Gypsy (1962)

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As a fan of Stephen Sondheim, I kind of insist on seeing whatever musical he's contributed to, even if it's always a little strange when he didn't also write the music. That's the case for Gypsy, the musical biopic about 1930s burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee and her fearsome stage mother, which is sunk, I think, largely because there are no strong singers in the show. Not Rosalind Russell, not Natalie Wood, even the singing kids are just okay. They evidently cast for acting talent or screen charisma, and even if it's all quite "musical" in terms of sets, it grounds the story in some kind of reality. Wood is affecting as the non-favorite daughter who dreams as big as her mother but is never given a shot, and Russell gets the lion's share of the humor, but remains a tragic figure, a showbiz addict who abuses her kids into being her proxies, then resents them when they attain success. Karl Malden is good as the mom's long-suffering boyfriend. It has things to say, but it's still a showbiz biopic, with a biopic structure, and basically requires an audience that wants to watch little kids perform batton-twirling, then later grow into young women who do (very demure) strip-teases. In a way, the fact that it's about an act that doesn't work means a lot of its sequences are under-par on purpose. At almost two and a half hours, that's a lot of clunky stage work. 3 years 9 months ago