The greatest musical is "Gypsy"; this has entered "beyond debate" territory.
If you look at Broadway's musical offerings right now, they are generally bad. It's hard to find a musical with a smart book, high stakes, an original story, and a soaring, intelligent score. "And Juliet" can't give you all of that. "The Lost Boys" can't give you all of that. It's not clear to me that "Schmigadoon" has high stakes. And, though "Two Strangers" makes more of an effort than almost any other show currently on Broadway, the score and the book leave something to be desired.
Among other things, "Gypsy" touches on the destruction of a family, the debasement of women in America, the idea of emotional abuse, and the gap between truth and perception. And it's a musical! "Gypsy" does almost everything extraordinarily well, but its really sublime moment is (at least for me) the end of Act One. This is when the story needs to pivot. Something foreboding needs to become something fully nightmarish. We can see how frustrating it is when the writers miss their mark. For example, in "Two Strangers" the "pivot" is the way that Robin and Dougal solidify their friendship--with a big shopping spree. But this doesn't feel like a major step in the story--so the curtain falls on a mild sense of deflation.
There are no words for how much I love the twist in "Gypsy." The "good" daughter has secretly been planning an elopement and disappearance; as a final "fuck you" for her mother, she doesn't even break the news in person. We might imagine that Madame Rose will lick her wounds for a while, but Rose--being Rose--immediately turns on her one *still extant* daughter and makes a series of new and terrifying demands. Louise will be the new vessel for Rose's pain. Because this is a deluded WASP family, no one is willing to *name* the thing that is happening.
I don't know (or know well) the full spectrum of Rose performances, but, for me, the standard is Patti LuPone. And my choice is related to one moment--it's when LuPone, feeling the weight of her own madness, almost collapses against a wall of suitcases. This gives me goosebumps every time.
That's why "Gypsy" has the reputation it has. All of the above.
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