Bernadette getting out of contract?

[qpidsangel]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 9:43am

I have heard that Bernadette is trying to get out of her 1 year contract with Gypsy? Has anyone else heard this or know where I can find more information on it?

Peace love and hairgrease,

QP

[thebigkrakowski]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 10:16am

For what reason?

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 1:08pm

Maybe to do a film? (SWEENEY? TeeHee) or a sitcom?

[Amneris]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 1:42pm

I read somewhere that she was trying to get out as soon as she could because of vocal reasons. That role is probably VERY taxing on her chords or anyones chords for that matter...

Posted: 9/2/03 at 1:46pm

Not Merman's cords...

she played all 800+ performances...

Posted: 9/2/03 at 1:49pm

But Merman was a shouter more then a vocal talent....

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 1:50pm

please, just refer anyone interested to the thread with the vocal demands of Mama Rose posts already. Let's not rehash!

Posted: 9/2/03 at 1:52pm

sorry must not have seen the posts from before.

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 1:53pm

I don't know where you heard that she was trying to get out of her contract, but if she is I wish her all the best. I love her in the role, but if there is any truth behind what you said (that she's afraid it's damaging her vocal chords), then I don't want what happened to Julie Andrews to happen to Bernadette.

Posted: 9/2/03 at 1:55pm

ummm…..."shouting" is twice as hard on the voice than "singing"..

One should not have vocal problems with this role if one is suited to it..

and...

The fact that even her "half-singing" the part (in the opera world it’s called “finessing”) and constantly saving herself as if she was Lucia di Lammermoor waiting for her 25 minute mad scene has not helped her…. indicates there’s a very serious problem there…

....it all comes down to as Rose herself says:

You either got it

or ya ain't!!

[tpdc]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 2:31pm

Are you sure Merman didn't miss any GYPSY performances? I thought this was the only show that she did miss a few performances.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 2:35pm

tpdc is correct, Voiceanth is not. Ethel Merman, like every other Momma Rose after her, missed performances when she was in Gypsy. She burst a blood vessel in her throat or something along those lines.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 2:37pm

if it's true about Merman, how the might have fallen...*wink*

[TEACHEROFTHEATER]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 2:41pm

Qpidangel, Amneris,

many of us would be very curious to learn more about this. Could you kindly tell us where you heard about this or exactly where you read about this so we all could know more?:)))

thanks much:)))

Posted: 9/2/03 at 2:51pm

You know .. I am wrong..I think Merman missed 10 performances out of an 800+ run...

Of course she did'nt abandon the run due to being miscast..

just took time off...

[robbiej]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 2:53pm

Popcultureboy, you beat me to it!

Over the last week whilst sunning and dining on the East End, I've had occasion to listen to several of the Mama Rose's. Merman's Rose's Turn is actually quite painful to listen to because you hear the absolute strain. I was very surprised to discover that the keys for Angela Lansbury (who many consider to be the definitive Rose) were drastically lowered, so much so that I'm sure those are the arrangements I will use when I play the role. I mean...there were changes in key in the MIDDLE of Rose's Turn. I find Bernadette's Rose's Turn to be the most emotionally devastating (while Betty Buckley's remains the most chilling). Although I wasn't a huge fan of the TV movie of GYPSY, I thoroughly enjoyed Bette Midler's choice to have a hot flash and the onset of menopause overtake her in Rose's Turn (watch her take that necklace off...that bitch is going through the CHANGE!). And Tyne Daly was a true force of nature who made up for a weaker singing voice with a depth of character that was truly astonishing.

Every actress that has taken on this role eight shows a week (at least on Broadway and at Paper Mill) have experienced major problems during the run. It's the nature of the role. It is Everest. And that is the one thing we forget here. We get so wrapped up in who's the better Rose that we lose sight of the fact that we have a history of women who each brought something incredible to arguably the best musical theatre role ever written.

As for Ms. Peters trying to get out of her contract, I haven't heard anything more than rumor. I shall endeavor to find out more from my 'sources'.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 2:54pm

This is from an article called "Naked Ambition" from the English newspaper Guardian Unlimited:

The show - particularly Merman's performance - earned rave reviews when it opened in 1958. Despite singing so hard she burst a blood vessel in her throat, Merman lost out to Mary Martin, in The Sound of Music, at the Tony Awards. She shrugged it off: "How are you going to buck a nun?" The bigger disappointment came when Jack Warner failed to cast her in his movie of Gypsy, instead giving the part of Rose to Rosalind Russell. "The broad can't even sing," ranted Merman. She wasn't wrong.

