Theatre Review by Ron Fassler . . .
It’s hard to fathom that as great a musical as Gypsy lost all eight Tony Awards for which it was nominated when it first premiered on Broadway. That was one competitive season back in 1959-1960 as it marked the only tie for Best Musical in Tonys history between Fiorello! and The Sound of Music. Nearly seven decades later, who could have predicted it would be Gypsy that would have five Broadway revivals with only one for The Sound of Music and none for Fiorello!? All to say that time has been very kind to Gypsy, in spite of its action taking place roughly a hundred years ago between the 1920s and 1930s. That it has managed to continually hold up beautifully is testament to Arthur Laurents, who wrote as good a book for a musical that there’s ever been, as well as its first rate score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim which offer songs and dramatic scenes for a lead actress like no other. Suggested by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, a burlesque entertainer who became a household name by way of emphasizing the “tease” in strip teasing, the show focuses less on young Louise who transforms into Gypsy, but more on her mother Rose—the stage mother from Hell.
Now following in the Broadway footsteps of Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters, and Patti LuPone, it’s Audra McDonald’s turn—and what a turn it is. With a voice unlike any of these other wildly varied women, it takes some getting used to hearing Rose’s familiar songs sounding so different. McDonald’s three-octave range is challenged by the mix of chest and head voice she employs for a score written specifically for the brassy belt of Ethel Merman. But as is the case when an actor redefines a major role, McDonald unquestionably makes Rose her own and the sound she produces is, at times, thrilling. It’s an edge-of-your-seat performance; ferocious, seductive and altogether original. She uses a slight southern cadence that suits the language and she scores in all the spots necessary in conveying Rose’s manic determination. Her magnificent renditions of the score’s two mammoth numbers, the end of the first act’s “Everything’s Coming Up Rose” and “Rose’s Turn,” the greatest eleven o’clock number ever written for a female character in a musical, are bone-chilling. Even with standing ovations de rigueur nowadays, after “Rose’s Turn,” I willingly leaped to my feet with everyone else.
Set in the dying days of vaudeville, Gypsy travels across the United States as Rose and her ragtag collection of performers, led by her daughter June (and later by her less talented daughter Louise), attempt to eke out a living in the throes of the Great Depression. Along with Rose’s lover Herbie, who acts as agent for the misguided troupers, the story is a family drama, not really the sort of musical comedy audiences were used to in 1959 (yes, it was most definitely ahead of its time). Remember, with the exception of Leonard Bernstein and the addition of Jule Styne, Robbins, Laurents and Sondheim are the same folks who came up with West Side Story two years earlier. Innovators all.
There are hits and misses in this new production directed by George C. Wolfe, with all-new choreography by Camille A. Brown, and the misses land firmly at their feet. The biggest problem is Louise’s trajectory, which does not function at its best. It’s hard to figure whether Joy Woods is miscast or has been let down by Wolfe’s direction and Brown’s choreography. As Louise, she doesn’t offer a hint that such a squished caterpillar of a teenager would be capable of becoming the butterfly that was Gypsy Rose Lee. When revealed as glamorous, she looks great, but the young woman who has been trapped inside has been on such a low flame for so long that the transformation doesn’t catch fire. Woods is truly let down by the unfortunate stagings of the montage of strip teases that are meant to mark her ascendence to the heights of stardom. Paced poorly and decidedly unsexy, perhaps time will help to fix the issue in later performances.
In terms of ideal casting, there’s Danny Burstein as Herbie. He captures every aspect of the character’s sincerity and kindness, but also the darker sides of his craftiness and self-loathing. His relationship with McDonald is palpable and always believable transmuting their individual magic as actors into an onstage alchemy of depth and dimension. Kevin Csolak’s Tulsa is particularly well danced in his showcase song “All I Need Is the Girl,” but it’s less the highlight it should be due to the somewhat less than inspired choices in Brown’s restaging of Robbins’s original choreography. Brown is on safer ground with the trio of Mazeppa, Electra, and Tessie Tura, played by Lili Thomas, Mylinda Hull and Lesli Margherita, who are hilarious in “You Gotta Get a Gimmick.” It plays the way it always does; brilliant in its lyrics and a solid ten in its charming and boisterous melody. As always happens with any production of this masterwork, be it amateur or professional, you can’t help but marvel at the quality of what Styne and Sondheim came up with together. They simply don’t write scores like this anymore, proof being that there’s nothing on Broadway among the musicals currently running that can adequately be mentioned in the same sentence as Gypsy.
I wish it weren’t so but Wolfe’s direction of a number of performances leave a lot to be desired. With so many moving parts it almost feels like there hasn’t been time to get around to a few things—and not insignificant ones, either. Laurents’s book is so good that even the tiniest two-line part calls for inspiration, not perfunctoriness. This leads to a certain failure in guiding a number of actors to accomplished executions of their roles. And while on the subject of proper casting, would it have killed them to hire an actual lamb?
Scenic designer Santo Loquasto’s old school use of practical sets (no projections here) has also smartly provided a passerelle, the French word for a footbridge or gangway that extends from one side of the stage to the other, passing in front of the orchestra pit. You’ve seen it used in almost every Hello, Dolly! (Loquasto designed the 2017 Bette Midler revival) and here it works wonderfully, especially in the climactic “Rose’s Turn” putting McDonald practically in the lap of the audience. Toni-Leslie James’s costumes are all you could ask for and Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer are responsible for a tremendously effective lighting scheme. Particular praise to conductor Andy Einhorn, also credited with music supervision, musical direction, and arrangements. His longtime association with McDonald makes him a perfect collaborator.
And let’s face it: the sole reason for the millions of dollars raised in order to produce a sixth production of this all-time great musical on Broadway is so that Audra McDonald can give us her Rose. Her shot at this titanic part has always been inevitable and lead producer Tom Kirdahy is to be commended for making it happen. The well-known recipient of an unprecedented six Tonys before the age of forty-four, McDonald is already one of the greatest of musical theatre actresses and her Rose is destined to take its place among her Carrie, Sarah, and Bess. Ya either got it, or ya ain’t and she’s certainly got it. Missing Audra McDonald in Gypsy would be at your own peril.
Gypsy is at the Majestic Theatre, 245 W 44th Street, NYC. For ticket information, please visit: https://gypsybway.com
Photos by Julieta Cervantes.
