‘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.

‘DAMES AT SEA’: The cast of the Broadway revival. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

DAMES AT SEA
Book & lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller
Music by Jim Wise
Directed & choreographed by Randy Skinner
Helen Hayes Theatre
240 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), www.damesatseabroadway.com

By David NouNou

There are two reasons to revive the 1968 musical Dames at Sea: The sublime score that was perfection back then and even now, and giving the ever-so-talented Randy Skinner free rein to direct and choreograph anything. Alas, even he can’t muddle through a hackneyed book that was a cute and clever Off-Broadway spoof of the 1930s Warner Brothers musicals: 42nd Street and the Gold Diggers movies. What was an homage in 1968 seems labored, forced and trite today. The magnificent 1980 musical 42nd Street was the embodiment of a splashy Busby Berkley Broadway musical of this genre and it sent this little nugget of a dated, cheerful little show off to Off-Broadway heaven.

You know the story: Young, talented girl comes from Utah to be in a Broadway show. She lands a role in the chorus, meets a guy who happens to be a sailor/song writer, they fall in love; the guy is diverted by the barracuda leading lady. The theater is about to be demolished, the show finds a new venue, a battleship. The girl gets kicked out of show by the barracuda, who in turn gets seasick, back comes the chorus girl, takes over for the leading lady and becomes an overnight star. All this takes place in one day. Adorable for a 1968 Off-Broadway spoof.

I mentioned earlier that the score was sublime; truly every song is a gem. The music by Jim Wise and the lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller have such a familiar ring to them that you’d swear you heard them all in those 1930s Warner Brothers musicals. Each song captures the essence, feel, and mood of all the songs written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin for those musicals. A particular favorite of mine has always been the clever “It’s You” in which the two lovebirds croon, “You’re not The Barrymore Trio or Dolores Del Rio/Charles Farrell or Nancy Carroll/Rudy Vallee or Marion Talley/But you/It’s you/It’s you,” originally sung by an incomparable ingénue with a heartbreaking voice, Bernadette Peters, and her gorgeous leading man, David Christmas. As I sat there relishing every name that was being mentioned, each meticulously picked to sound like another, I was suddenly gripped by a sadness because most of the audience probably has no clue as to who some of these illustrious names were.

This was and still is being performed by six characters to constitute the proverbial cast of thousands: The ingénue Ruby (Eloise Kropp), her sailor/songwriter/boyfriend Dick (Cary Tedder), their cronies Joan (Mara Davi) and her sailor Lucky (Danny Gardner), leading lady Mona Kent (Lesli Margherita), and Hennesey/The Captain of the battleship (John Bolton).

My three favorite performances were Mara Davi as Joan, the fun-loving chorine with a heart of gold. The other two are the sailors Cary Tedder and Danny Gardner. All three excelled in dancing, singing and acting their respective roles proficiently. Not since Senior Shenanigans of 1975 (work with me on this) has there been such over-the-top, scene-chewing performances as given by Lesli Margherita as Mona Kent and, to a lesser degree, John Bolton in the dual roles of Hennesey, the stage director and The Captain. Oh, Randy Skinner, where were you to bring them down to a mere frantic pace? I thought they banned these kinds of performances after graduating from high school. I was also under the impression that less is still more. Last but not least, there is the lovely delightful, winsome, full of charm and exuberant role of the ingénue, Ruby. Bless her heart, Eloise Kropp sure can do a mean tap-dance number.

Director Randy Skinner has imbued Dames at Sea with so many touches to elevate it from Off-Broadway status to a marginally small Broadway theater. One of those touches is the opening show credits, projected onto the stage, to resemble the title opening of a Warner Brothers movie, in which the credits and who’s who in the movie are shown. This is a glorious touch but runs out of steam from there. He has these inventive dance routines that are meant for a chorus of 40, but instead works with an Off-Broadway cast of six. I remember his 2001 revival of 42nd Street that was sheer magic and was robbed of his Tony Award for choreography. The man has talent, taste, and imagination and deserves to be able to display these talents in a great big, splashy musical show, not a Sanforized Off-Broadway imitation.

By the way, I noticed that I mentioned the name Off Broadway six times in this review, and there is a deliberate reason why. Some shows were written and designed on a small scale, and that’s where they flourish best. Just because they were charming in some far-off era Off Broadway doesn’t give them an automatic pass to come to Broadway. Word to the wise: Not all shows are meant to be transferred. Not every show can be a Hair, A Chorus Line, Rent, or Hamilton; these shows all had a vision that transcended boundaries and were meant to eventually come to Broadway. As for Dames at Sea, it may have a rough time staying afloat on the Great White Way.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 29, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on October 28, 2015

‘DAMES AT SEA’: Eloise Kropp & John Bolton. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘DAMES AT SEA’: Mara Davi & Danny Gardner. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘DAMES AT SEA’: John Bolton & Eloise Kropp. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘DAMES AT SEA’: (left to right) John Bolton, Danny Gardner, Mara Davi, Cary Tedder, Eloise Kropp. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘DAMES AT SEA’: Lesli Margherita. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘DAMES AT SEA’: John Bolton & Mara Davi. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘DAMES AT SEA’: Eloise Kropp. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘DAMES AT SEA’: John Bolton & Lesli Margherita. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

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