Description

I LOVE the musical GYPSY. I knew that the creators of the original Broadway musical, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents were extremely disappointed with the earlier 1962 film version with Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood. Fair enough. So this TV adaptation is scene for scene, word for word exactly like the stage play script. That is excellent. The score is also one of the most outstanding in all of Broadway history. So, we get the original script and score; but unfortunately, that's all we get.
I watched this TV movie with great anticipation. My enthusiam deflated as soon as themore… less than divine Miss M started singing "Some People." I realized, with horror, that she was not portraying Mama Rose. Instead, she was portraying her idea of Ethel Merman portraying Mama Rose!! To make matters worse, her voice sounds extremely hoarse and coarse. Midler never makes the role her own. Surely, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, and even Rosalind
Russell did their own individual interpretations of Mama Rose. If Midler had only thought for a moment about Mama Rose, as the other actresses did, instead of Ethel Merman, she might have had a major triumph. I give Midler credit for giving her all to "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn", but the overalll production goes straight downhill because Midler simply doesn't "got the stuff." Curiously, Midler did this TV version just after Tyne Daly won a Tony Award for her performance in a Broadway revival. So, any TV version around that time period should have gone by rights to Daly. I wonder if somebody in Midler's camp pulled strings to make this a Midler Vanity production? I know Russell stole the original film from Merman because her husband was a powerful agent. Even I did not mind Russell over Merman. But Midler seriously misses the mark!
I know a thing or two about Mama Rose. I saw Judy Kaye play the role in a brief run in Seattle in 2001. Kaye just blew the roof off the theatre. Patti Lupone is doing a limited three week run in NYC as I write this. Now, that's a Mama I'd love to see. If you want a real powerhouse Mama Rose, skip Midler and go with the CD recordings made by Angela Lansbury (1973 London Cast) or Tyne Daly (1989 Broadway revival) instead.

Cast list

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Info:

Category:

Movies > Films

Case Type:

DVD

Release Type:

Retail

Language:

English

Region:

R1

Comments:

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Cover Info:

Title:

Gypsy (1993) R1 Retail DVD

Part:

Front

Dimensions:

1484 x 1000 px

Size:

431 KB

Downloads:

5 (0 today)

Uploaded:

Report a Problem Wrong Cover Duplicate Image Bad Quality Wrong Info

09/06/08 by bigtraceyd

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