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| BYE 'GYPSY,' GO 'WEST' By MICHAEL RIEDEL January 14, 2009 -- PATTI LuPone has no patience with cam era phones. Who can blame her? We all know it's rude - to say nothing of illegal - to take photographs during the show. At "Gypsy" Saturday night, LuPone walked off the stage when some idiot whipped out his cellphone camera during her show-stopping number, "Rose's Turn." The ushers pounced, and the offending shutterbug was duly reprimanded. But what's a diva to do when the entire theater starts snapping away? That's what happened Sunday at the final performance of this Tony-winning revival. The ushers fanned out through the theater to stop the pandemonium. They got into shouting matches with audiences members, who fired back: "But everybody's doing it!" The ushers gave up. LuPone, meanwhile, carried on, delivering a knockout "Rose's Turn" before a sea of popping lights. "There was nothing she could do," says a source. "But this time, I don't think it bothered her at all." It was a thrilling end to a production that defied the odds, won over skeptical critics and cemented LuPone's standing as Broadway's reigning diva. True, the $10 million show didn't return its investment - a tricky proposition even if the economy hadn't fallen apart. But as an artistic achievement, this "Gypsy" was hands-down the most exciting revival Broadway's seen in a long time. A lot of the credit goes to the show's writer, Arthur Laurents, who, at 91, also directed it. For him, this "Gypsy" was personal. He wasn't happy with the revival, starring Bernadette Peters, that Sam Mendes directed five years ago on Broadway. As Laurents told me in the summer of 2007, when his "Gypsy" opened at City Center: "You have to have musical theater in your bones, and Sam doesn't. You can't put it there. I know. I tried. I gave Sam many notes, but he just couldn't do it. As they say in 'Gypsy,' 'Either you got it or you don't.' And he don't." (Mendes was on location making a movie when that quote came crashing down on his head and, I'm told, didn't emerge from his trailer for hours. But cheer up, Sam: I hear your production of "The Cherry Orchard" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music is first-rate.) Laurents was determined that the last "Gypsy" in his lifetime would be a good one, and he made sure it was. He attended the final performance, joining the cast afterward for a champagne toast. I tried to reach him yesterday for some final thoughts on "Gypsy," as well as his revival of "West Side Story," which is trying out in Washington, DC. But I missed him. He was on a plane bound for Europe to do some skiing in St. Moritz with Hal Prince, who's 80. (The secret of eternal youth appears to be Tony Awards - Prince has 19; Laurents has two.) When Laurents returns, he'll be at the Palace Theatre, putting the finishing touches on his $14 million bilingual revival of "West Side Story." This one has the feel of a hit (even in this economy), although some tinkering is definitely in order, production sources say. The Washington Post's Peter Marks went weak in the knees for the Argentine playing Maria, Josefina Scaglione. Laurents cast her after seeing a YouTube clip from a production of "Hairspray" in Buenos Aires. Marks also praised Laurents' direction but knocked some elements of the production, including the costumes. Laurents' decision to have the Puerto Ricans speak Spanish works for much of the show, although Marks noted that Anglos who don't know the plot will have trouble following the second act. The producers of "West Side Story" are making a Talmudic study of Marks' review, which "will be our road map," says a production source. And, of course, they still have their ace in the hole: Arthur Laurents, who, even bundled up in the Swiss Alps, is still the hottest director in New York. michael.riedel@nypost.com |
