‘GYPSY’: Joy Woods & Audra McDonald. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

GYPSY
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Suggested by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee
Music supervision, music direction &
additional arrangements by Andy Einhorn
Choreography by Camille A. Brown
Directed by George C. Wolfe
Majestic Theatre
245 W. 45^th St.
https://gypsybway.com
 

By Scott Harrah

It’s six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald’s turn to play the iconic Mama Rose—and she is one of the best yet. 

There’s a reason why Gypsy has been revived five times in the past 30 years: it remains one of the best-written, most seamless American musicals of all time, partially because it’s based on a true story, but primarily due to its unforgettable songbook.  Originally portrayed by Ethel Merman in 1959, the role of Rose is the lifeblood of this classic, and everyone from Angela Lansbury to Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone has played the part on Broadway—and Imelda Staunton in London— since then. Now, Audra McDonald takes on the iconic Seattle stage mother Rose with everything she’s got and gives the character an entirely new “spin.”

A reinvention of Mama Rose

While many actresses played Rose as an edgy, high-spirited belter, Ms. McDonald gives the woman a sense of elegance and inner dignity, singing the classic songs with her famous coloratura voice and, in a sense, reinvents them for a new generation. Rose is as demanding a role in musical theater as Lady Macbeth and Blanche DuBois are in the pantheon of drama, and Ms. McDonald’s interpretation is one of the best yet. The only other outside-of-the-box portrayal of Rose this reviewer has seen was by Imelda Staunton at the Savoy Theatre in London back in 2015.

Ms. Staunton, a petite British acting legend, exploded on the West End with an entirely original rendition of Rose. “You see her building layer after layer with every scene and song,” wrote the late David Nounou in his 2015 StageZine review. “She is raw and vulnerable; she is coiled like a cobra ready to strike, and all wrapped up in a veil of desperation to succeed.”

Fragile & vulnerable

However, while Ms. Staunton’s Rose was manic—as was Patti LuPone’s in the 2008 Broadway revival—Ms. McDonald is more subtle but equally powerful. Hers is a Rose that gains gradual momentum, bossy in the beginning, but with a touch of class. Ms. McDonald paces Rose with razor-sharp intensity, eventually evolving into an out-of-control harridan who is not exactly likeable.  We see her fragility and vulnerability. When Ms. McDonald sings “Some People” in act one, we know immediately she’s not giving us the brassy Rose of yesteryear. She is softer, gentler and more operatic in her vocal delivery, and it works beautifully. She is also sublime indeed when singing classic songs like the heartbreaking 11^th hour finale “Rose’s Turn,” and even gives a fresh take on “Have an Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone.” She’s in fine voice when singing such classics as “Together Wherever We Go” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”

Big, bold & splashy

This production is far more lavish than the stripped-down 2008 iteration with Patti LuPone. That revival featured an on-stage orchestra but had few sets and a downsized cast. This Gypsy is truer to the show’s epic proportions of the past. It is a spectacular production, with a cast of 30, a full orchestra, great sets by Santo Loquasto, outstanding Depression-era costumes by Toni-Leslie James and marvelous lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer. This is Gypsy the way it was meant to be: big, bold, splashy and spectacular.

Gypsy is “suggested” by “The Memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee,” the story of the burlesque icon’s childhood life in a traveling vaudeville act, helmed by a domineering mother. Joy Woods is entertaining indeed in role of Louise, the tomboyish child who spends most of act one in the background while her prettier sister Dainty June (Jordan Tyson) headlines the show-within-a-show. It’s not until the second act when June strikes out on her own that Louise truly blossoms as she’s forced by her mother to become the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.

Standout supporting cast

Some of the greatest performances are given by such supporting characters as Herbie (Danny Burstein), Rose’s boyfriend/manager.  Tony Award winner Mr. Burstein is always amazing, but he is one of the best Herbies this reviewer has ever seen. He’s sensitive, determined and is consistently top-notch in both his acting and singing. We really feel for the guy as he clings to the hope that Rose will one day marry him.

Joy Woods as Louise is another standout. She starts out shy and unassuming, but her transformation in the second act as Gypsy Rose Lee is remarkable, even if it seems a bit rushed and awkward. Watching Ms. Woods’ Louise go from a modest, awkward teen to the glamorous Gypsy Rose Lee is delightful, especially when she sings the showstopper “Let Me Entertain You.”

