If online forums are any indication, the Broadway community is quite surprised that the current revival of Gypsy starring Audra MacDonald is closing way sooner than expected. Its last performance will be August 17 and it will have played 28 previews and 269 performances. By contrast, the 2008 revival with Patti LuPone — which received less attention, less acclaim and which I thought was not very good — ran 27 previews and 332 performances. The Audra version had been expected to run at least until October 5 and there was much chatter about whether it would run longer than that.
Having not seen the new version, I have no guess as to why the shortened run. Well, I have one: Maybe Gypsy has just been revived too often. And come to think of it, I have two: Maybe audiences are getting less eager to shell out huge bucks to see huge stars. I think both these reasons are worth some consideration.
It's a show I think I love…and my hesitation to commit is because I never liked the movie or most of the live versions I've seen. My favorite, which I only saw on video, was the 2015 revival in London starring Imelda Staunton. (You can order a copy on Amazon or probably watch it on many streaming services including Tubi.)
My problem with many presentations of it — and I've discussed this here before — is that I see this as the story of a woman (Mama Rose) who had to make one or more of her kids into stars because she could never be a star herself. And there's something wrong with a production of it where the person on the stage playing Mama Rose is the one with most of the star quality and talent. (Or as in the movie with Rosalind Russell, comes across like a woman of wealth and breeding…and in Ms. Russell's case, an obviously-dubbed one when singing.)
I obviously never saw Ethel Merman in the part but she strikes me as the perfect Mama Rose. She was a Broadway star who didn't look like a Broadway star. But maybe I'm underestimating the suspension of disbelief an audience can muster for the right performance. I just had no interest in seeing Audra MacDonald, who I think may be the most talented performer in the business today, playing someone who could never be a star. Oh — and what you had to shell out to get good seats was also kinda discouraging.