I have a dream

No, not that kind of dream. The overbearing stage mother with hopes of stardom for her daughters, kind.

Jus and I went to see Gypsy on Broadway last night, starring the indomitable Patti Lupone. Lupone won a Tony for her performance and even before the show opened in March the musical theatre lovers were thrilling about her performance.

Jus and I have been yelling 'Patti Lupone' in our best Long Island accents (think loud nasal drawl) since we bought the tickets and we were very curious about how the whole thing would go down.

And it went down like you would expect on a Tuesday night during the summer when the tourists are in heavy numbers and the Gay Pride Parade was the weekend past: gasps and applause as soon as Lupone's voice thunders from the audience (she approaches the stage from the stalls), rousing applause whenever she did a gutsy number and a standing ovation during her three bows. Have I mentioned before that the locals love a standing ovation?

Lupone may not have the most nuanced, controlled voice but she is so comfortable on stage and so clearly in character, and her performance is so raw and gutsy that she is wonderfully compelling. The first act I was struggling: a 1959 musical with 50s arrangements, lyrics and choreography felt a bit limited after the fun of Xanadu and the realism of August: Osage County. But Act II redeemed the musical with a great scene among three ageing strippers and the final transformation of one of the daughters into a burlesque star.

Didn't realise til we got home that the musical is based on the memoir of a real striptease artist. If I had have known that going in I think it would have helped me cope with the first act.

Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher and Morgan Freeman are in a play at the moment: hoping to catch tix to that next.