That's all Google could find on the subject.

Updated On: 9/2/03 at 02:54 PM

[rlbgbc]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 3:14pm

Here, here, RobbieJ...you said it all.

But why should I expect anything less after our delightful experience together?

[tpdc]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 3:31pm

Voiceanth, why do you think Bernadette is miscast? I have seen a number of Roses, and both on the album and live, Bernadette sings it as well as they did. True, neither Bernadette nor these other actresses are Merman and this score was written for her voice. Laurents and Sondheim have admitted she sang the role terrifically but they hated her performance. The authors have continually championed strong actresses with moderate voices in the role like Lansbury, Daly and now Bernadette. This revival could have starred Buckley or Lupone who would probably sing the score pretty well 8 times a week. The authors wouldn't have them. I was knocked out by Bernadette in the role. Was she the best sung Rose I've heard? No. She was however, the most startling and disturbing Rose I've seen. And she didn't do it "Merman style" like most of the other women I've seen.

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 3:36pm

I agree with the article, actually. Rosalind could not sing at all, and even her voice double was bad. Maybe Ethel should have been cast. After all, she did originate the role, and for one would have loved to see her in that role on video, as a lot of us didn't get the chance to see Merman in the original. I also agree that she screams and strains a lot. I, personally, think she is highly over-rated, but her performance is constantly talked about, and I'd like to see how she played the role.

Posted: 9/2/03 at 3:46pm

The two nights I heard her she was indeed very uncomfortable vocally with the role…She “husbanded” her resources…she was fidgety…obviously nervous at times…

She was hesitant vocally…thus making her performances hesitant overall… I’m sorry but when a score or a song is supposed to be sung with gusto or bravura and it comes out as modest at best, the thrill is gone…

Also, Rose is a monster.....sorry…...there can be no if, ands or buts about that....

..When you force your children, who are minors, into show business where they are clearly unhappy and force your daughter into a form of PORNOGRAPHY when she is clearly unhappy…and still under age..You are a monster, No?

They send people to jail for that nowadays!

Bernadette does not see the role that way.....she wants people to still LIKE her at the end…...(I did it for the kids, not me!!!)..

..sorta like saying Lady Macbeth is a nice lady after all…

Rose did it for ROSE! Period! The kids were mere pawns in the game!

As I left, one wag was heard to say; “Well…nice try”…

That was my feeling; nice try ..some nice touches….but not what I want in a role.... mind you I like her lot …as I have also said…but I just didn’t like her in this….

PS: And let’s make a bet….when and if she does leave, a belter will be put in that role ASAP….you just watch!
Updated On: 9/2/03 at 03:46 PM

[TheBalladeer]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 3:51pm

Robbiej, I absolutely agree with everything you said in your post, as usual. ESPECIALLY about Angie's transpositions....It is REALLY low...I had no problems singing along with her when listening to that CD. It was pretty funny. Ok, I'll be quiet now.

Cheers,
The Balladeer

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 3:58pm

Haven't we covered this territory in other threads? They just had different titles.

Does anyone have any credible source for this rumor?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 3:59pm

All of this thread is mere supposition. Will someone please cite the SOURCE of this idea that Bernadette is trying to get out of her contract? As I say in the classroom: "Specifics, specifics, specifics!!!!"

[tpdc]

Posted: 9/2/03 at 4:07pm

Thanks for the comments Voiceanth. The beauty of the theater is that at the performance I saw Bernadette played Rose as a foolish monster. She did nothing other than flirt with Herbie to make Rose likeable. I found Bernadette's Rose to be the first Rose that I've seen that I had almost no sympathy for. Caught up in only her own needs, dreams, pain and desire she completely missed out on everything to chase show business success using her kids. Everyone leaves her and she has no clue why they did. I thought the dressing room scene before the strip was amazing as she had a moment of realization and resignation before her manic depressive euphoria at perhaps one final shot at success while stomping on her lover and daughter. Her Rose's Turn was an impressive angry moment. And then her scene with Blanchard when she was still deluded and not even hearing anything Blanchard said to her followed by her look at the end took me to place no other Rose ever has. It's a shame that Bernadette's vocal issues might not allow her to give that performance 8 times a week. Before I saw this production, I was afraid she was miscast. But I was happy to be proved wrong at the show I saw.