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| Author | Topic: Modesto Concert |
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Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 8/15/2008 at 10:51:23 AM ET
Interview with local paper.
Modesto Bee
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 8/15/2008 at 11:29:40 AM ET
OK, I know I'm like a dog with a bone, and a terrier at that, but, "Gypsy, It really is the Hamlet of musical theater." 
Has she ever read Hamlet? How is it even remotely like Hamlet? How can Rose possibly be compared with a prancing, moody, severly disturbed youth with a blatant mother-fixation and an unhealthy preoccupation with gravedigging, skulls and anything else to do with Death?
Surely Rose is King Lear all the way!
I mean, there's even a big number, performed on the heath, that Shakespeare (Britain's own Stephen Sondheim) called "Lear's Turn" and it goes something like this ....
"Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children,
You owe me no subscription: then let fall
Your horrible pleasure: here I stand, your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man:
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That have with two pernicious daughters join'd
Your high engender'd battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. O! O! 'tis foul!
For me! For me! For me! For meeeeeeeee!"
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
|  moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 8/15/2008 at 2:24:44 PM ET
Scottie,
I don't think its a comparison of characters but rather the tremendous requirements each role puts upon the actor who portrays them. Hamlet is a role all actors want to do at some time in their life because of the tremendous effort it requires from the artist. Once they have played Hamlet, they feel like they have reached a true milestone in their careers. Rose, is the female, musical equivalent.
"Particular mention must be made of Bernadette Peters, who turns up briefly in a sort of sparkly Glinda the Good costume. She's the reluctant muse sent to help Alice with her writing. The muse is dressed like Oz, sounds like Queens and behaves like a bored student adviser." Alice Film Review, The New York Times, December 25, 1990
"I'm one star away from Dolly Parton ... and Raymond Massey is between us. I hope we don't suffocate him." Bernadette Peters receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, April 24, 1987
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 8/15/2008 at 2:50:59 PM ET
Truth be known ... really, I was just having a gentle and fond BP (and Sondheim) laugh.  And perhaps at the same time also trying to interject a little of the beautiful and brilliant words of The Bard onto the board.
But, if we were to take it seriously ... I must, respectfully, disagree with you. If what you are stating is the case, then I think she would be saying " Gypsy, It really is like playing the Hamlet of musical theater." But, that's not what she said.
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 8/15/2008 at 2:58:13 PM ET
Well you got me on that one.
"Particular mention must be made of Bernadette Peters, who turns up briefly in a sort of sparkly Glinda the Good costume. She's the reluctant muse sent to help Alice with her writing. The muse is dressed like Oz, sounds like Queens and behaves like a bored student adviser." Alice Film Review, The New York Times, December 25, 1990
"I'm one star away from Dolly Parton ... and Raymond Massey is between us. I hope we don't suffocate him." Bernadette Peters receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, April 24, 1987
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 8/15/2008 at 3:14:10 PM ET
And while I'm on a winning roll ...  can someone tell that Modesto Bee journalist that he/she would never win a Spelling Bee .... it's t-h-e-a-t-r-e.
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 8/15/2008 at 3:43:34 PM ET
I knew poor Bern was in for it when she used the Hamlet comparison again. My theory is that she doesn't want to invoke the image of herself wandering around naked with a long white beard.
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 8/15/2008 at 3:52:43 PM ET
True ... but if her imaginairy King Lear beard was really long (about 5'2"), and was red, and was full of curly ringlets, .... would that not cover her modesty and preserve her Broadway image?
I'm sure Bob Mackie would be up to the challenge.
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
|  leebee
Registered User
Registered:
1/19/2004
Fav. BP Song: Being Alive
Fav. BP Show: Sunday In The Park With George
| posted: 8/15/2008 at 4:47:11 PM ET
I am so happy that Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" is finally out on DVD. I do so enjoy that movie. My god is Kate Winslet so wonderful in that.
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 8/15/2008 at 5:07:52 PM ET
So glad you like her too. IMHO Kate is an utterly brilliant actress, a true natural. And she always stands out too as one of the few naturally beautiful women among those stick insect ladies on those unnaturally skinny red carpets.
And let's not forget she is married to that "dreadfully" talented Sam Mendes who directed that "awfully" wonderful Gypsy on Broadway which starred our favourite "Rose".
It's interesting, quite a few famous British actresses have recently appeared on stage, not as Gertrude, or Ophelia, but as Hamlet himself. Now, Kate Winslet as Hamlet is a DVD that I would love to buy.
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
|  Alphabet Soup
Registered User
Registered:
7/26/2008
From:
Sydney, Australia
Fav. BP Song: Shenandoah & Pennies From Heaven/We're in the Money
Fav. BP Show: Sunday In The Park With George
Fav. BP Character: The Witch (ITW)
| posted: 8/16/2008 at 7:09:55 AM ET
quote:
OK, I know I'm like a dog with a bone, and a terrier at that, but, "Gypsy, It really is the Hamlet of musical theater."
