angela and Tyne." I wonder he would now change that to Bernadette Peters considering the fact that Arthur Laurents hand picked her because she is, in his words, more like the real Rose?
"It's the little things; the details, that distinguish the Barbra Streisands from the Rosalyn Kinds."~Gilmore Girls~
Sure it does make sense that he would pick the two that he directed, but Arthur Laurent's productions of Gypsy far from "suffered." He was quoted as saying that he liked Tyne and Angela the best before Bernadette's revival. Certainly some of the things he does in his personal life I don't agree with but we all have to admit that he is one of the greatest musical theater librettists ever. He knows his stuff when it comes to theater. And he knows the role he wrote. Voiceanth- Braying is the perfect word. She kind of reminded me of a horse. The CBS Gypsy was so glitzed over and any meaning in the script was lost. I never felt sorry for Bette, where as Angela had me in tears at the end, Tyne scared me to death, and Berndette also had me in tears and left me completly haunted by her performance. I think once again many of you are to young to have seen any Rose but Bette Midler, and if she got you interested in the musical, well I guess that's a good thing.
Oh okay...well he certainly is a pain in the ass, but Sam Mendes once said that's what is so wonderful about him. He says exactly what he thinks. It doesn't matter if you've won twenty Tony's if he thinks your ruining his work he tells you.