Stephen Sondheim is my musical theatre god. My top 3 favorite shows of all time are Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd. That said…
I’ve never agreed with the conventional notion (especially among theatre critics) that Gypsy is one of America’s greatest musicals. It’s certainly formidable and, when cast well, can soar, but it’s also a bloated behemoth with an erratic, overly melodramatic book by Arthur Laurents and a too-often repetitive score by Jule Styne. The lyrics, by Sondheim, are as clever and cutting as he was allowed at the time. And the fact that an essential character (June) disappears completely after the first act has always felt like a lost opportunity.
All three creatives would go on to do much better work (or had already).
I’ve experienced Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone in the lead. I deliberately omit Bette Midler’s shrill TV movie interpretation. LuPone was the one Mama Rose who made me understand why that role was singular and titanic. Her Rose was ravenous and unstoppable, but also deeply vulnerable. She remains my favorite as does that Tony-winning production, co-starring Laura Benanti. And I can only imagine how Ethel Merman must have attacked that part when it first opened on Broadway in 1959.
I also have to admit to liking the Mervyn LeRoy film version starring Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood. Russell’s voice was blended with another for some of the tracks. Wood, who was dubbed for “West Side Story,” did all her own singing in the film. Both leads delivered powerhouse work.
All the above noted, Audra McDonald is no slouch. Her embodiment of the most famous—infamous–stage mother is astonishing to behold. She’s an angrier, grittier Mama Rose, who keeps trying to make lemonade with the too-many lemons life is doling out to her. Her struggles feel more grounded in a necessary tenacity and willfulness. There’s more pain in her walk and manner.
McDonald is a force. And race does become a major factor here, even though director George C. Wolfe, perspicaciously never overly emphasizes it. He doesn’t need to since the show has always been tagged, “A Musical Fable,” so the idea of a Black woman dreaming that she could work her way up the Vaudeville circuit, via her daughters, is just as believable as a white woman having the same notion. We can all dream. And, sometimes, even the most wildly unlikely dreams can come true, though often, not in the way we imagined.
Gypsy was adapted from the memoir by the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee about her early life in Vaudeville with her driven mother Rose Hovick pushing her daughter June (Havoc) towards the limelight, while her less-talented older sister Louise (who would become Gypsy Rose Lee) stayed in the shadows. That is until June elopes and embarks on a career of her own and Mama decides that Louise will now be a star.
With Vaudeville being decimated by the popularity of sound films, Rose’s group of misfit toys find themselves booked into a Burlesque house and when one of the strippers is arrested, Rose volunteers Louise to take her place. The rest is herstory.
The show taps into our cultural obsession with show business, the rise and fall of stars, and the aggressive ambition necessary to survive and thrive in the entertainment field. And when it comes to assertive stage mothers, Mama Rose is the ultimate fiend.
Some of the scenes in this revival are awkwardly staged—and I don’t mean in that deliberate awkward manner—and not all of the actors rise to their expected levels. But Wolfe’s production is mostly-captivating, especially when McDonald is onstage. We feel her desperation, her longing, her refusal to ever give up or give in. She’s Vaudeville and nothing else matters. My only real issue with the performance is that her amazing operatic voice didn’t always meld with the songs.
One of the best and purest moments, sans Rose, is the “If Mama Was Married” number, wonderfully performed by Joy Woods as Louise and Jordan Tyson as June. Tyson is a presence sorely missed in Act Two.
A comic highlight is the “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” sequence, spectacularly performed by strippers Lesli Margherita, Lili Thomas and Mylinda Hull.
In the end, this Gypsy revival is all about Mama Rose and McDonald triumphs in the role.
Gypsy is currently playing at the Majestic Theater, NYC. gypsybway.com
