Don't cry for me, Pensacola
Leocadia Begbick (in the person of Patti Lupone, no less) issues small craft warnings for the Gulf coast. (Just a quick clip from the Mahagonny telecast scheduled for tonight at 9 PM on PBS. Check your local listings, obviously.)
And, of course it's old news by now, but la Lupone will be back on Broadway this March reprising her already classic Mama Rose.
And, of course it's old news by now, but la Lupone will be back on Broadway this March reprising her already classic Mama Rose.
Labels: diva, gale force winds, telecast
POSTED at
5:17 PM
25 Comments:
Miss LuPone thus honors the memory of her namesake Adelina...
Bring back Astrid!
That is disgusting singing even for Broadway. It is time for her to stick to straight acting.
This is from the LA Opera production of Mahoganny from last year? Dreadful. Can't believe they released that on DVD instead of a ravishing Manon they did a year ago. One of the few times I skipped out of a show after the first act.
Thank you folks!
Where around the web are there any free online librettos or scores?... for
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagony
by Weill and Brecht
I would rather hear an embalmed Astrid Varnay than this. As Patti Lupone joked on Will and Grace,"The people either love me or hate me."
I wouldn't call the Mahagonny Dreadful. The production had a few major missteps, but it wasn't godawful. LuPone couldn't handle it, but Audra McDonald could, and Anthony Griffey was just fantastic.
I wouldn't call the Manon that Andreab referred to ravishing, either. It was very good, but nothing special. Netrebko was quite good though doing her usual Netrebko act.
Speaking of Netrebko, who went to the Sulmicast of R&J? In San Francisco, we had a massive video drop out ten minutes into the opera that lasted so long that the management chose to restart the opera, and then another significant dropout in the middle of the final scene. So, all in all, San Francisco finished the opera a half an hour later than the rest of the world. I was wondering if anyone else suffered like problems?
Say what you will about her sound, she performs fearlessly. This was certainly a new sort of fach for her, and she gave it her all. Further, maybe because of the Broadway background, both Ms. Lupone and Ms. Macdonal sang their rehearsals and were there from the beginning for all the staging - no diva-esque last-minute arrivals. John Doyle's production was really questionable - as though he didn't realize that he was presenting a show about lust, greed, etc., in a house with 3,200 seats. I'll be curious to see if camera cuts liven the very static stage works.
Baritenor - whats the verdict on R & J? I'm planning on seeing it on the 29th when its being screened here.
Don't care what anyone says about Patti- I love her!
Lupone's Mama Rose, as seen this past summer, was an approximation akin to Guleghina's Norma. She simply doesn't have the technique (breath control, diction) to present the role properly. She also hadn't arrived at anything resembling a coherent portrayal. I suppose the theater queens need somebody like her, so they've decided she's it. But (in this role at least)--she stinks.
I saw it last night, and I thought the production was rather disparate, but Lupone was a powerhouse. I don't even particularly consider myself a fan, but her immensity was astounding. Begbick is a morally corrupt, power obsessed, emotionally barren woman- her music shouldn't be pretty or perfect. With Lupone's less then perfect instrument, it was a near match of role and singer IMHO.
quoth the maven: La Cieca has only one thing to say here: all your taste is in your mouth. Exactly who is your platonic Rose with the exemplary breath support, perfect diction and "coherent" characterization? Lupone's not a perfect artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I found her Rose immensely moving and exciting. To compare her to the dreary, smeary Guleghina is simply nonsense. (In fact, the comparison is on a par with that other queen who said Netrebko's Juliette sounded like farting.)
Honestly, sometimes I think the word "technique" needs to be forcibly yanked from the faggot vocabulary. The way it gets thrown around by know-nothing cocksuckers, it's worse than meaningless.
Baritenor:
I saw the R&J in Burbank, the Sunday after the live broadcast. The transmission dropped out 3 or 4 times, just for a few seconds each time. The first time it happened was just before "Je veux vivre." Annoying but nothing like what you apparently went through. At last year's Magic Flute, though, they couldn't seem to work out the video and audio at the same time, and at the end they refunded everybody's admission.
La Cieca--
I am a great admirer of your art, so I hate to get in a pissing match with you. But if you're wondering what I mean by technique, I suggest cuing up the original cast recording of "Gypsy," and hearing how each word of Mama Rose's is instantly intelligible, the consonants crisply articulated without breaking the singing line. Notice how the phrases are sustained through their natural end, rather than cut short due to lack of breath. Also notice how this performer (as you may have guessed, my "platonic Rose") is able to sing the title phrase in "Everything's Coming Up Roses" in the original meter, rather than employing the less effective (and less breath-taxing) version with the meter shift erased: rewritten for the relatively more modest vocal gifts of Angela Lansbury and used by Lupone.
