Gypsy starring Patti Lupone

This production of Gypsy, the second revival on Broadway in only five years, is all about Patti Lupone: her name and figure appears big over the title on every major advertisement for the show. Her powerhouse performance as Mama Rose is what's drawing them in, and it is LuPone's performance that the show is staged around. But for me, Laura Benanti as Gypsy Rose Lee - the titular but secondary character in the show - nearly walks away with the show thanks to her subtler, intensely appealing performance. She's just fabulous in this role, thrillingly transforming from a meek, quiet girl into a confident, classy glamour girl literally in front of the audience's eyes.

The pleasures of this Gypsy mainly come from the performances - LuPone's, Benanti's and Boyd Gaines', and all three of them were duly rewarded with Tony Awards last June. LuPone certainly delivers a punch with her performance, and the audience went bananas after her big number at the end of the show (there was a standing ovation, though the way fans in the front row immediately popped up, it probably wasn't so spontaneous). I felt she gave a sympathetic, human edge to a role that can so easily be screamed through, even though she certainly did plenty of her own yelling and intense glaring. Arthur Laurents' direction vividly focuses on important scenes and moments that establish relationships between the characters.

All that being said, and as much fun as I did have watching the show, I still don't have all that much of a fondness for Gypsy as a musical on its own terms (I also felt this way after seeing the 2003 production with Bernadette Peters). The show's pacing is inconsistent, hurtling through time and focusing more on cute songs and production numbers. I also don't particularly care much about the characters on stage, nor about the things that they so dearly want and work so hard to get. The songs are great, sure. But Gypsy is a show about performers performing, and I guess a good production is always going to be more about watching the stars march through it than about the story itself. This Gypsy had plenty enough star power to keep me entertained for three hours.

Production photo by Joan Marcus.