One of the show’s highlights is watching the trio of seasoned strippers in a Wichita burlesque grindhouse (Lesli Margherita as Tessie Tura, Lili Thomas as Mazeppa and Melinda Hull as Electra). The three burlesque queens show Gypsy how to take it all off in the razzle-dazzle number “You’ve Gotta Get a Gimmick.”

One of the greatest show-business stories ever told

However, there is nothing gimmicky about Gypsy. Despite its feel-good songs and breezy narrative, it’s essentially a tragedy as intricately crafted as anything by Shakespeare or the great American dramatists of the 20^th century. Director George C. Wolfe allows each cast member to shine, and Camille A. Brown’s choreography is energetic and effusive.

Gypsy peels back the emotional layers of a mother’s megalomania and strong drive to see her children succeed to expose the vulnerability beneath her iron-clad exterior. It’s a fable of sacrifice, the death of vaudeville in America, and the agony of broken dreams that still packs an emotional punch with new generations of audiences. That’s why more than six decades after it was first produced, Gypsy still holds up as one of the greatest show-business stories ever told.

Published January 9, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on January 8, 2025

‘GYPSY’: Audra McDonald. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘GYPSY’: Audra McDonald & Joy Woods. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘GYPSY’: (left to right) Danny Burstein, Joy Woods & Audra McDonald. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘GYPSY’: (left to right) Zachary Daniel Jones, Brendan Sheehan, Audra McDonald, Andrew Kober, Danny Burstein & Jordan Tyson. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘GYPSY’: Joy Woods. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘GYPSY’: (left to right) Mylinda Hull, Joy Woods, Lesli Margherita & Lili Thomas. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘GYPSY’: Zachary Daniel Jones, Tony d’Alelio, Jordan Tyson, Kevin Csolak & Brendan Sheehan. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘GYPSY’: Jade Smith. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

The post ‘Gypsy’: Audra McDonald is best Mama Rose yet appeared first on StageZine.

‘WEST SIDE STORY’: Shereen Pimentel, Isaac Powell & cast. Photo: Jan Versweyveld

WEST SIDE STORY
Based on a conception by Jerome Robbins
Originally directed & choreographed by Jerome Robbins
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Ivo van Hove
Choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Broadway Theatre
1681 Broadway & 53rd Street
(212) 238-6200, www.westsidestorybway.com

By David NouNou

Where and how does one begin to disseminate this preposterous “reimagination” of a once-revolutionary Broadway classic that reinvented musical theatre, now reduced to an abstract Eurotrash mess? Credit for this abomination must certainly go to Belgian director Ivo van Hove. His definition of directing is having a downpour of rain on stage in anything he directs. Remember his production of A View From the Bridge from 2015? Well, there are two downpours here: one in the rumble scene and the second is in Tony’s death scene and finale. Mr. van Hove takes American classics and injects them with European pretentiousness.

That is just one of the absurd insertions in this revival. I’ll name you a few more just so you will know what you are paying for. The stage is totally bare, making the Broadway Theatre stage seem cavernous. What you get instead is a videographer on stage taking pictures of cast members and imposing them on the back wall of the theatre; that’s how the show starts. The hardest thing to explain to you is also the dumbest: Why are cast members in different scenes being videotaped behind a makeshift set obstructed from audience view and shown on the back wall as if watching a movie? As if that isn’t enough, some of the cast members in some scenes are actually photographed on real streets and then splashed on the wall.

Naturally every song has a videotape with various images on that infamous wall. One example is “America”, sung by Anita, Bernardo and the Sharks. When Anita sings “I like to be in America,” you see pictures set in America. However, when Bernardo sings about Puerto Rico, you get the images of downtrodden people and hovels. With all these images bombarding our line of vision, it is counterproductive to what is actually going on stage. The actors are so dwarfed by the images that you hardly notice them but are preoccupied with all the photographed visuals.