I think these are technical matters. But you may disagree. If so, let's not leave it at that, and not get all ad hominem on each others' asses.
quoth: The surviving members of the Gypsy creative team have spent the past half-century bitching and moaning about how lousy (they thought) Merman was as Mama Rose, in particular how far they feel she misinterpreted the character.
So it seems you are holding Lupone (and everyone else who attempts the role) up to an impossible standard, a fantasy version of the part cobbled from Merman's studio recording and a good deal of wishful thinking.
I don't say Lupone's Rose is perfect; I say that despite the flaws, it's a moving and exciting performance.
Please forgive La Cieca for the bad language earlier, but she's pretty frazzled from some of the idiotic slamming of Netrebko's Juliette this past weekend. La Cieca regards herself as a pretty tough critic, and she is left in wild surmise by come of the unfavorable comparisons made here and elsewhere on the web, e.g., Ruth Ann Swenson was not only a superior Juliette but was superb in Puritani ten years ago. (Such a dull performance I have never heard 2/3 of in my life, and even the acres of empty seats gaping after Act 2 couldn't tempt to to remain for the grisly prospect of Stuart Neill in the Storm Scene.)
La Cieca--
Thank you for the apology.
Indeed, I did not see Merman's Rose in the flesh, but I had fairy godmothers who did, and they swear she was galvanic. The churlishlishness of the creators about Merman is indeed puzzling. I think she was very tough to work with, and not a particularly clever person. I also think that they have a vested interest in the property itself being perceived as something above and beyond its original star.
I did hear a 2nd-hand story about Jerry Robbins, who said "I never realized how good Ethel was until I saw Angela do it--she just wasn't getting the laughs that Ethel did." Which may give some indication of why Merman was undervalued: She didn't have to "interpret" the role; she simply embodied it.
I can't speak for Merman's physical performance, but none of the Mama Roses I have seen have approached the vocal performance of Merman on the original cast album, or on the pirate tape of closing night. The one who came closest was Tyne Daly, toward the end of her run. Bernadette was helpless. About Lupone, we'll have to agree to disagree.
After 15 minutes, I couldn't endure watching the R & F of the C of M. It looked worst than a bad musical off Broadway. PL's vocals were in poor shape, and a caricature of singing. Speaking her part, instead of singing, it would have been a wiser choice. PL looked like a bad-hair-day Carol Channing! AM was in the best vocal form, but she was not enough to keep me watching. To record this production on DVD instead of Manon, it'd prove to be a bad decision finacially. Fortunately, if I'm not mistaken, one of the German opera companies will issue the same production on DVD.
I saw R & J at the Met, and also the live telecast. In the house, no queation, you enjoy the intimacy, naturlness and warthm of the human voice. On the other hand, the dramatic theatricality of the telecast is superior. Even sitting on the 8th row in the orchestra at the house, you could see the faces but not the facial expressions. And the overhead shots, on the suspended bed, showed
action that you'll never see, no matter where you're seated in the house. The camera work was stellar and made Nerebko and Alagna look like larger than life. You can say anything you want about Netrebko, the "unattractive" Russian with a "short" neck and "undisdingiushed" voice, but people will die waiting to grab her R & J DVD when it comes out next year.
Without any doubts, the worst singing I have ever heard in an opera house. Begbick almost demands a Brangane-like voice. You only have to listen to Gisela Ltz on the Lenya recording to hear what LuPone (and I must admit, many others who have sung the role) is lacking. And I am not a LuPone basher. In fact I think she's about the best Mrs. Lovett to date.
Concerning Gypsy, I loved Daly in the role. She was ferocious and heartbreaking and left you devastated at the end of Rose's Turn. I thought Lansbury and Peters vastly inferior to her. I saw them all live and looking forward to seeing LuPone this season. Just please keep Patti away from any more operas.
Sorry, missed the "i" in Litz
That is why Gisela was so in demand for ensemble operas: there is no "I' in "Ltz."
