Return Of The Gypsy

A few years ago someone left a comment about my post on the musical Gypsy.  I checked out her blog, artistic dominion, which was mostly about her theatre-going experiences.  She seemed to give up the blog over a year ago, but just by chance, I recently looked again and it seems to be active.

Her latest post is about the nihilism of A Little Night Music. (Not one of my favorite Sondheim musicals, btw.) Good to see ad back.  With so many critics judging theatre from on high, it's nice to read someone who still has a visceral reaction.  Here's something from an earlier piece (on Gypsy, of course):

...I had a Gypsy marathon comprised of the Sunday matinée, the best Tony Awards ever, a small Broadway by the Year - 1979 interruption on Monday night, the Tuesday evening show, and the Wednesday matinée. And the show got better every time I saw it and the dressing room fight at the end changed each night. But not like they were bored or goofing off. They were EXPLORING. It was brilliant. And Tuesday night's performance -- the one right after the cast won their respective Tony Awards -- was a performance that will live on as the most memorable show I've ever been too. Such entrance applause! And Laura [Benanti] breaking character (which she never does) and crying because of it. The intensity of the dressing room fight made me feel nauseated and "Rose's Turn" made me want to curl up in a corner and cry like a baby; Rose's hair was flying loose, she spat her words like snake venom, and then proceeded to have a complete nervous breakdown before my very eyes and I loved. Every. Second of it. Then I sat front row center on Wednesday afternoon, which really wasn't a good idea because Patti [LuPone] hit me in the face with the torn up letter at the end of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and I almost died. No. Really. Front row is really too close for comfort if you get as emotionally involved as I do. I was on the verge of a heart attack from the train station scene on through the end. Ugh. I hate that show. And by "hate" I mean "love". Clearly.

Considering her reaction, it's interesting that Patti's latest show is entitled Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.