Has she ever read Hamlet? How is it even remotely like Hamlet? How can Rose possibly be compared with a prancing, moody, severly disturbed youth with a blatant mother-fixation and an unhealthy preoccupation with gravedigging, skulls and anything else to do with Death?
Scottie, obviously I cannot be sure about this, but could she possibly be comparing the high-profile role that is being addressed and the high level of intensity that is being exerted to perform in such a position? Especially when she says that "Once you do Rose in 'Gypsy,' what do you do after that?" Might she be saying that once you have fulfilled such a big role, where do you go from there and what role would be a step up from that? Such is the role of Hamlet. Everyone knows Hamlet and to play it would be a high-point in anyone's career. I don't think that the comparison of characters comes into that.
Sorry if you disagree 
Soup 
p.s As for your comment about if it was a comparison of character she would have said "Like playing Hamlet" instead of just the Hamlet of musical theatre, I don't think that she realised that people were going to read so much into it. Fine details such as that were probably not her biggest priority, it is only an interview after all.
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 8/16/2008 at 1:15:53 PM ET
Soup, good to read your response to my post. I have to say that I wouldn't presume to know if she meant this or thought that, and I certainly wouldn't attempt to write my own interpretation of her words. Not being a mind-reader, all I ever can do is read exactly what someone says and react (or not) to that.
She said,"It really is the Hamlet of musical theater." That's short, explicit, and self explanatory I would have thought. I'm always careful, especially when dealing with the written word, to react to what someone says, not what I think they said.
As other people here know, it's not the first time she's said this. I think we can assume that a 60 year old professional woman, who has been in the business most of her life, and is totally used to speaking to the Press, knows exactly what she is saying. You say, "it's only an interview after all", but she gives these interviews because they are valuable to her, they promote her activities, appearances and concerts, and they are printed in newspapers or online because they are meant to be read.
And I'm not at all "sorry if you disagree". That's what happens when you have a discussion between different people, with differing opinions ... and "discussions" are what forums are for. 
Taking a little look around the web this afternoon I'm relieved to see that I'm not entirely bonkers in my King Lear/Rose theory .... some people agree, even BP's illustrious director of her "Rose".
"It's the greatest challenge of all,” says Sam Mendes, director of the current revival, who calls Rose "the King Lear of musical theater. I defy any actress to turn down the chance.” Stephen Sondheim Society
... "Gypsy has become the King Lear of musicals. To prove their dramatic worth, divas of a certain age regularly tackle that Mount Everest of roles:" and as much as I hate to promote Ms LuPone ... at least this writer possibly prefers Bernadette in the role.
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 8/16/2008 at 2:40:06 PM ET
Scottie, the crux of your error is where you assert that we can assume Bernadette "knows exactly what she is saying." Ahem, sorry to say, but Bernadette has been known to come up with some awfully garbled off-the-top of her head ramblings. Most likely, right before the interview she had just finished giving a flea bath down at the SPCA and was temporarily disoriented by the toxic fumes, thereby momentarily confusing one famous Shakespeare tragedy with another. Next I'm sure she'll be telling us that Mama Rose is "Othello without the blackface."
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 8/16/2008 at 3:58:42 PM ET
"Ahem, sorry to say, but Bernadette has been known to come up with some awfully garbled off-the-top of her head ramblings."
Which, I believe, was exactly the point I was making. Perhaps my real "error" was in stating it here.
"There’s a lot in the world for us to turn our attention to — helping people, helping animals, and helping animals help people." ... Bernadette Peters, August, 2007
| Alphabet Soup
Registered User
Registered:
7/26/2008
From:
Sydney, Australia
Fav. BP Song: Shenandoah & Pennies From Heaven/We're in the Money
Fav. BP Show: Sunday In The Park With George
Fav. BP Character: The Witch (ITW)
| posted: 8/17/2008 at 12:21:04 AM ET
Haha. Thankyou to Scottie and Karen. I am really glad that I joined this fan-site because I am enjoying talking to people who share an interest in BP and also know how to hold an intelligent conversation 
Soup
| casper
Registered User
Registered:
4/30/2008 | posted: 8/17/2008 at 9:07:54 PM ET
To compare obects or ideas using "like" or "as" is called a simile.
To compare objects or ideas in a way in which a word or reference is applied to an object or action to which it is NOT LITERALLY APPLICABLE is called a metaphor.
She was clearly making a metaphor between the two parts and their intensity and and level of acclaim. Another would be 'its the olympic gold medal of musical theater'. Clearly I am not comparing Mama Rose to gymnastics or diving. I think the intent of the comment was more to say, after playing what is to be considered one of the most demanding and high caliber roles in musical theater, what do you do next. And in that intent using the role of Hamlet as a METAPHOR is quite accurate.
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