So how's Bernadette? That question has surely taken on more meanings than the producers of the current Gypsy revival intended. Of course, everyone wants to know how Bernadette Peters stands up to the memories of Merman and Lansbury (and, for some, Tyne Daly). But Peters' numerous health-related absences ended up giving the question a more urgent slant -- will she be playing tonight or will her understudy be offering "Rose's Turn," "Some People," and the numerous other classics Mama Rose belts as she fights for her daughters' careers?
Well, I can't vouch for La Bernadette's health night-to-night, but judging from a Wednesday matinee performance, she's triumphed over both maladies and memories. Her diction suffers now and then, garbling phrases as if she had a sucking candy in her mouth. And pipewise, she's no Merman. But sing Peters can, and her Rose is fierce, funny, sexually appealing (now there's a switch!) and fully conceived. We're so conditioned to see Mama Rose as a monster, it's nice to be reminded that the character is also a hardworking, desperate and suffering woman.
As for the rest of Sam Mendes' production, it's engaging, swift without feeling rushed, tasteful and even affecting. It goes without saying that Gypsy itself remains about as good as musical theater gets, but I'd be remiss if I didn't single out John Dossett as perhaps the best of all possible Herbies, Tammy Blanchard's move from pure sweetness to steely self-preservation as Louise, and Heather Lee's perfectly shaped and ideally performed Tessie Tura.
