Rose's Turn

[Phantom of London]

Who was your favorite Rose?


Ethel Merman


Angela Lansbury


Tyne Daly


Bernadette Peters


Patti Lupone

[After Eight]

Ethel Merman

[Playbilly]

No Bette? No Roz? No Babs-the-the-future?

[ClydeBarrow]

I think this makes it clear who my choice is.

But also no Kurt?


Rose's Turn

[bryan2]

Loved Tyne...saw her 4 times-my favorite live..Patti was great but she is always Patti..Betty Buckley was better than Patti I still think when I saw her at Pappermill.... I personally love the recording with Angela Lansbury..love the way she sings Everythings Comin up Roses

[Wynbish]

Definitely Patti

[sparepart973]

I only saw Caroline O'Connor live but I also like Patti's take.

[JoeKv99]

I bet Carroll O'Connor was a hell of a Rose.

[LYLS3637]

Oh man, Archie Bunker singing "Rose's Turn." That would be perfection!

[bwayphreak234]

Patti.

[dreaming]

I'm in the vast minority, but I loved Bernadette. She brought a level of fragility and humanity to the role. I also love her "Rose's Turn"-particularly because in this version (or in my interpretation of it), when Louise comes out and says "You really would've been something, Mama," you realize WHO had the talent-Rose did-and that makes the story a little more tragic. Bernadette's "Rose's Turn" gives us a glimpse of what Rose might have been had she had the opportunity.

[MrMidwest]

I think Bernadette is the best acting-wise, probably followed by Tyne Daly.

[D2]

This never gets old, does it?

[PalJoey]

Let's hear it for Kay Medford's UNFORGETTABLE "Rose's Turn":

http://youtu.be/Bl_fbJmYTTI

[AEA AGMA SM]

I worked on a production with Donna McKechnie back in the early 2000s and found her to be quite wonderful in the role.

[Jon]

Show me a Rose and I'll show you a girl named Sam
Show me a Rose - or leave me alone.

[PalJoey]

Thank you for the Groucho reference.

[GavestonPS]

Angela Lansbury was simply unbelievable during "Rose's Turn" on stage, so I question any claim that so-and-so was the better actress. Angela's "silent bow"--added after the applause by Arthur Laurents--remains one of the most chilling moments I've ever seen on a stage.

But I did not see Merman. Of course, she sang it best.

[Far From Home]

Angela Lansbury

[GavestonPS]

^^^And I feared I might be Lansbury's only vote.

I should add that the few film clips available on YouTube do not do her justice.

[EricMontreal22]

Angela's is my fave on record--though I guess I do also associate it first with Merman.

...and I'm one of the few who likes Bette's googly eyed, manic performance on TV.

[Far From Home]

Nope, you're not alone.

[GavestonPS]

Angela's is my fave on record...

That's interesting, Eric, and I don't know it well enough to argue. But I do know the GYPSY team (again, we revived the show about 10 months after it closed in NYC) was generally unhappy with the cast recording. I was told that Jule Stein insisted on conducting himself and slowed the tempos so that every grace note was audible.

Most of the show's staff felt the energy and excitement of the revival was lost in the process.

I will say I love Angela's singing, especially for someone who was technically a "non-singer". She was a consummate musician, however, and could intelligently argue why an extra clarinet had to be added to the reeds (actual example).

[ComingUpRoses2]

Hold on, fellas! Here I go...

Angela's "Rose's Turn" is by far the scariest. Even just judging from live bootlegs, the film clips on YouTube, and the cast recording, you can tell that. That's a REAL mental breakdown and it's terrifying to watch and hear.

I think I read somewhere where Sondheim said his favorite Rose would be Ethel Merman for act 1 and Angela Lansbury for act II. I think that makes sense.

I think Tyne was the best in terms of full performances I've seen. She was gritty, hilarious, moving, sexy when needed, and wonderfully low class and vulgar. It just worked so well that you forgot she didn't have the Merman pipes to do the score justice. Every time she opened her mouth to sing, you could just believe it was Rose. Perhaps if she had possessed a better voice, it wouldn't have worked as well.

Betty Buckley was a little too serious for me. She really can't do comedy at all. I actually felt bad for her. She's the best sung Rose by far, perhaps even beating Merman. I'd love to hear a professional recording of her singing the whole score. It's thrilling.

Bernadette was deliciously sexy and conniving and, like others have pointed out, one could really believe she could have been a star. She's also the most heartbreaking of all the Roses and reminds me of all those moms out there right now who are trying to live through their daughters and dress just like them. She had that sexy MILF thing down. Sort of like a Dina Lohan type.

Patti had her moments, but I didn't think she was quite the revelation everyone was making her out to be. She was good, but not brilliant. Her performance also really varied from night to night. Some nights, she'd be wonderful and others were not quite as good. Even clips on YouTube will show you that. Her "Everything's Coming Up Roses" was perhaps the most thrilling version of that song I've ever seen/heard before in my life, though. The sheer intensity just floored me.

Poor Roz Russell was miscast, but made the best of it. I think she was too concerned with making Rose "nice", which is a big no-no. She nailed some of the more comedic moments, though, but her "Rose's Turn" is played as a moment of triumph and not the moment of defeat it should be.

The only Rose I've found almost absolutely without merit is Bette Midler. That has to be the single cheesiest, most over the top performance I've ever seen on film. We all know Rose is an over the top character, but Bette played her like a cartoon. She has a few good moments, mostly in the quieter scenes (her reaction to June's "...and sometimes it's their father!" as she waits in the wings is hysterical), but she peaks at "Everything's Coming Up Roses." She brings so much crazy to that number that I felt like I'd already seen "Rose's Turn" and we still had a whole other act to go. I think that's one of the dangers of the role. You can't peak too early. The audience still needs to feel that, perhaps, Rose might come to her senses, marry Herbie, and get on with a real life.

[GavestonPS]

Thank YOU, ComingUp. Great comparison.

I'll just add a quote from Joanna Merlin (Harold Prince's longtime casting director): "With Merman it was chills, with Lansbury it was tears."

Now I found Lansbury just as chilling at the end as you did. I think Merlin was talking about entire performances, not just "Rose's Turn".

[strummergirl]

I could have sworn Bernadette's "Rose's Turn" at the Tonys was well-received. Her interpretation and the Riedel controversy was another matter altogether.