Here is another one: Remember the brilliantly conceived balcony scene where Tony climbs a fire escape to meet Maria in her apartment complex, ultimately confessing their love for each other and then sing “Tonight”? What once was a lovely, touching and romantic scene has now been reduced to the two of them chasing each other around on a bare stage singing, then writhing on the dirty streets of New York in each other’s arms—and all this is superimposed on the giant back wall.

Jerome Robbins conceived a brilliant musical adaption of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and moved the setting to 1957 in modern-day New York City. He changed the Capulets and Montagues to the Jets being the American gang and the Sharks being the Puerto Rican gang. He gave them distinct looks and mannerisms that fit each group. Each gang was fighting for their turf and trying to eliminate the other. Well, that wasn’t good enough for Mr. Van Hove, so he decided to make them all tattooed ’hood rats hip-hopping their way on the stage and making them indistinguishable from one another. Whether it is the opening scene where you meet the two gangs, or the dance at the gym, or the rumble, the cast members have so melded and morphed into one another that you have no idea who is fighting whom, and by this point you don’t care because it has become a big, aimless mess on stage.

As for the leads Tony (Isaac Powell), Maria (Shereen Pimentel), Anita (Yesenia Ayala), Bernardo (Amar Ramasar) or Riff (Dharon E.Jones), there is nothing that makes them stand out in any form. For those unforgettable characters have been reduced to memories of what we know of them either from previous revivals or from the classic iconic (though dated) 1961 movie.

Back to Jerome Robbins. Not only did he conceive this masterpiece, he also directed and choreographed the show. The choreography was innovative and electrifying, it changed dance forever on the musical stage. The staging was concise and synchronized with razor-sharp movements. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker has scraped all that genius precision and come up with a mash-up of dance styles with the usual back flips and the one-arm stand kick with nothing visually pleasing or exciting. I guess she didn’t hear the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I’ll give you another dilly for the road. This is just for laughs: Who wears gold-sequined capri pants to a rumble? This sparkly gem comes from costume designer, An D’Huys–another ridiculous idea gone bad.

There is really nothing more one can say about a masterpiece that once was throbbing with excitement being reduced to a cliché of tedium in the name of “reimagination.” Of all the recent musical revivals of West Side Story, Oklahoma, Carousel, The King and I or Kiss Me Kate, this has to be the saddest and most pitiful, because it had the most sublime heart-pounding score of any show. The score by Leonard Bernstein is one of the most memorable and exciting pieces ever composed, thus making West Side Story one of the most vibrant and legendary musicals of our time. West Side Story deserved a better fate than this abysmal Eurotrash version.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published February 20, 2020

‘WEST SIDE STORY’: The cast. Photo: Jan Versweyveld.

‘WEST SIDE STORY’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

The post ‘West Side Story’ reduced to digital dud appeared first on StageZine.

IMELDA’S TURN: Imelda Staunton gives one of the freshest interpretations of Mama Rose ever in the London revival of ‘Gypsy.’ Photo: Johan Persson

GYPSY
Suggested by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Jonathan Kent
Choreographed by Stephen Mear
Through November 28, 2015
Savoy Theatre
Strand
London, United Kingdom
(0844 871 7674), www.gypsythemusical.uk

By David NouNou

Americans are very possessive of their national treasures, and Gypsy, the musical, is certainly one of them. I would definitely place it among the five greatest American musicals of all time. However, in the past 11 years, two Broadway revivals have been major disappointments: the first was a total flatliner, and the second was a maniacally one-note, manic, diva-driven vehicle. So when it was time for StageZine to select which shows to review in London, Gypsy was not a top priority. I must say that nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on the stage of the Savoy or Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose.

To begin with, the book by Arthur Laurents is tightly written (though at times now a bit creaky) but the music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim are immortal and second to none. From the first note of the overture, the music is intoxicating and prepares you for the roller coaster ride you are about to take. Starting with the new orchestrations by Nicholas Skilbeck and Tom Kelly to fit the range of the leading lady’s voice, they maintained the crispness of the score, and Jonathan Kent’s reimagined and redefined direction compresses the proceedings on the small Savoy stage not in a downscaled manner but in the shabby mode of the old vaudeville and burlesque style.

