By Andrew Gans
27 Jun 2003

At 1:42 PM, Peters began her first take of Gypsy's first-act finale, "Everything's Coming Up Roses." The take featured a few of Arthur Laurents' lines that lead up to the song: "I'm gonna make you a star. I'm gonna build a whole new act all around you. It's going to be better than anything we ever did before, better than anything we even dreamed. Oh, you're right Herbie, it is for the best. The old act was getting stale and tired, but the new one. Look at the new star, Herbie. She's going to be beautiful. She is beautiful. Finished! We're just beginning! And there's no stopping us this time." Peters delivered the lines with a chilling intensity before launching into a passionate "Everything's Coming Up Roses." It was quite amazing to watch the actress, who was joking in the sound booth one moment and pouring her guts out in the recording booth the next. Her ability to call up such heartfelt emotion in a split second was astounding.

Peters was unhappy with her performance, however, on the first track, stopping midway at "You can do it. . ." A second track began at 1:47 PM, and she was emotionally and vocally thrilling. (I love the way she vibratos the first syllable of "everything" each time she sings "everything's coming up. . .") What is it about her voice that is so moving? Part womanly and part girlish, it is a powerful instrument, not only in volume (though that is impressive) but in the wealth of emotion it is able to convey. I closed my eyes during several of the day's takes and even without seeing Peters' facial expressions, her voice — that mix of husky, sweet, rounded, vibrato-filled tones — induces a response that spans the emotional scale. In fact, after hearing Peters' rendition, it's hard to believe that I ever thought of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" as a sweet, throwaway tune. In the context of the show — and in Peters' hands — it becomes one of the most harrowing theatrical moments, the ultimate anthem of desperation.

Although the afternoon also included Rose's opening line — "Sing out, Louise" — the reprise of "Small World" and the first portion of "Mr. Goldstone" — sung with comedic flair — the high point of the three-hour session was Gypsy's climactic number, "Rose's Turn." At 2:17 PM, Peters began, with a cry in her voice, exclaiming, "I made you! You want to know why? You want to know what I did it for? Because I was born too soon and I started too late — that's why! With what I have in me I could have been better than any of you. What I've got in me, what I've been holding down inside of me, oh if I ever let it out, there wouldn't be signs big enough. There wouldn't be lights bright enough. Here she is BOYS! Here she is WORLD! Heeeere's Roooose!" Peters stopped at "How do you like them egg rolls, Mr. Goldstone" to restart: the second take began at 2:23 PM.

After Peters finished what I felt was a flawless version of "Rose's Turn," I realized that her rendition of this song may be the highlight of a career already filled with many highlights: She has taken a song that has been delivered incredibly by others and brought it to a new level. And, as I've written before — about her appearance on the Tony telecast — I feel the song reaches its climax in the word "well" that precedes "Well, someone tell me when is it my turn? Don't I get a dream for myself!" The frustration, the longing, the wanting, the needing — all the love and success that Rose has been unsuccessfully searching for her entire life — finally explodes in this belty "Well." Peters' performance is so dramatic that she can't wait until the rest of the sentence to explode: The explosion comes early in “Welllll!” and it's frighteningly intense.

A second take of "Rose's Turn" was recorded at 2:35 PM, as Sondheim, eyes closed and smiling, nodded his head with approval. Director Mendes, who chatted frequently with composer Sondheim throughout the two days of recording, asked Peters to redo the "Momma" section of "Rose's Turn" to enunciate the second syllable of "momma" in one of the stammered moments of the song. Peters did that section several times, and producer Saks commented, "That's chilling. Every time she sings gives me goose bumps." Perhaps conductor Laird put it best, "That was fabulous, Bernadette."

I actually felt like I was witnessing history-in-the-making, watching one of the finest performers Broadway has ever produced preserve her interpretation of one of the finest scores ever written as one of its creators — Stephen Sondheim — observed the entire process. And, I can't wait for history to repeat it itself when the cast recording is released in August.

REMINDERS

Liz Callaway in Concert:
June 28 in Divas On the Hudson in Westchester County, NY
July 18-19 in 101 Years of Broadway at the Lenape Center in Marlton, NJ
Aug. 29-30 at the Stockbridge Cabaret in Stockbridge, MA
Jan. 31, 2004 in Sibling Revelry in Boston, MA
May 8, 2004 in Sibling Revelry in Purchase, NY

Barbara Cook in Concert:

Sept. 7-8 at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, IL
Sept. 13 at the Tulsa Opera House in Tulsa, OK
Sept. 20 in Bethlehem, PA; concert with Marilyn Horne
Oct. 3 at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA; concert with Marilyn Horne
Nov. 22 at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY

Patti LuPone in Concert:

June 27 at the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame Gala in Hollywood, CA
July 19 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, CA
Aug. 5 at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, PA ("Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda")
Aug. 22-23 in Passion at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, IL
Oct. 25 at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA (“Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda”)
Nov. 7-9 with the Houston Symphony ("Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda")
Jan. 23, 2004 at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Jan. 24, 2004 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL
Feb. 27-29, 2004 at the Myerhoff Hall in Baltimore, MD
March 12, 2004 at the New Jersey PAC in Newark, NJ
March 13 at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ

Christiane Noll in Concert

Aug. 28 San Diego, CA with San Diego Symphony
Aug. 29 San Diego, CA with San Diego Symphony
Aug. 30 San Diego, CA with San Diego Symphony
Oct. 11 Chattanooga, TN with Don Pippin
Dec. 31 Des Moines, IA with Des Moines Symphony & Brad Little

Well, that’s all for now. Happy diva-watching!