Having seen the entire telecast last night, La Cieca must say that her beloved Patti was very badly miscast as the Begbick. It was like a living example of the old show business joke, "I want to sing that role in the worst way." On the other hand (you knew there was another hand coming sooner or later, didn't you?), Miss Lupone won La Cieca's admiration for throwing herself wholeheartedly into her wrong-headedness, sort of like Bette Davis in Beyond the Forest. (While we're on the subject, why did no one ever set that melodrama of the north woods as a vehicle for Catherine Malfitano?)
But back to Lupone, I will say that it does seem her performance in Gypsy this past summer varied quite a bit from night to night. I think I caught her on a really good night, and frankly I can't imagine any Broadway-level performer who could better her in the role based on that performance. Others whose opinions I trust heard her on other nights with other opinions ranging from raves to "what a shame, what a missed opportunity."
One wonders what Eileen Farrell might have done with this role. (Or what Marilyn Horne might still do in a one-off concert setting.)
LuPone is a fearless artist. To compare the role of Rose to Norma shows profound stupidity. Opera (at least as it stands now) is high art and musical theatre is pop art. Both are valid but because they both use music and singing does not mean they can be compared.
As a lifelong fan of Ms. Lupone's art, I was dreadfully disappointed, nay almost suicidal, over her performance in Rise & Fall. She was, certainly, out of her comfort zone..and so was I.
Ironically, I ordered the DVD of this performance a week or so before having seen this on the PBS telecast, yet another instance of impatience and impulsiveness having done me in.
Interesting distinction, Mary. So Adrianna Lecouvreur and Help! Help! the Globlinks! are high art? And no useful comparison can be made between such things and our lowly musical comedy? I'll attempt to remember that as I try to make my stupidity less profound.
Quoth the shaven maven--
You are arguing in circles. Yes, even Adriana is high art compared to Gypsy. But furthermore, you were discussing vocal technique in your posts. Singing Adriana and singing Gypsy are in no way comparable. There are good high school students who sing Gypsy. I know of no high schools putting on an opera. The technque and training required for operatic singing is much more demanding and rigirous than musical theatre singing where if one is trained it is a plus but not necessary. You compared Guleghina's Norma to LuPone's Gypsy. The impulse for musical theatre performance is the words and how they are projected. In opera it is about projecting the MUSIC. The drama is in the music. I think you already know all of this. You are just projecting profound you know what.
I must go on a bit. I think in America the distinction between high and low art always ruffles feathers. This maybe due to historical factors, i.e. who the early immigrants were. Or maybe it is the American notion of democracy that has a tendency sometimes to equalize things that cannot be seen on equal footing. I think that pop art in America has revitalized high art in amazing ways. But there is still high art and low art. Confusion about this distinction leads to statements such as LuPone's handling of the meter in Gypsy's music. Whether she observed the meter or not, she is still AMAZING. Furthermore music in musical theatre is not composed the way that it is in opera...I mean on a technical level. I think in musicals someone writes the tunes and someone else orchestrates and does arrangements. You catch my drift.
as a gypsy fan, I have seen Lansbury, Daly, Peters, Lupone live and the Rossalind Russell and Bette Midler incarnations also have seen major clips of merman. however the only one that I think fully mastered the role was Betty Buckley at Paper Mill Playhouse about ten years ago. Lansbury was my second, I fond Patti Lupone's performance calculated and cold, and have rewatched it on a bootleg video and that only confirms my opinion. Buckley truly played her both as vulnerable in the first act and a completely out-of-control monster in the second act. The transformation happened during the EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES. The number built from a quiet beginning into a thunderstorm of power. She did not just sing the first half quietly and the second half loud ala Lupone. The number built with an urgency and ever increasing mania. You knew this woman was losing it in her obsession. Unfortunately Buckley is such an evil woman to work with that sondheim swore he would never work with her again and that is how Bernadette Peters got the last revival. Peters, despite being vocally out of her league (and I am not a fan of Bernadette Peters) worked hard and in many ways I found more satisfactory that Lupone. Dramatically she had a much more complex sense of character. the role was not performed in broad strokes. It was a subtle performance and I liked it despite being prepared not to like it. Hated Tyne Daly, a tough dykish performance with no humanity. Merman was Merman and with the amazing vocalism did not always come much depth of character. but she was what she was and rather amazing at what she did do. Criticizing her for her acting is like criticizing Joan Sutherland's diction or Rysanek's occassional pitch problems. These flaws were compensated for through incredible performances where other things mattered more. I did expect more from Patti and was disappointed in her Gypsy, the Mahagonny was just dull. No one since Stratas has played Jenny with intelligence and true understanding and Lupone again just played Begbick like a drag queen with a wig from Ricky's
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