Well I emailed Patti last week. In the email I asked Patti, why does rose parody gypsy's strip during rose's turn? She replied to my email tonight. Her response was....Beats me, that's why I don't parody it in rose's turn.
I think many actresses don't understand the role of the rose. I read in a book called Merman, A life. That Ethel Merman really didn't have any idea of what she was singing during rose's turn. I think the only actress who really got the point of rose's turn was Bernadette Peters Updated On: 5/10/08 at 12:54 PM
Obviously, you didn't get the show. She's not making fun of Louise. She's having an f'ing nervous breakdown. And Patti is doing that nervous breakdown better than anyone.
There are a number of us who are musicians and can't fathom your success. You are a hallmark of bad vocal technique. So tell us, why does your jaw wobble so when you sing? Can you explain your stardom despite your lack of talent?
I don't think rose was having a nervous breakdown. I think rose was just trying not to admit to herself that she did it all for herself. If I'm wrong about this, than please correct me :)
Some of the best opera singers have a jaw wobble. It is NOT always a sign of bad technique. And I don't believe Patti has done that as much until recently.
I never really thought of it as mocking Gypsy's strip itself, I always thought of it was her in expressing her grief over the fact that she pushed Louise to strip and she became successful and now wants nothing to do with the woman that made her.
In summary, I don't really know what the hell Rose is singing about, it's just extremely fascinating.
I don't know if it matters if Merman knew what she was doing,but the result was amazing. Lansbury was great too. As far as Peters being the only one to understand it, her vocal problems that night and lack of confidence made it into a travesty despite her fine talent. As for the person who keeps dissing Lupone, why don't you say what it is that makes you dislike her.
With regard to "Rose's Turn", and having seen them all, I thought Patti LuPone's was brilliant, but no better than Ethel Merman's rousing rendition which is reflected in the OBC recording of GYPSY, which I consider the definitive version (although I miss the farmboys' singing "Broadway, Broadway"). As for Angela Lansbury's version of "Rose's Turn", I had the chance to see her in the London production in 1973 as well as the Broadway version one year later. Lansbury seemed to have changed her approach for NYC. She sang it much more angrily and bitterly at the Winter Garden than she had in London, really slamming it home, as if the NY audience wouldn't get it as a nervous breakdown unless she performed it that way. I also found her bowing to the audience in NY almost wooden. I think LuPone's reaction to the audience's applause was terrific, milking it and enjoying it, being finally accepted and even revered for once in her life, even if it is in her imagination. As I said in my long review several days ago, I don't even remember the way Bernadette Peters handled "Rose's Turn", feeling that she simply was miscast, although I acknowledge that she has many admirerers on this Board. Tyne Daly, who had tremendous stage presence as Rose, performed the final number sort of half way between Lansbury's and LuPone's approach. Although she didn't have the same vocal greatness as the other Roses, she made for an excellent lead. Incidentally, I also saw Linda Lavin as Rose, while Daly was on an extended vacation. Talk about miscasting! I saw her in it on New Year's Eve and was pleasantly distracted by the pre-midnight revelers through the exit doors of the St. James.