Babs in Gypsy

[jerrybythesea]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA5nZjSrweM:25

 

Guess it will never happen. Too bad

Edited April 27, 2019 by Guy Fawkes

[jerrybythesea]

Maybe she will do it as a live TV event

[bostonman]

I remember seeing that Gypsy medley when the concert was televised. She was working so so so damn hard to prove she could do Rose's songs. Not in any way appealing in that sense. (With a good Madame Rose, you marvel at how one can make it seem so easy. With a bad one, you wonder if she'll have a larynx left at the end of the night. Put Ms. Streisand in the latter category, even just with the excerpts she did.)

 

On the other hand, in that same concert when she was revisiting many of her earlier, classic hits, I was mostly charmed. Yes, the voice isn't what it was anymore - but I sensed a real relaxation and joy in her performing - something I often feel I miss with her.

 

But no, her Madame Rose days are way past.

Edited April 27, 2019 by bostonman

[+ WilliamM]

Maybe she will do it as a live TV event

 

At this stage of her career, I can not imagine Barbra performing a musical live on TV.

 

I remember talking to a performer who did six or seven musicals and plays live on TV in the 1950s, it is difficult getting to the different sets during the commercials even for someone in A+ physical shape.

Edited April 27, 2019 by WilliamM

[bostonman]

I remember talking to a performer who did six or seven musicals and plays live on TV in the 1950s, it is difficult getting to the different sets during the commercials even for someone in A+ physical shape.

 

Technology has changed significantly since then lol. Also, consider the fact that the last 2 live musical presentations (NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar and Fox's Rent) were done on a unit set. The Midler TV Gypsy was done on a very realistic level in terms of set - they could certainly do a different approach this time around.

 

No, the issue wouldn't be the set - it would be the fact that Babs, despite a long and amazingly distinguished career, would simply not be up to the vocal demands of the role. And she's also way too old to play the part realistically. (What 77 year old woman has given birth to kids still under the age of 10??)

 

And yet, of course, if she WERE to do this, we would all watch it, wouldn't we?

 

I actually tend to wonder if the current age of live TV musicals may be coming to an end. Fox is bowing out of them, from what I hear - and their Rent was a disaster. NBC's flabbergasting decision to propose Hair as a TV musical was thankfully aborted, but no stellar future plans seem to be in the works. (There's still talk of Bye Bye Birdie, but it sounds like no one's really pushing for it.) Most of the NBC musicals have been sub-par in many ways (with Hairspray and Superstar the shining exceptions). So - we'll see...but I tend to doubt there will be a Gypsy in the near future, with Streisand or with anyone else.

Edited April 28, 2019 by bostonman

[+ WilliamM]

Technology has changed significantly since then lol. Also, consider the fact that the last 2 live musical presentations (NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar and Fox's Rent) were done on a unit set. The Midler TV Gypsy was done on a very realistic level in terms of set - they could certainly do a different approach this time around.

 

No, the issue wouldn't be the set - it would be the fact that Babs, despite a long and amazingly distinguished career, would simply not be up to the vocal demands of the role. And she's also way too old to play the part realistically. (What 77 year old woman has given birth to kids still under the age of 10??)

 

And yet, of course, if she WERE to do this, we would all watch it, wouldn't we?

 

I actually tend to wonder if the current age of live TV musicals may be coming to an end. Fox is bowing out of them, from what I hear - and their Rent was a disaster. NBC's flabbergasting decision to propose Hair as a TV musical was thankfully aborted, but no stellar future plans seem to be in the works. (There's still talk of Bye Bye Birdie, but it sounds like no one's really pushing for it.) Most of the NBC musicals have been sub-par in many ways (with Hairspray and Superstar the shining exceptions). So - we'll see...but I tend to doubt there will be a Gypsy in the near future, with Streisand or with anyone else.

 

Thanks. Mary Martin told me about the difficult chore of moving from stage to stage in "Annie Get Your Gun" live on tv in 1950s. Mary and John Raitt sang songs from Annie at the Academy of Music in Philly in the 1980s.

 

A short conversation.

[+ friendofsheila]

I remember seeing that Gypsy medley when the concert was televised. She was working so so so damn hard to prove she could do Rose's songs. Not in any way appealing in that sense.

