‘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.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Jordan Tyson. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

THE NOTEBOOK
Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks
Book by Bekah Brunstetter
Music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson
Directed by Michael Greif & Schele Williams
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.notebookmusical.com

By David NouNou

Eternal love is about the highest ideal a couple can achieve in life: To be there for each other from the onset of their first meeting to their final days. Nicholas Sparks wrote the novel The Notebook on which this musical is based in 1996 when he was 28, and it has endured with readers and moviegoers for nearly 30 years now. However, the Broadway adaptation of the hit book and film is problematic indeed.

The story consists of the three periods in the life of Allie and Noah. They meet in a coastal town in the Mid-Atlantic in the late 1960s where teenagers Younger Noah (John Cardoza) meets Younger Allie (Jordan Tyson) at a picnic with friends and knows she is the girl he’ll marry. Allie is there for the summer with her rich family, Noah works in his father’s lumberyard. Her family looks down on him. He was forced to enlist in the army because her parents were claiming he abducted her and he risked being thrown in jail.

Ten years pass. Middle Noah (Ryan Vasquez) and Middle Allie (Joy Woods) reunite in the late 1970s. Unbeknownst to Allie, Noah wrote her letters for 10 years but she claims she never received them. Of course, her mother hid them from her, and now Allie is engaged to be married to a rich defense lawyer. She reads in the paper that Noah is alive and has bought the home he was building for them and refurbished it as planned. She takes a leave of absence for a few days from her engagement to clear her mind and rekindle what may have been lost. Lots of recriminations here. Until Allie gets the letters handed over by her mother.

Part three is Older Noah (Dorian Harewood) and Older Allie (Maryann Plunkett). Allie is in an old-age facility, suffering from dementia. She doesn’t realize that Noah is her husband. She has good days thinking of him as a friend and days she has no idea who he is. Noah is persistent. He reads the notebook journal that Allie has written to constantly remind her of their lives together so that one day she will remember and come back to him.

The love story is bearable and one wants to believe in this magical love; it’s the execution that is mind-numbingly awkward. From the poorly written book by Bekah Brunstetter and the unremarkable and forgettable music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson, one only wishes there was a large scissor to cut out the text and the score so we could sit with Older Allie and Older Noah and just let them try to find themselves and have that glimpse of recognition.

Which brings me to Maryann Plunkett and Dorian Harewood—God bless them. Ms. Plunkett and Mr. Harewood are the saviors of the show. Without them, you have one of the most unremarkable cast ensembles assembled. With hardly any stage presence or even investment in character, cast members just meander on and off the stage in puddles, water and rain. What’s astonishing is that The Notebook needed two directors—Michael Greif and Schele Williams—to keep the cast moving on and off stage without bumping into each other.

Imagination is in short supply here. Look at the dreary Playbill cover; it will tell you nothing. One just has to be grateful for the professionalism and stage presence of Maryann Plunkett and Dorian Harewood and be satisfied with them.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 22, 2024
Reviewed at March 21, 2024 press performance.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Maryann Plunkett & Dorian Harewood. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Joy Woods. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Maryann Plunkett & cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: John Cardoza & Jordan Tyson (front) & Ryan Vasquez & Joy Woods; & Dorian Harewood & Maryann Plunkett. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Jordan Tyson & John Cardoza. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Ryan Vasquez & Joy Woods. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

The post ‘The Notebook’: Dull adaptation of book & film appeared first on StageZine.