The Grand re-opening show of the new North Shore
Music Theatre's season under owner/producer Bill
Hanney's leadership and producing artistic
director Evans Haile is the hit 1959 musical,
"Gypsy" with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents
based loosely on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose
Lee, the famous striptease artist. The show is
the musical biography of stripper, Gypsy Rose
Lee and her mother, Rose. It is the classic
musical fable about the definitive stage mother,
Momma Rose. It follows the daughter's life from
her early days in vaudeville with her sister,
June Havoc to her successful career in
burlesque. The star of this show is really her
tyrannical mother, Rose and director picks TV
and Broadway star Vicki Lewis, a multitalented,
actress to fill this role played by Ethel
Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette
Peters and Patti Lupone on stage and by Rosalind
Russell and Bette Midler on film. Momma Rose
pushes her two children into show business at
any cost, to fulfill the dream of stardom she
never achieved herself. "Gypsy" is a story of
ambition, suppressed dreams and sacrifice. fills
the show with many comic moments mixed with some
poignant ones to flesh out this script, leading
to much laughter and a few tears shed along the
way, too. She, as Louise and as Herbie and their
supporting cast fill this theatre with their
vocal, acting and dancing skills to pull off
this huge musical. NSMT audiences cheered these
performers with a thunderous standing ovation at
the curtain call. Bravo and welcome back. You
were sorely missed.
Richard Sabellico (who I saw
direct "Annie" at TBTS) directs, choreographs
and blocks this huge cast wonderfully and the
many scene changes are accomplished very quickly
by the stage manager Gail Eve Malatesta and her
crew with the show spanning 25 years.
Richard supplies the moves for the younger
children but works his magic with the farm boys
and girls when they are transformed during a
strobe light dance number as well as the tap
dance steps, Charleston, soft shoe and strip
numbers, too. These dances give the show an
energetic boost to carry the musical numbers
forward. Outstanding dance numbers include the
Tulsa number, the Broadway section with top hats
and canes, Louise's strip scenes, soft shoe
dance by Rose and Herbie and the Toreadorables
flag scene. Another humorous aspect of this show
is that Rose uses the same music over and over
again, changing the lyrics but keeping the same
music. The fabulous music direction is by Nick
DeGregorio who conducts a 14 piece orchestra.
taught all the tongue twisting Stephen Sondheim
lyrics and Jule Styne music to his talented
vocalists. Kudos to the trumpet riffs by Richard
Hammett, Tim Cote and Joe Pino. Gorgeous
costumes by Jose Rivera with lighting by Jack
Mehler and sound by James McCartney. Outstanding
scenic design is by Campbell Baird with the
chandeliers and the Rose logo as standouts.
Vicki
Lewis delivers a tour-de-force performance as
Rose, the stage mother of all stage mothers. She
runs rough shod over her two daughters because
she was never given the opportunity that they
have. Rose explains the reason is her mother
left her at a young age. Current day
psychologists would have a field day with this
real life woman. Her performance reminds you of
Barbara Streisand in her heyday. Vicki's acting
prowess is superb because she can have you
laughing hysterically one minute and sobbing
uncontrollably the next. Vicki's strong voice is
heard in "Some People" where she decides to
leave her home in Seattle and head to LA, the
show stopping "Everything's Coming Up Roses"
where she has a mini nervous breakdown when June
elopes with Tulsa, the trio song "Together"
where she realizes that she, Herbie and Louise
have to depend on each other and her long
soliloquy "Rose's Turn" which brings down the
house with its power and punch. Vicki also
handles the romantic duets with ease "Small
World" when she first meets Herbie with the
reprise bringing tears to your eyes in the
second act when Herbie leaves her for letting
Louise become a stripper as well as their soft
shoe number "You'll Never Get Away from Me''.
One of the funniest songs in the show is "Mr.
Goldstone" where Rose and the kids sing to this
booking agent who gets them on the Orpheum
circuit as she throw props at him while the
kids march around Mr. Goldstone. Vicki is
terrific in this role, delivering the goods in a
whirlwind of energy from her first entrance up
the aisle with Chowsie, her dog to the final
curtain where she and Catherine as Gypsy leave
the stage arm in arm. Brava on a job extremely
well done!
Playing
the role of Louise who become Gypsy Rose Lee is
Catherine Walker. She shows her acting prowess
in the transition from shy teenager into a
sophisticated young woman during the course of
this show. Catherine's gorgeous voice is heard
in the "If Momma Was Married" with June where
they wish their mother would marry Herbie and
leave them alone, "Together" trio with Rose and
Herbie and solos in the most poignant song in
the show, "Little Lamb" where she sings about
not knowing how old she really is. She also
shows the growth of the character into a more
mature and confident ecdysiast during the "Let
Me Entertain You" segment which became "Gypsy's
signature number wherever she danced including
Minsky's. She is dynamite in the confrontation
scene with Vicki at the end of the second
act. Kirby Ward who I first reviewed as Bobby
Child at Reagle Players in 2005, plays the
sympathetic role of Herbie, the booking agent
who falls madly in love with Rose. His strong
voice is heard in the romantic duets with Vicki
and in the "Together" trio where he shows off
his fabulous dancing skills. His best dramatic
scenes are when he threatens Pastey with bodily
harm when he swears in front of Rose and Louise
in the burlesque theatre and when he finally
stands up to Rose after years of putting up with
her obsession of being a stage mother.
Amanda Lea LaVergne who has a terrific voice
and is a wonderful dancer plays the role of June
with blonde banana curls. She sings and dances
with the newsboys in "Caroline" which also has a
comical dancing cow, and in "Broadway" where she
realizes she can't leave Caroline, the cow after
all, she does splits in these dance numbers.
Amanda also shows off her powerful voice with
Catherine in their duet, "If Momma Was Married"
where they figure if Rose was married to Herbie,
she'd leave them alone. She shows off her acting
skills in this scene with Catherine, too. The
singing and dancing younger June and Louise are
well played by Sarah Safer and Hannah Piispanen.
The boys do a superb military dance in the Uncle
Sam section, Shane Braz, Leo Santoro and
Harrison Gray.
The
biggest scene stealers are the three strippers
in the second act Jacquelyn Piro Donovan as the
trumpet playing Mazeppa, Jan Neuberger as the
twinkling Electra and Laurie Gamache as Tessie
Tura, who was a former ballerina. They sing "You
Gotta Get a Gimmick" which says you don't need
to have any talent but these three ladies have
lots of talent, dancing skills and singing
voices. I last reviewed Jacquelyn as Fantine in
Les Miz at NSMT in 2007. Laurie has many funny
lines as Tessie and makes all of them hit pay
dirt. Jan plays Electra with sore feet, holding
her shoes in her hands at one point and also
plays Miss Cratchit in the first act and
delivers a comic lines that will leave you
roaring with laughter. Another excellent dance
number is by Pearce Wegener as Tulsa. He uses
his powerful baritone voice to sell "All I Need
Now is the Girl" but it is Pearce's dancing
prowess that will leave you most impressed.
Another scene stealer in the second act is Diane
Terrusa as Agnes, one of the Toreadorables who
delivers her funny one liners with glee. Kudos
to everyone connected to this topnotch musical
which reopens the historical North Shore Music
Theatre with a bang. Be sure to catch "Gypsy"
before time runs out and welcome back.
GYPSY (6
to 25 July, 2010)
North Shore Music Theatre, 62 Dunham Road,
Beverly, MA
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