Mom, what's an ecdysiast?

Patti LuPone will play Mama Rose this summer at City Center. To this news, I have two equal and opposite reactions. I am excited, so excited to see a fully-staged production of Gypsy. The show was one of the first cast recordings I ever got my grubby, 5-year-old mitts on, and I remember many an afternoon spent on my front porch, belting out "Some People" - not knowing what half of it even meant. It pretty much lit the theatrical flame in wee Moxie when she was just a babe - and yet I've never seen a full production! So this is exciting news to say the least.

On the other hand, I... ehrm... don't really, well, like Patti LuPone. Flame me all you want, but her brand of over-acting and scenery chewing has always irritated me, and her whole yell-singing thing doesn't turn me on much, either. I'm hoping I'll get my mind changed, because it seems like this is a role she was born to play.

The other side of this news is that the production will be a part of a new Encores! "Summer Stars" series, which according to Playbill is a spinoff of the Encores! that did Follies, The Apple Tree, etc. If my assumptions about the name "Summer Stars" are correct, it's a cool idea - put big stars in limited runs of great shows that are star vehicles. If that's the purpose, it's pretty rad.

P.S. Patti played Mama Rose at the Ravinia in 2006, and Jessica Boevers was Gypsy Rose Lee. Blahhhh... I really hope they cast someone else. She's not available, but wouldn't Leslie Kritzer be fierce?