 

In Arthur Laurent's last book, he talks about discussing with her the idea of doing the role. He thought she should not, because he thought he would play her for sympathy.

 

So maybe she was trying to convey some aggressive qualities in her performance, that she hasn't before?

[bostonman]

In Arthur Laurent's last book, he talks about discussing with her the idea of doing the role. He thought she should not, because he thought he would play her for sympathy.

 

So maybe she was trying to convey some aggressive qualities in her performance, that she hasn't before?

 

Perhaps...but Laurents had already passed away by the time that she did that concert, so it's not like it was an ersatz audition for him. And I don't know if it would have been clear to the audience that Laurents had felt that way. Seems to me the controversy publicly discussed at the time is that she simply was too old for the role.

[+ friendofsheila]

Seems to me the controversy publicly discussed at the time is that she simply was too old for the role.

 

She asked him point-blank if she was too old, and he said no.

 

So perhaps she was trying to convince other concerns that she would not play the role for sympathy.

[bostonman]

She asked him point-blank if she was too old, and he said no.

 

Ironic, though. Laurents was not known for pulling punches, but it sounds like he was being very uncharacteristically polite here lol. If indeed that's what he actually said.

 

A woman in her 70's would not have biological children as young as Baby June and Louise. And even if they could play film tricks, I'm not sure youthening Streisand would be all that credible.

 

But it's a moot point at this rate anyway.

[+ WilliamM]

Ethel Merman was 51 years old when "Gypsy" opened in New York. Merman played other cities after "Gypsy" closed on Broadway. I saw her in the musical in Boston in 1961 at the Colonial Theater. She never played Rose in revivals, or London. Her parents were elderly and in poor health, so Ethel had to pass on London.

[bostonman]

Ethel Merman was 51 years old when "Gypsy" opened in New York.

 

But we're talking about film. Close-ups, etc. A very different thing.

 

Merman was also entirely too old to play the teenage Annie Oakley - even moreso when the show was revived 20 years later in 1966. But onstage in huge theatres there tends to be more of a suspension of disbelief.

[+ WilliamM]

But we're talking about film. Close-ups, etc. A very different thing.

 

Merman was also entirely too old to play the teenage Annie Oakley - even moreso when the show was revived 20 years later in 1966. But onstage in huge theatres there tends to be more of a suspension of disbelief.

 

Gypsy opened on Broadway with Ethel Merman in 1959 when she was 51 years old. I wasn't writing about the film.

 

By 1960, Ethel looked her age (I saw "Gypsy" on Broadway from a front row seat). Too old to have such young kids. She should have won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

 

The revival of "Annie Get Your Gun"was a mistake. In the television version, broadcast on tape in early 1967 (and never again), Ethel looked old enough to be Frank Butler's aunt.

I

[bostonman]

Gypsy opened on Broadway with Ethel Merman in 1959 when she was 51 years old. I wasn't writing about the film.

 

Your response seemed to fit with the debate as to whether or not Streisand was being considered too old to play the role ON FILM.

[+ WilliamM]

Your response seemed to fit with the debate as to whether or not Streisand was being considered too old to play the role ON FILM.

 

Every time I mention something from the 1960s, you disagree. If I recall correctly, you weren't old enough to see either the "Annie Get Your Gun" revival, or the awful television version.

[bostonman]

Every time I mention something from the 1960s, you disagree. If I recall correctly, you weren't old enough to see either the "Annie Get Your Gun" revival, or the awful television version.

 

I'm not disagreeing with anything. I was only pointing out the difference between a 51-year-old "woman with children" onstage vs. the main discussion in the thread currently, which is a woman in her 70's playing the same role in a film. Why you brought Merman into this discussion I don't know, except it seems that you wanted to bring up her age in context of the current discussion.

 

The 1960's version of Annie Get Your Gun turned out popular enough that it was made the standard performing edition of the show - which it essentially still is. I don't think that anyone really cared what age Merman was - she was a star reprising one of her most iconic roles. But notice that the film role went to younger Betty Hutton (and first, to younger Garland). There was no way that Merman was going to play that role (or Madame Rose) on film, much as Streisand won't play Madame Rose on film either.

 

This has nothing to do with my feelings about the 60's. Good night.

Edited August 31, 2019 by bostonman