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re: Todays's Random Question: Gypsy (long answer)

Posted by:	Delvino 08:38 am EST 11/22/14
In reply to:	re: Todays's Random Question: Gypsy (long answer) - AlanScott 03:32 am EST 11/22/14

Agree strongly. And one of the things the show tells audiences transcends even parent-child dynamics: that perhaps regret is an inevitable part of life. That regret, when it overwhelms you, can an enormous, defining emotion. One of the reasons "Rose's Turn" is so terrifying. It says: you can get to age 50+ and ask "Why did I do it?" Perhaps audiences would rather have that asked in the middle of act two, as in MAME, when she sings "If He Walked Into My Life (would I make the same mistakes)," and then has it all resolved as the protagonist becomes a wonderful inspiring grandmother. Rose? She looks back at that spotlight on stage, and there's no grandchild to warm her heart. It's empty. She's not in it. (Even if Merman didn't play it the way it has evolved, per Laurents, there was never an easy feel-good fix, not after Rose attempts to exorcise her demons in front of us.) When I see "Gypsy" in middle age, I realize how regret-saturated the story really is. It breaks our hearts.

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