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THE THEATER MIRROR, New England's
LIVE Theater Guide
"What Happened in Boston, Willie"
Reviews of Current Productions
note: entire contents copyright 2000 by Larry Stark
"Gypsy"
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Spiro Veloudos
Musical Direction by Jonathan Goldberg
Choreography by Ilyse Robbins
Scenic Design by Ted Arabian
Costume Design by Gail Astrid Buckley and Robert M. Russo
Lighting Design by Craig Brennan
Sound Design by A. Stanley Gurczak
Stage Manager Laurie A. Light
Baby
Louise.......................................................................Molly
Harrison
Baby June...................................................Samantha
Goober/Sophie Rich
Balloon
Girl.........................................................................Meahgan
DuBois
Rose.................................................................................Maryann
Zschau
Herbie...................................................................................Frank
Gayton
Louise..............................................................................Laura
Schweitzer
June................................................................................Jennifer
Beth Glick
Tulsa..........................................................................................Brad
Evans
Yonkers......................................................................................Will
Cohen
L.A.
.............................................................................Matthew
Sousourian
Tessie
Tura..............................................................................Eileen
Nugent
Mazeppa..................................................................................Ellen
Peterson
Electra................................................................................Jennifer
Valentine
Agnes/Showgirl...................................................................Jennifer
L. Gasser
Marjorie
May/Showgirl.........................................................Melissa
Prusinski
Miss
Crachit/Delores/Showgirl...................................................Kristin
Palson
Thelma/Maid/Showgirl............................................................Kimberly
Palson
Pop/Mr.
Goldstone/Cigar/Phil......................................................Joseph
Siriani
Uncle Jocko/Weber/Kringelein/Pastey/Bougeron-Cochon......Geoffrey P.
Burns
Newsboys.........................................................Donal
Magrane/Andy Blesser
Orchestra
Keyboards........................Jonathan Goldberg
Trumpet..............................Paul Perfetti
Trumpet/Horn/Trombone.............Harlan Feinstein
Reeds...................................Louis Toth
Reeds..................................Ray Taranto
Percussion...........................Wendy Baisley
Director Spiro Veloudos has a habit of making old shows new
again.
In
"Gypsy" he concentrated on the Arthur Laurents story, with no tricks.
The
grit and disappointment and determination of the vaudeville circuit,
the
abrasively pushy stage-mother bravely forcing her daughters to live her
own dream of stardom, and their very human sweet-bitter interactions
along
the bumpy road to fame actually manage to upstage Jule Styne's score
and
Stephen Sondheim's lyrics. It's even possible early that Maryann
Zschau's
irrepressible Mamma Rose will force her Baby June (Sophie
Rich) to the
top.
Veloudos contrasts Rose's blind ambition with the
ever-identical
"act"
in all its schmaltzy, tawdry hokum. At one point the kids who
introduced
that "three-and-a-half-foot sensation Baby June" dance off and a chorus
outgrowing their teens in identical costumes dances on to introduce a
"five-and-a-half-foot
sensation". Ever one of Mamma Rose's "new" acts, despite costume
changes,
despite the addition of a dancing cow, despite her raucous
cheerleading,
turn out to be variations on the same uninspired themes.
The story is so engrossing that the slow emergence of Rose's
tall
daughter
(the "untalented" front-end to that cow) as a sudden, sizzling
headliner
in burlesque is a fresh, believable surprise. Laura Schweitzer looks
quietly
nondescript in The Act, bumblingly, hesitantly awkward in her first
solo
turn, and glorious as the famous Gypsy Rose Lee commanding top-dollar
at
Minsky's and deserving every penny of it.
But tucked inside this backstage bio is a tender, frustrated
love
story.
Frank Gayton comes out of comfortable retirement as a candy-seller to
become
Mamma Rose's soft-hearted, supportive but frustrated agent, and
always-potential
third husband. Gayton and Zschau forgive each other's foibles and
comfort
each other's disappointments. When her daughter and star deserts The
Act
(to become June Havoc) and rather than quit show-business Rose dreams
up
a whole new Act built around Louise, the incredulous apprehension in
Schweitzer's
and Gayton's faces belie Mamma's enthusiastic insistence that
"Everything's
Comin' Up Roses".
Because, though Arthur Laurents' book is based on her
autobiography,
it's not Gypsy Rose but Mamma Rose who is the show, warts and all. And
Maryann Zschau will make you forget that anyone else has ever played
the
role. That's because though she can belt out a song or soften a ballad
(the brief reprise of "Small World breaks hearts) and dances, it's her
uncompromising honesty in acting the role that makes the show sing.
But if that were all, this would not be a Spiro Veloudos
production.
Though seventeen actors take on 28 different roles, every character
gets
a moment to shine, from the forlorn Molly Harrison's Baby Louise to
Eileen
Nugent, Ellen Peterson and Jennifer Valentine as strippers with pride
and
magnanimity. They leave no holes in the fabric of the story, because
each
is a person instead of a type. And let's not forget Jonathan Goldberg's
tiny, mighty pit-band sounding bigger than they have any right to since
there are only six of them.
Even the weather co-operated, giving The Publick Theatre an
excellent
week-end for outdoor performances. As I walked home along the Charles
after
the show I watched a full moon struggle slowly upward out of a cocoon
of
ragged, dirty-bottomed cloud until it stood, alone at last, rising into
the clear night sky. And later, after I'd crossed Anderson Bridge and I
looked again at that solo sphere that looked --- well, like the round
blue-gelled
leko I'd mistaken for the moon during the show --- it had risen higher
and sowed sparkling theatrical rhinestones on the river, and I wished
every
one of them could grow into a star. There's nothing like a wonderful
musical
for making the ordinary world beautiful to look at.
<>Love,
===Anon.
"Gypsy" THE PUBLICK THEATRE, Christian A. Herter Park, Soldiers
Field Road, BOSTON (617) 782-5425
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