The story is simple: a stage mother (Rose) is trying to push her two young daughters, Baby June and Baby Louise, to stardom in vaudeville at a time when vaudeville was dying and the girls are growing up and still being passed off as young little girls. Ultimately time marches on, June runs off to elope and get away from Mama’s grip to become an actress, and Louise becomes the renowned stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.

Now for the best part of a review, when a critic shamelessly fawns over the leading lady and for good reason. Most Americans know Imelda Staunton for her Oscar-nominated role as the lead in Vera Drake and the two Harry Potter movies and would not seem an obvious choice as Mama Rose; after all, the role was originated by Ethel Merman, the legendary voice of Broadway. Just listen to the original recording of Gypsy and you’ll know why no actress dared play the part until 1974. That was the time when Angela Lansbury was coaxed to do the role. Ms. Lansbury was not a great singer but certainly gave a brilliant performance. Ms. Lansbury originated it in London and lucky for me she came to Broadway, where I got my first glimpse of this masterpiece. Subsequently many actresses have come to play the part: Tyne Daly, Linda Lavin, Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley, Patti LuPone, and those are only the ones that I saw, but I can honestly say I have never encountered a force with the ferocity of Hurricane Imelda.

She is as ruthless as Medea, as delusional as Norma Desmond, as genteel, charming and emotionally fragile as Blanche DuBois. Being familiar with this musical, I was most interested to see how Ms. Staunton was going to make her first entrance. While the audience was watching the proceedings onstage, I had my head cocked to the right, watching her make her way down the dark aisle. While most Roses barrel in on their first entrance to make their presence felt as the force they are with the famous line “Sing out, Louise,”  not Imelda; she casually sashays down the aisle and firmly says those three immortal words while climbing onstage. At first I thought this was an odd choice for an entrance, but then it made sense; she unobtrusively enters to receive her due applause. And so begins this legendary performance for the ages. You see her building layer after layer with every scene and song. She is raw and vulnerable; she is coiled like a cobra ready to strike, and all wrapped up in a veil of desperation to succeed. As for her singing, no one expects Merman, but watch Ms. Staunton act the hell out of “Some People,” “Small World,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Together Wherever We Go,” and the finale “Rose’s Turn.” One is absolutely and orgasmically drained after that number.

As the grown up Louise, Lara Pulver bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Joan Crawford, is perfect in her early stages of awkwardness and being invisible and touching up to the point where Mama pushes her onstage to be a stripper. It’s at this point where she is not convincing in the maturation process and the emergence of the renowned stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Her “Let Me Entertain You” montage of the cocoon opening into a butterfly is hampered in two ways; she is given the most hideous costumes to perform in, thus making the scene blah instead of sexy and exciting; and she lacks the oomph to bring any shading to character development as Gypsy Rose Lee.

Peter Davison is sweet, gentle and loving as Herbie, Rose’s ardent pursuer, but lacks the hard edge of an agent that Herbie needs to survive in show business.

One of the major highlights of the show’s reimagining are the three strippers in the “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” number. Usually performed by older but fit actresses, Mr. Kent made it more authentic, by showing the seediness of burlesque with women whose bodies have had hard times and seen better days. Kudos to Anita Louise Combe (Tessie Tura), Louise Gold (Mezeppa) and Julie LeGrand (Electra) for letting it all hang out.

I must confess that seeing Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose performing at the magnificent art deco Savoy Theatre was theatrical nirvana for me. For anyone who is planning to visit London and is going to the theatre, Gypsy is the show to catch. A truly “must see” show of the year.

AS RUTHLESS AS MEDEA & AS DELUSIONAL AS NORMA DESMOND: Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose in ‘Gypsy’. Photo: Johan Persson

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCES: Lara Pulver (left) & Imelda Staunton in ‘Gypsy.’ Photo: Johan Persson

ONE OF AMERICA’S BEST MUSICALS REVIVED IN LONDON: Imelda Staunton (left) & Lara Pulver in ‘Gypsy.’ Photo: Johan Persson

‘LITTLE LAMB’: Lara Pulver in ‘Gypsy’. Photo: Johan Persson

GREATEST SHOW-BIZ STORY EVER ON THE STAGE: ‘Gypsy’ revival in London. Photo: Johan Persson

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 26, 2015
Reviewed at June 19, 2015 performance in London

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