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Everything's Coming Up Patti

By Matt Windman

March 28, 2008

Why is "Gypsy" back only five years since its last Broadway revival? Because (1) Patti LuPone is ready to play Mama Rose; (2) Arthur Laurents, who hated Sam Mendes' revival, wants to redirect it; (3) Laurents and LuPone patched up their feud; and (4) "Gypsy" is the best musical. Ever. If "La Boheme" and "Hamlet" receive annual revivals, why can't "Gypsy"?

Two summers ago, LuPone performed the role in a Chicago concert. Last summer, she did the show at City Center. Now the production has transferred to Broadway with nearly its entire cast, including Laura Benanti and Boyd Gaines, both of whom are outstanding.

Whereas Mendes' revisionist revival had a grim, Brechtian overtone and had Bernadette Peters playing Rose as a sexpot, Laurents is totally faithful to the original 1959 staging. This is arguably the definitive production of what is unquestionably a perfect musical.

Considered the King Lear of musical theater, Mama Rose allows an actress to experience a dramatic cycle beginning with hungry ambition in soaring anthems like "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and ending with a total breakdown in "Rose's Turn."

How would we describe LuPone? She combines Rose's fury and vulnerabilities with her diva authority. Unlike at City Center, she is now more focused and refuses to pander for laughs. She also wears a wig that to make her look far less glamorous. And while LuPone's trademark slurring and Elvis-like lip gestures remain intact, she delivers a powerhouse performance as the frustrated, aging backstage mom.

Laurents does add one new thing. At the end, Rose usually delivers a final glance to the stage before she walks away in peace. Now, she continues to reach in vanity for her name in lights as though she were stretching for the stars until the curtain falls. In three months, we suspect LuPone will reach for a well-earned Tony.

St. James Theater, 246 West 44th St, 212-239-6200, $42-117. Mon-Tues 8pm, Wed 2 & 8pm, Thurs-Fri 8pm, Sat 2 & 8pm. Open Run.