Yes ladies, it's time for Gypsy! The story of the Worst Mother in the World, and the daughter she whored out in a sad attempt to give her life meaning! It's like the Patsy and JonBenet story set to music! With tassles!
Our story starts here as little Louise Hovick and her little sister Baby June are hoofing it up to win a spot on Uncle Jocko's Kiddie Kapers vaudeville show. Surprisingly, Uncle Jocko (Karl Malden) is into grown women.
Believe it or not, Baby June (on the left) is played by Morgan Brittany. Louise is dressed like a lesbian.
Fearing that they're not getting the proper attention, their mother Rose, played by the divine Rosalind Russell, storms up on stage, makes a spectacle of herself and promptly gets her whole family thrown out of the theater.
Louise slowly rocks back and forth and sucks her thumb in embarrassment. Baby June is a little bitch.
Next we get a painfully expositional scene wherein we learn that Rose has been married 3 times and now she spends her time criss-crossing the country, trying to get Baby June booked. Louise is basically there for backup until Rose can figure out what to do with her. In the meantime, they're all headed towards Seattle, so they can live with Rose's father for a while to regroup.
No explanation is given as to how a clearly 55-year-old woman has two daughters under the age of ten.
She runs into Karl Malden outside some podunk theater where she's trying to get a booking. He reveals that she was such an overbearing bitch of a stage mother that he wound up quitting his job as Uncle Jocko and now sells candy bars. For some reason, this causes sparks to fly between them.
Later, at a Chinese restaurant, they talk about their dreams and Rosalind lip-synchs a song that Johnny Mathis sang better. Karl dreams of marrying her and Roz dreams of stardom for her children. They reach a compromise: Karl will drive her the rest of the way to Seattle.
Yeah, that didn't make sense to us either.
He drops the brood off in Seattle and is too polite to comment that Roz's father must have been about 11 when he fathered her.
Later, she receives a telegram from Karl informing her that he got the kids booked in a show in Chicago. She steals some shit from her father and skips town with her kids.
Did we mention that she's 55?
Baby June is still an obnoxious bitch.
Next, we get a montage sequence as the act takes on several male backup dancers, Morgan Brittany morphs into Ann Jillian (we kid you not), and the little lesbian morphs into a breast-bound Natalie Wood.
We get a glimpse at the shitty, flophouse lifestyle Roz is forcing these poor kids to live in during Natalie's birthday party.
Depressed about the whole thing, Natalie climbs out on to the fire escape and looks for Tony. Haha. No. Instead she sings to a bunch of stuffed animals (and one real lamb - don't ask) about ...geez, what WAS that song about anyway?
Karl gets them an audition with a big time New York theater muckety-muck and Roz makes Natalie dress up like a cow. Christ, this is making Mommie Dearest look like a Hallmark Family Channel movie.
The muckety-muck says he'll take June, but Natalie and Roz have got to go. Roz makes a big scene and turns him down. June hates her.
Later, June fails to show up at the rail station for the trip to their next gig, but leaves a note informing her mother that she ran off and married one of the dancers. She's 13. Roz is shocked that her mothering techniques could produce such a piece of white trash.
But nothing stops Mama Rose!
Karl and Natalie fear for their lives at this point.
She kidnaps a bunch of little girls and drags them out to the desert to practice a new routine with talentless Louise as the star.
She's clearly lost it.
Karl and Natalie try and talk her down. They reach a compromise: they'll put the backup girls in blonde wigs.
No one in this group seems to understand what a compromise is.
Karl gets the act booked in a theater in Wichita and Natalie takes on a big sister role to the starry-eyed girls.
Unfortunately, the act is in for a big shock...
Uncle Jocko is a lousy manager.
Rose flips out and wants to pack up and leave but Natalie's all "Look, bitch, we're broke. It's only two weeks and we all get to keep our clothes on." Rose finally admits defeat and decides to break up the act and send the girls home with the money they'll make on this gig. She finally agrees to marry the long-suffering Karl when it's all over.
Natalie agrees to take a gig as the straight women for one of the comics for an extra ten bucks. Rose's ethics evaporate in front of our eyes.
