Gypsy From:Bette Midler , Peter Riegert , Cynthia Gibb , Edward Asner , Christine Ebersole , GYPSY (DVD MOVIE) , Emile Ardolino , Lions Gate ,
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: GYPSY (DVD MOVIE)
EAN: 0772917206201
Format: Closed-captioned
Format: Color
Format: Dolby
Format: DVD-Video
Format: NTSC
Weight: 20 hundredths-pounds
Label: Lions Gate
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Number Of Items: 1
Packaged Height: 58 hundredths-inches
Packaged Length: 710 hundredths-inches
Packaged Weight: 18 hundredths-pounds
Packaged Width: 542 hundredths-inches
Publisher: Lions Gate
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2005-03-15
Running Time: 150 minutes
Studio: Lions Gate
Theatrical Release Date: 1993-12-12
Product Description:
It's multi-award winner Bette Midler in the role she was born to play. This Emmy winning superstar delivers a "standing room only" performance as Mama Rose the ultimate vaudeville stage mother. Rose's ambition for her two daughters forces one to desert her and the other to emerge as the world's most famous striptease artist-Gypsy Rose Lee.System Requirements: Running Time 150 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: NR UPC: 707729172062 Manufacturer No: 17206
Customer Reviews:
 Everything's Coming Up Crabgrass, 2008-07-15
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. But from her first entrance, Midler seems to have confused "powerhouse" with "bulldozer." She spits her lines out in rapid succession, with all the bawdiness with which she tells her famous Sophie Tucker jokes in concert. But where's charm, humor, sexiness; all the manipulatively feminine characteristics that make Rose such a seductive, seditious presence in everyone's lives? Rose gets her way not because she beats Herbie, June and Louise into submission, but because her dreams and desires are so strong they have no choice but to believe in them themselves. Auntie Mame is described as The Pied Piper, but it's an apt description of Rose as well. Midler's characterization is so grating, I can't imagine anyone doing much more than running in the opposite direction.
Unfortunately, with the exception of Jennifer Rae Beck's Dainty June and Linda Hart's Mazeppa, the supporting cast is average at best. And however skilled Ardolino is at directing the musical sequences, he completely fails to mine the humor and tension of Arthur Laurents's brilliant dialogue. The production values are first rate across the boards. Personally, I think June's acts are a little over produced; a certain vaudeville seediness would have made more sense. But the producers and Ardolino obviously adore the material -- who doesn't? -- and they've approached it with tremendous love and attention, so it's hard to fault their decisions.
Is this a better version than the 1962 film? Yes and no. It's a far more faithful adaptation, with Laurents and Sondheim's bawdier material intact, but I think the earlier cast is far superior. I know I'm not supposed to like Rosiland Russell because she wasn't Ethel Merman, but I love the performance; for me, Russell finds the perfect balance between Rose's fierce passion and her crushing vulnerability. And Karl Malden and Natalie Wood are superb, the latter fragile and extremely touching. So as a record of the show as originally written, this version is a must for all musical theatre fans. But if you're looking for the definitive "Gypsy" on film -- it ain't been made yet.
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