Amazon.com essential video: This faithful broadcast TV remake of the classic Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim musical looms as a career triumph for top-lined Bette Midler--and a bittersweet measurement of how far mainstream film and TV have retreated from the glories of musical theater. By the time Midler, as the mother of all stage mothers, observes, "I was born too early and started too late," it's only too obvious that the star's words are an ironic inversion. Had Midler been born earlier, she certainly would have reigned as a major musical comedy star. In a role form-fitted to Ethel Merman's brassy persona and brassier voice, Midler more than holds her ground musically and, especially, dramatically.
Titled partly for its source, the life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, Gypsy alludes as well to the itinerant life of her family. The show's focal point isn't the titular character, but rather her manipulative mother, Mama Rose (Midler), who channels her own frustrated dreams of stardom into Baby June, the curly blonde daughter who always eclipses sister Louise. The story follows Rose's machinations as she tirelessly reinvents June to defy the passage of time and even puberty itself. By the time Louise herself conquers the marquee as Gypsy Rose Lee, Rose's single-minded focus has alienated her long-suffering lover and agent, Herbie (a well-cast Peter Riegert), and surrendered to the inherent compromise of burlesque.
Midler's Rose reveals glimpses of vulnerability and a delusional monstrousness that provide a dark, gritty subtext. Studded with wonderful songs, the Styne/Sondheim score underlines those themes deftly, especially in Sondheim's multileveled lyrics. This Gypsy also benefits from uniformly nifty casting: in addition to Reigert (Crossing Delancey, Local Hero), Cynthia Gibb slowly blooms as Louise, and Jennifer Rae Beck, Andrea Martin, Christine Ebersole, and erstwhile new-wave singer Rachel Sweet are delights. --Sam Sutherland
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Everything's Coming Up Crabgrass
It looked good on paper: Powerhouse performer Bette Midler playing the most famous role in musical theater, directed by Emile Ardolino, the guy who turned "Dirty Dancing" into a national phenomenon. So what went wrong? The truth is, Midler simply isn't a good enough actress to capture the subtleties of as complex a character as Momma Rose. She's all big eyes and broad gestures, waving arms and manic mood swings; it's a community theater performance, going for the obvious at every turn. Is Rose manic and driven at times? Yes, of course; her father calls her a "crazy woman" in an early scene. ... Read More
Rating: - Campy, artificial, no improvement on the 1962 film, but still GYPSY
About the best you can say for Bette Midler's performance is that she does her own singing. And even some of that is sloppy and careless. Her acting is one-note, and she kills her best comedy lines by alternately gasping or screeching them. (Say what you will about Roz Russell, she at least knew how to deliver lines.) We know that Madame Rose's kiddie troupe is getting a bit long in the tooth, but Jennifer Beck as "Dainty" June looks fully thirty years old. Cynthia Gibb is a lovely Louise/Gypsy, but Natalie Wood "aged" more credibly in the admittedly flawed by classier 1962 theatrical film adaptation. ... Read More
Rating: - FAITHFUL TO ORIGINAL, BUT MIDLER MISSES THE MARK
I LOVE the musical GYPSY. I knew that the creators of the original Broadway musical, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents were extremely disappointed with the earlier 1962 film version with Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood. Fair enough. So this TV adaptation is scene for scene, word for word exactly like the stage play script. That is excellent. The score is also one of the most outstanding in all of Broadway history. So, we get the original script and score; but unfortunately, that's all we get.
I watched this TV movie with great anticipation. My enthusiam deflated as soon as the less ... Read More
Rating: - Great rendition
I was recently in a production of "Gypsy" and have grown pretty attached to it. I thought this rendition was done quite well, but I prefer the Baby June from the original film and I prefer the strippers from the original film as well. I like Bette's performance the best out of the other Mama Rose actresses from film and/or Broadway.
My only complaint was a small glitch in the DVD that causes it to skip. Maybe a spin on the Disc Doctor will cure it.
Rating: - Ethel Merman, move over!
What can I say? Bette Midler is totally superb in the role of Mama Rose!
She is fantastic! Even though this was a television special, Ms Midler out performed, and out sang Tyne Daly, had more passion that Ethel Merman,
and came neck to neck with Angela Lansbury in acting and singing departments. Great DVD!
- 
- 
- 