The strippers give Natalie a little education on how to make it in this biz. Turn your speakers down because this one's an ear-splitter.
We're not entirely sure that some of those girls are girls, if you know what we mean.
On the last day of their booking, Rose overhears that the star stripper got arrested. Hearing the word "star" and not hearing the word "arrested," she throws the last of her morals out the window and begs them to give her underage daughter the job.
Karl and Natalie react appropriately. Karl walks out, but Natalie agrees to give it her all because she's never worn a dress before and figures being paid to take one off is better than nothing.
Sing out, Louise!
Even we have to say, Natalie had one hell of a figure. Although somewhere, Marni Nixon is sadly shaking her head.
After that little strip montage, we find out that Natalie is now a star and hates her mother. Yeah, you're about 5 years late on that one, girl. They have a big fight and Natalie throws her out of her dressing room.
Now. One can certainly argue that Roz stole the role from its rightful owner, Ethel Merman, but even though Roz had to be mostly dubbed, she brought something to the role that Ethel simply couldn't: depth.
Case in point:
Say what you will, Roz is a FORCE OF NATURE here.
This being a musical, all one needs is one show-stopper of a number and all conflicts and decades of child abuse are wiped away in a tearful hug and a meeting of vagina hats.
The end.
31 comments:
Let’s see, a musical where no one can sing, no one can dance and all the chorus boys where baggie pants so you can’t see their asses. Fabulous. Although, I have to say, I really respect any writer who can rhyme “Miss Mazzeppa” with “schleppah”.
Hooray for Sondheim! He makes everything better!
This show is absurd, ridiculous, and a tad annoying, yet so much fun!
Someone should do a post on all the divas who have done "Rose's Turn"...
(Excellent job, boys!)
"It's like the Patsy and JonBenet story set to music! "
Brilliant line. One of many, as usual.
Now I love you boys, but is this all you have to say about Gypsy?
Only a brief mention of the score, one reference to VaginaHats (what about Rose's dusty old worn-out VaginaHats she wears until the end?), and where's your normally sparkling wit? All you have to say about 'Gimmick' is that it's loud? No interpretations of the plot - just a re-hashing?
You must have been asleep for this one.
you know, usually i walk away from Musical Mondays having realized that i don't need to see any of these movies now that i've read your recap.
but today?
I have no idea what the hell this movie is about. it seems jampacked with trannies and gender-benders and women who can't sing, and a baffling plot.
and what happens to Baby June?
Natalie Wood was pretty damn gorgeous, though, I have to say.
and now I know where the line "sing out Louise!" comes from!
Roz is the best, even if she is a basso profundo! I actually like her second act number much better than Everything's Coming Up Roses.
Natalie? Pretty, great figure, and Anne Hathaway could be her reincarnation. I never thought she was the right one for Gypsy, though, she's kinda stiff.
Baby June actually became a "serious actress" just as she wanted to in the play.
Here's her wikipedia page:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Havoc (sorry, i don't know how to link with this site).
A while back I was reading a book of theatrical reviews/articles etc. from the 1920's/1930's and one of the stories was about Baby June and how she wanted to be an actress. It even had her reciting Shakespeare to the reporter who was interviewing her.
Oh. My. God. I was RAISED on this musical. I remember dancing to the stripper number when I was 8 years old, and seeing it again almost brings tears to my eyes. Absolutely brilliant. Plus, I did musical theater when I was a kid, directed by a woman who was the living embodiment of Mama Rose (and who played her when we did the show, in a wonderful meta-twist). I would perform the Dainty June Moo-Cow number for my sheltered friends at private school. As a tall, thin brunette, I could always relate to Louise and hated the little Junes who played Annie and were two heads short for their age.
Gorgeous Things said...
Natalie? Pretty, great figure, and Anne Hathaway could be her reincarnation. I never thought she was the right one for Gypsy, though, she's kinda stiff.
Kinda stiff? You are too generous, sweetie. They didn’t call her Wood for nothing. The “Little Lamb” number where she’s is sort of singing to her stuffed animals has to be one of the most painful moments in any musical.
