By Harry Haun
28 Mar 2008

Freshly recruited from A Chorus Line, Tony Yazbeck has a heart-charging moment as Tulsa, the kid who steps out of Momma Rose's chorus line of Newsboys into the star spot for the showstopping "All I Need Is the Girl" (which, like all the songs, retains Jerome Robbins' brilliant choreography). It occurs near the end of the first act. He departs for parts unknown, never to be seen again until the curtain call.

Yazbeck is rather thankful he's denied that much-deserved bow. "I'm so tired at the end of that number I think I just have enough energy to waddle off the stage, but I stick around to see how it was enjoyed."

It was a sentimental evening for him. "Both my parents were there tonight," he said, "and they were there when I got the job of a newsboy in the Tyne Daly revival. It was always a dream of mine since I was a kid to play Tulsa, and to have them there tonight was doubly more meaningful for me than just doing that role. I felt like I was giving back to them."

One of the newsboys in this production used to tend bar next door at Angus McIndoe's. After the show, Matty Price bopped by and was greeted like Charlemagne (to the wry amusement of Sondheim, sitting at the bar). "They all went crazy," Price said. "This is a crazy business, though. You go from waiting tables to that — it's, like, whoa! A real roller coaster. I used to work at Bubba Gump's. I have worked on 44th Street ever since I moved to Manhattan. It just keeps getting better."

Lenora Nemetz, who memorably took over for an ailing Gwen Verdon and replaced Chita Rivera in the original production of Chicago, replaced the now-touring Nancy Opel in two crucial roles — the officious theatrical secretary well-named Miss Cratchitt, and Mazeppa who "bumps it with a trumpet." The latter joined Electra (Marilyn Caskey) and Tessie Tura (Alison Fraser) in that classic stripper sister-act, "You Gotta Get a Gimmick."

Caskey continued to be a source of merriment, moving about the stage gingerly and befogged — as if Electra has gotten her share of accidental volts. "She thinks she's dancing her heart out, too. And, when I'm crossing the stage, I'm thinking, 'Where did I put that bottle?' The part is so beautifully written. It really is. I mean, that line 'I'm electrifying / And I'm not even trying' is brilliant. And it's handed right to you."

Fraser hoped her stripping sorority reflected some measure of depth. "I got my laughs, but I also think I got the reality — and that's the important thing for me," she said. "She's based in reality, and you realize that these are real people. These are women with history, trying to make their way in the world. It's just so much more interesting to play that than to play a cartoon."

Two of Sondheim's book writers attended the opening: Sunday in the Park with George's James Lapine and Pacific Overture's John Weidman. The latter is working on Sondheim's latest, Bounce. When asked if it would still be done at The Public, he didn't say no. He said, "Er, there's going to be announcement."

	Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents at the curtain call.
	photo by Aubrey Reuben

Others in attendance: Laura Linney, Lauren Bacall, Sian Phillips, Stephen Pasquale, Celia Weston, Marylouise Burke, Mandy Patinkin (with a beard), Liz Smith, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick (now working on a "30 Rock" episode), Scott Ellis, Kathleen Marshall, 44x10's Scott Hart, Scott Wittman, Donna Murphy and Shawn Elliott, The Fantasticks' Tom Jones, John Doyle, producer Fred Zolla (who's bringing Al Pacino back to Broadway in the fall), Rob Fisher, Phyllis Newman, Chez Josephine's Jean-Claude Baker in a Tibetan robe ("I am suffering for Tibet"), director Michael Wilson (Broadway-bound with Dividing the Estate) and Wayne Knight.

The Tony-winning Momma Rose in the audience was Angela Lansbury, who, unlike her predecessor in the role, thinks nothing about another performer usurping the role. "Oh, Patti and I are old friends," she said. "We're going to do a benefit together soon for The Acting Company." Patti is an alum, and Lansbury's brother, Edgar, is an exec.

The cast of Gypsy takes its bow.
photo by Aubrey Reuben

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