Gypsy

When you book to see a Paul Kerryson production you can be sure of a good evening's entertainment. Kerryson is an acknowledged interpreter of Steven Sondheim's work so his Gypsy was always going to be worthwhile.
Written in 1959, Gypsy was Sondheim's second big musical, pairing his lyrics with Jule Styne's music and Arthur Laurents' evocative story of the life of Gypsy Rose Lee and the death of Variety. Madame Rose, the ultimate stage mother, flogged the dead horse of her troupe of cutsie child performers around the declining Variety circuit until all she had left was Louise, the not attractive one, the not talented one of her daughters. Louise couldn't do any of the normal things well a child star was supposed to do. She couldn't sing well. She couldn't dance well. In the final death throes of Variety Burlesque was all that was left. Rose wasn't about to let her remaining daughter reduce herself to being a common stripper and so devised a classy act where, to all intent and purposes, Louise hardly revealed a thing. She went down a storm amid the comedians and novelty acts that filled out the bill. To keep within the law the girls had to be clean but risque. A fine line to tread but one Louise, as Gypsy Rose Lee, perfected.
The Curve in Leicester has rapidly gained a reputation for providing top class productions, often with 'unknown' names so having West End star Caroline O'Connor topping the bill as Momma Rose means this is an outstanding musical. With Victoria Hamilton-Barritt playing Louise/Gypsy and a full cast of both child and adult performers, the soul destroying tedium of traipsing around the American Variety circuit is caught beautifully showing that, despite the children growing up, the act was always basically the same, but never good enough for top billing.
Caroline O'Connor, even on the matinee that we saw, chewed up the scenery as Momma Rose fought to keep her kids fed. Just. The end of the first half's optimistic Everything's Coming Up Roses would have wiped out any other actress on a Saturday night. O'Connor flung it to the back of the packed gallery and then came back for the second half anew. That first half saw Hamilton-Barritt's Louise continue her struggle to be noticed alongside precocious Dainty June. It wasn't until the second half, with June having eloped, that Louise was able to blossom into the classy Burlesque star that she became. Hamilton-Barritt handled the tricky task of Louise morphing into Gypsy Rose Lee with aplomb. But, of course, all the class in the world was never going to eclipse Caroline O'Connor's show stopping finale in Rose's Turn, Momma Rose's lament of missed opportunities and defiance to the future. There is no happy ending, Rose and Louise end up on an empty stage trying to renegotiate their relationship.
As with the best musicals Gypsy is big bold and brassy, but beneath the surface glitz it isn't afraid to show tape and nails that hold the scenery up. You will stagger out into the light wiped out. Go see it!

© Paul Towers 17/3/2012