I've heard of high schools that can't do URINETOWN-- which the worst you can say about it is they say the word 'pee' about a million times. (We're SHOCKED!)But these same schools have no problem putting on Gyspy a show about child abuse in which the heroine lives happily ever after as a STRIPPER! Geesh!
Oh, I just love Natalie Wood. But I'm with Gorgeous Things, for some reason, I always felt the casting was a little off. However, she made that part her own. One can only imagine what it was like to see the Real Gypsy Rose Lee perform.
This is one of my all time favorites, although I do think the casting was horrible! But it goes to show you that brilliant writing can and does make up for bad casting.
I can only guess one of two things is at play here: either it's one of T&L's fav's and they ADORE it: or it's one they don't know at all and have only seen it to pull bits for the blog. I can't think of another good explanation why their usual snarkiness would be so at bay here.
But with the "Gimmick" and "Rose's Turn" YouTubes right here, who needs commentary?!?!?
Y'all remember when Gypsy Rose Lee had a daytime talk show?
FABULOUS!!!
The gimmick song is brilliant. At three my son would toddle around the playground singing "If you're gonna bump it, bump it with a trumpet... "
Maybe Natalie Wood wasn't very convincing as a stripper but she really nailed her performance as a daughter. The final scene made me cry. Natalie's character finally understands her mother and can then forgive her. That meant alot to me as a teenager with my own difficult mother.
Hi boys. Long-time reader, first-time poster. A great thanks for all the weeks of entertainment here and in your other blogs.
My first exposure to Gypsy was through the Bette Midler TV movie of 10 or so years ago, so this version always seems a little off to me. Rose's "revelation" at the end is definitely superior in this version, though.
Love those Sondheim lyrics. Now it's time to express deep sadness that his only "real" musical that's been put to film is that shameful A Little Night Music adaptation which gutted the brilliant score. (Of course we'll also be getting Burton's Sweeney Todd soon... that's sure to be major yikes.)
deitybox- I share your pain re: being a heinously tall childhood actress! I was always a head taller than the other girls auditioning for "precocious musical moppet," roles, and I topped out at 5'11" by high school... no guy wants to stand opposite a girl who's taller than him without heels...
"Depressed about the whole thing, Natalie climbs out on to the fire escape and looks for Tony"
I choked on popcorn reading that.
Tough crowd today....now your recaps are getting reviews.
Oh I found it Julie Styne wrote the music and Sondheim did the lyrics.
If you want to make it, twinkle while you shake it... Hey, that could be your motto!
Okay, I love Gypsy. I actually played in the orchestra of a community theater production about fifteen years ago.
I saw an interview with Sondheim once where he talked about his favorite song in Gypsy -- he liked the "neatness" of the lyric in "If Mama Was Married" when the girls sing, "If Mama was married there wouldn't be any more Let Me Entertain You..." and the way the melody of LMEY slipped right into the other song. I have to confess, I like that too.
And finally, I have a CD called Unsung Sondheim that has a song that was cut from Gypsy, a great duet between the two little girls called "Mama's Talkin' Soft."
aimee - you're right about "Mama's Talkin' Soft" being a great number. It was cut from the original production because Karen Moore (young Louise) was afraid of heights. The song was supposed to be sung as young June & Louise looked down from a window or rooftop at Rose & Herbie. These days, they'd cut the kid, not the song.
Thombeau - the divas I know of who've played Rose are Ethel Merman, Mary McCarty (best known as the head nurse on "Trapper John, MD"), Angela Lansbury (Tony award), Tyne Daly (Tony award), Linda Lavin, Bernadette Peters (hated it), Betty Buckley (she was great - Debbie Gibson was Louise), Patti LuPone & Bette Midler. I do believe that anyone with the balls to take on this role must be a bit of a diva.
This movie is a so-so version of a really great Broadway musical. I just saw the Encores! series production (starring LuPone) two weeks ago and it was terrific.
Not much of note to say about the movie cast (or miscast to be accurate).
