There's a moment in the stupendous Arthur Laurents-Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim musical Gypsy when stage mother Rose says to worried daughter Louise that if you give audiences a big finish, they'll forgive anything that preceded it. Well, Patti LuPone -- currently triumphing as Rose in the splendid new Encores! Summer Stars series production of the tuner -- not only plays Mama Rose to a fare-thee-well but turns Mama Rose's big-finish comment into a credo. In a performance that will have musical comedy fanatics buzzing for months to come, LuPone executes a finish to end all finishes.



I'm not talking here about her rendition of the celebrated "Rose's Turn"--the last few measures of whi[...]