Bernadette's Rose is one of those if-I-had-a-time-machine performances I wish I could have seen. All I have are the cast recording, the incredible Tonys performance of an abbreviated Rose's Turn (followed by the airing of her dramatic Tony loss), and the odd video here and there. The little I've seen thrills me.
I know much was written at the time -- from a Mt. Everest size pile of skepticism about her appropriateness for the role, to the illness she suffered early in the run, to Michael Riedel (and others?) constant taunting in the press, to Ben Brantley's rave, to reports of Arthur Laurents apparent meddling in Sam Mendes' direction to Bernadette taking several months in the role to find her feet and deliver her 'true' Rose.
For those who saw the production, what are your memories of her performance and the show overall? Did you see it more than once and did the different performances vary meaningfully?
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