Red Buttons was briefly married to the woman who played the stripper Electra.
Faith Dane who played Mazeppa in the original Broadway and also onscreen is a nut job. She's run for mayor of DC numerous times. She's still running. http://writeinmayorfaith.blogspot.com/
Roz's singing was dubbed by Lisa Kirk. Kirk was in the short lived "Mack & Mabel" on Broadway but is immoratlized on the cast recording with "Tap Your Troubles Away," a great Broadway number. Kirk was also Bianca/Lois Lane in the original Broadway "Kiss Me Kate" (the character Ann Miller played onscreen).
Supposedly, the Broadway creators wanted Judy Garland to play Rose and Ann-Margret to play Louise in the movie. It certainly would have made for better routines with that Swedish sex kitten doing the stripping. And "Rose's Turn" probably would have involved a complete mental breakdown by Garland.
The real story is the real people Gypsy is based on.
Apparently the real Rose Hovick was a bigger doozy than the one portrayed on stage & screen. The real Rose married as a young teen and gave birth to Rose Louise (the future Gypsy Rose Lee) when she was 14 or 15.
When daughter June ran off with a dancer while in her teens (reported variously as anywhere from age 13 to 16), they were caught and the real Rose showed up at the police station packing heat & tried to shoot the boy.
The real June (the future June Havoc) left the act to give birth to her only child, April, when she was somewhere around 16.
The real Mama Rose supposedly ran a Lesbian boarding house in her later years and actually managed to shoot & kill one of her boarders (who may have been her lover and might have made a pass at Gypsy - according to Gypsy's illegitimate son by director Otto Preminger).
Suddenly, you realize how much more interesting the musical could have been...
Broadway footnote - the real June (June Havoc) was featured in the orginal cast of the Broadway stage musical "Pal Joey" as Gladys Bumps, a chorus girl. There's a number in the show called "Zip" (performed by a news reporter character called Melba Snyder) that spoofs Gypsy Rose Lee's style of stripping.
Personal note - "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" is the number that made me a great big Broadway freak. I heard the cast recording when I was about 11 or 12 and was never the same after that. I was dying to be a specialty stripper for years.
Bill, so glad to hear someone agrees with me that Bernadette was not a good Mama Rose. I saw her on Broadway and refused to stand when people gave her the obligatory ovation. I abhorred her in the role... she shouted the entire time. There was no depth to her interpretation. Now Tyne Daly, even Patti LuPone (I'm not a big fan) are far more superior recent Roses.
Thanks, Bill, as always for your endless info and backstories. They are a wonderful addendum to the brilliant Musical Mondays!
Great write-up as always!
I will agree that Roz is fabulous and a great actress. However, the lady just can't sing to save her soul. This is my favorite musical and I am eager for the day when someone will remake it with a SINGING actress. And no, the one with Bette Midler doesn't count. Someone get Patti LuPone stat!
I remember watching Bernadette Peters on the Tony's and being surprised at how good she was -- all things considered -- though she WAS loud, I'll give you that.
Though I'm a big Natalie Wood fan, I don't really get this movie, even with the added kitsch factor of Morgan Brittany and Ann Jillian. (Morgan was also one of the kids in "Yours Mine, and Ours.") When my wife and I watched the "Gypsy" clips this morning at home -- I can't access them at work -- we both were like, "whatever." (We're also not part of the Cult of Sondheim, though please don't stone me for saying that.)
I gotta say that Lisa Kirk (thanks for the name, Bill) actually sang like Rosalind Russell sounded like she would sing -- unlike, say, in "My Fair Lady" when Marni Nixon's voice came out of nowhere -- and Audrey Hepburn's mouth -- singing "Just You Wait."
Many years ago, my in-laws and another couple went to see a touring company of "Gypsy" in Philadelphia and had seats really close to the stage. When one of the Gimmick strippers came out, my mother-in-law -- known for her not-so-sotto-voce whispers -- gasped, "Boy, her gall bladder scar looks worse than mine!" to the amusement of the first few rows of the orchestra section.
From what I remember...Sondheim is reported as having said theat Tyne Daly was his favorite in the role.
