New York City Theater

Now that I've attended GYPSY three times, let's go over some specific moments that stick out in my memory, whether for better or for worse.

I really like how Encores! dealt with the issue of the onstage orchestra, a traditional feature of Encores! shows, by hiding it with a double scrim for the whole show, except for the overture, "All I Need Is the Girl" and the first half of "Rose's Turn." Still, it was awkward to have Patti and later Laura look down to the bottom of the stage, an orchestra not there, to address the absent conductor.

The first time Rose mutters "I Had a Dream" during "Some People," a blurry blob of lights shows up on the scrim for a few moments. What does it mean? Is it supposed to be a foreshadowing or a beginning blur of the "Rose's Turn" logo to appear later on?

Before singing "Small World," Patti goes over how she wants SHOW BUSINESS, and poor, stomach sensitive Herbie doesn't. Patti says "SHOW BUSINESS!" with zeal and desire and optimism. Herbie has already done show business for 20 years and knows that it's not all "No Business Like Show Business" and "The Lullubye of Broadway." It'll take Rose two and a half more hours, till her emotional climax, till she can make the same realization.

During the time transition sequence after "Let Me Entertain You," why do they do it in front of a traveler curtain? The choreography is the same, but it looks crowded that way. When I first saw the curtain, I thought they were going to open it up, revealing the older cast.

In the Broadway revival, they had a real, live lamb for "Little Lamb." Here, we get a puppet lamb manipulated by sticks - manipulated by a guy in 1930s attire. Why is that???? If this had happened in the Mendes revival, that would have worked in synch with his Brechtian motif. But here, it was totally out of touch with the rest of the staging.

In the dialogue preceding "Little Lamb," the mini-sequence where the hotel manager invades the rooms, causing Rose to feign panic, has been cut. As such, the lead-in dialogue for "Mr. Goldstone" makes less sense, in which Rose is supposed to be talking to Goldstone in a flurry before she knows who he is. Her new motivation is supposed to be that she's pissed that Herbie didn't show up to Louise's birthday.

During the audition sequence for Mr. Granzeger's Palace/Caroline the Cow, Patti goes onstage more than once to add scenery, or a costume piece, and then proceeds to dance alongside the cast. It's funny to see Patti camping it up, but it also emphasizes how Rose, though acting ridiculous, is completely oblivious to such ridiculousness in her all-consuming desire for stage attention.

Two great acting choices using hands: June and Louise squeezing each others' hands throughout "Mama Get Married Today," and Patti ripping up June's letter at the climax of "Everything's Coming Up Roses."

At the top of Act 2, after Laura delivers her "Hola everybody! My name is Seniorita Louise, What's Yours?," she gives a look to Patti. It's not a look of despair or helplessness. It's one of sly sarcasm. She knows how horrendous the act is, and how bad she must be. The audience knows too, and it's clear how Louise is maturing. Earlier in the show, in her dialogue with June, she expressed optimism about the "act." Now Louise is experiencing first hand the frustrations that led to June walking out.

The transitions between the strip sequence are too slow, as the name of each city Louise is appearring in is jettisoned in slow-motion across the curtain.

You know, I'm not too sure how Louise's line to her mom "I thought you did it for me, momma" should be delivered. On Friday night, Laura delivered it with pissy sarcasm. On Saturday night, it was less forceful, as if to say that way back when, growing up, Louise really did believe that her mom was doing all this for her and June. Which did I prefer? I think the latter.

BEFORE I FORGET - I attended the last performance of CAROUSEL at NJPAC today, which was made up of New Jersey theater students from middle school to college ages. With a full orchestra pit playing the score, except for some volume issues, it sounded wonderful. The cast was almost perfect vocally. The acting was mostly good, though I felt no sexual chemistry at all between Billy and Julie. I also realized that this was the first live production of CAROUSEL I've seen since 2001, when Papermill Playhouse did it with Christine Noll as Carrie, Glory Crampton as Julie and Matt Bogart as Billy.

Here's a thought - for a 2008 follow-up to Encores! Summer Stars series, why not Hugh Jackman in CAROUSEL? He did the Carnegie Hall concert in 2002, and it's certainly a role he was "born" to play, just as Patti was "born" to play Rose.