Gary Tifeld I couldn't agree more! She was never given the attention she deserved. A vulnerable and layered performance and vocally superior to all others.

@@laddboris4116 I saw the same production, and Mss Buckley is always unquestionably the greatest when playing any role that any other actress has attempted. There is no comparison. Whether it's Mama Rose or Norma Desmond, the other performers (no matter how iconic they may be) don't stand a chance against Miss Betty Lynn. I have seen her in three Broadway musicals and three solo concerts...each time, she left me barely able to hobble out of the theater. She is my all-time favorite, and I love her!!!

I was in that production, as Debbie Gibson's understudy. I never went on as Gypsy opposite Betty. I was only 23 and just would've been so afraid. However, it was a master class every show. I was enthralled by Betty's performance. She is hands down the BEST Mama Rose I have ever experienced. Every show she was Tony Award Winning brilliant.

Lansbury a let down? Saw her twice and she took Broadway by storm. She was sensational, acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic.

I saw it live, it was unforgettable. I saw many shows at the Papermill but this was the best.

Laurents was not known to be kind. Her singing of this role puts her in a league almost all by herself [the exception being Delores Gray]. I have heard them all and no one comes close. Not remotely close. Not by a long shot.

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Given that Rose is a failed actress living out her delusional fantasies of stardom, I’d say that’s a pretty apt comparison.

How so?

+Tyler Edwards-Tagg You are comparing acting or SINGING?? If its singing Buckley wins easily.. acting.. yes Imelda does a great job. But Broadway is a little of both is it not when in a musical? And Buckley covers BOTH.

+karrezza I'm comparing both, her singing is excellent and perfectly complements her world class performance

We'll you have the right to be wrong! Buckley rules vocally

Thank you!!!! Imelda is one of the greatest actresses working. She should have won an Oscar for Vera Drake. I saw her in this and I completely agree: Staunton owns this role! Tyne and Patti and then Betty in that order. And you should see Stuanton in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woif. Superb!!!

Imelda shouted from her first entrance to her last scene. She was angry and unlikable throughout. There was absolutely no demonstration that her Rose could’ve used her sexuality to get ahead, no glimpse of her being manipulative, no glimmer of the humour, no light and shade. How did her Rose have so many husbands? There was no sense that her Rose had any layers or shades beyond being a loud, bulldozer of a person and that undermines Rose’s Turn - there should be some sense that she would indeed have been incredibly successful as a performer in another life.

Even Sondheim said he didn’t think Merman understood what Rose’s Turn was even about… she was just belting it out to hit the back of the theatre.

@@christophermalfa4689 Sondheim only had to write the lyrics not perform it 7 times a week. For someone like Ethel Merman, of that period, without an education in role development, theater and interpretation, this role was a major challenge that she met.