| re: Mary Testa, got me thinking that.... | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 12:01 am EDT 07/10/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Mary Testa, got me thinking that.... - CCentero 10:39 pm EDT 07/08/17 | |
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| It seems weird to say, considering how revolutionary "Gypsy" was at its time, but to me, the play has always felt a bit old fashioned, and I've generally liked the second act much more than the first. I've never actively disliked the show, but I was never as caught up in it as my fellow musical theater lovers. After seeing numerous productions in my youth, it wasn't something that I would make a priority of seeing again, and I went into the Staunton/Kent because everyone we knew was raving about it, rather than a strong desire to see the show. In the past, I've felt like the first act was a bit labored and padded. I haven't been caught up in the Rose and Herbie storyline enough to be invested in "You'll Never Get Away from Me", and I've always rolled my eyes at the almost sacharine sweetness of "If Momma Was Married". Those are both lovely songs, but they felt a bit too standard for me, and the scenes that surround them felt like they were just there to advance a very rote plot as it built to the interesting, but late arriving, complications that kick in once the show reaches the dramatic crisis of whether or not Louise will do burlesque. Until I saw the Kent/Staunton production, I didn't really understood why we see the scenes that we see in the first act, nor did I feel transported in the journey with the characters. I didn't see the dramatic story, aside from Raging Stage Mom Alienates Children, which was fascinating in a grand guignol kind of way, but didn't carry a human weight until near the end. For me, seeing the Kent/Staunton production was a revelation. For the first time, I was with Rose on her journey, and I was wrapped up in the tension between the desire for a family life and the desire for fame. That whole production, anchored by Staunton, told that story (which, of course, was always there in the text) in a way that I really got it. I can understand what you say about Staunton being the ugly American, but for me, she was the first Rose I've seen who was genuinely honest and unfiltered about her need to get her children on that stage. There was a discussion at some point in the past, on this board, about whether Rose was a monster (or something along those lines), and I came down firmly on the monster, child abuser side. It wasn't until I saw Staunton that I realized part of what hadn't worked for me in the past was that every Rose I'd seen had wanted, on some level, to be liked, and the need to be liked was blunting the hard edges of this woman who would sacrifice anything and hurt anyone in order to get her goal. Staunton didn't need to be liked, and I think her Rose was more honest - and thus more compelling - as a result. On the night that I saw it, the ending gave the distinct impression that Rose and Louise were never going to be able to reconcile, because of the amount of damage done between them. I saw the ending as Rose almost seeing the horror she had caused her family, and then re-assering her dominance over Louise, with Louise shrinking a bit in the presence of her mother. It doesn't play that way on the video, and I don't know if they played it differently or I remembered it the way I wanted to, but that ending seemed honest in a way that previous endings, which pointed to a hopeful resolution, somehow had not. And now, because of that production, I'm deeply in awe of the writing and craft of "Gypsy", and I have become a huge fan. That production occupies a very dear place in my heart and my theatergoing life, and I have used it in my teaching as an example of how we must approach each play as if we are reading it for the first time, in order to discover the story that needs to be told. I don't know quite why that production worked for me where others didn't, but I would love to get the chance to see it again, if it actually does make its way to these shores. |
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