And while Bernadette Peters is pretty much dismissed as being wrong for the role physically..she is in fact closest to the real Rose than anyone else. Rose was small framed and petite with a loud voice.
Just a few brief (and likely superfluous) opinions from podunkville...
Tyne Daly was extraordinary, and Jonathan Hadary was exceptional opposite her - Of the Gypsy's I've seen, they were the most believable Rose/Herbie combination.
Little Lamb is potentially the single best example of how one song can completely stop a show dead and lull the audience into a catatonic state.
I'm rather glad I didn't see Bernadette Peters in the role - can't picture it other than losing all nuance. Interested to see how Patti Lapone fares - any additional reviews from the peanut gallery on that one?
AES
You would think that Bette Midler would have been born to play Mama Rose, yet I found her version of show surprisingly disappointing.
Didn't Lisa Kirk also dub Lucille Ball in Mame? I think she was the "Marni Nixon" for foghorn-voiced actresses.
June "Baby June" Havoc hated the musical because she thought it portrayed her in a negative light. I believe she may have contemplated a lawsuit over it. She even wrote two autobiographies to "set the record straight".
Will you be doing "The Bandwagon" any time soon?
Is it me or is no Musical Monday complete until bill comments??
Please write a book about musical theater!! Or at least fly to Florida and let me pick your brain???
Bill thanks for the information about "Gypsy" in all it's incarnations! I'm not surprised you wanted to be a "specialty stripper" and not your common, everyday variety! I would have paid to see that!
I love the "Zip" number though I've only heard it on a compilation CD "Naughty But Nice - Bad Girls of the Movie Musical". Jo Anne Greer singing for Rita Hayworth in "Pal Joey". Love the lyrics.
I'm kind of wild about the Ann Margret/Judy Garland casting possibility, but the next time I watch the movie I'm going to play stunt casting and imagine it's Judy and Liza in those roles.
The film itself was a disappointment once I saw it because it was such a legendary show. The casting not so hot, except the cute dancer guy. But I really couldn't get used to the fakey sets, especially those desert and train station scenes. Everything's Coming Up Roses never got off the ground. That was the only number I heard as a young GIT (Gay In Training) and of course it was Ethel's version so I imagined it was all showbizzy and loaded with pizazz. And she sang it at a dingy railroad station!
td, I would have died to be there when your MIL said that!
T&L, terrific synopsis as usual, thanks a lot!
BrianB
I've seen this musical many many times - this movie is my least favorite version of it. I actually didn't hate Bernadette Peters in the role- it was slightly odd, but I thought "Rose's Turn" was actually pretty effective when she did it. There were other parts of that production I hated more, and frankly, I'm generally a fan of Bernadette.
My favorite version was also my introduction to professional musical theatre- a local production where they managed to get Judy Kaye (original Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera) for Mama Rose- She was absolutely phenomenal in the role- and the rest of the production was similarily high-quality.
Just another note on Faith Dane, the original Mazeppa-the 8/8/07 Washington Post reports that Faith(she dropped Dane) filed an age discrimination case against the theater and casting company who did the Patti Lupone "Gypsy"-seems that Faith (now 82, and according to her husband still looking good) wanted to reprise Mazeppa.
the artistic director for the Lupone "Gypsy" diplomatically said that Faith could have auditioned, but wouldn't have received any special consideration.
Faith has been a mayoral candidate in D.C. seven times
finally, why does this movie make me feel slightly queasy?
Hey Bill, Mazeppa is crazy fabulous and I voted for her and would vote for her any day over Marion Barry...
Can I give you boys a hand moving cause, I gotta agree with anonymous, this wasn't your best work. I'll pack and you guys go back to being witty and fabulous, OK.
You should analyse the Midler version!!!It's the one I've grown up loving- Bette Midler,Christine Ebersole as Tessie,Bob Mackie costumes and none of the silly scenes they added for Roz's movie- her setting fire to her car just confused me!!
Another interesting bit of trivia-the real life Baby June went on to play Mrs Lovett in a touring production of Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd'.
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