Arthur Laurents' book tells the story of how a young, timid, and perhaps overlooked daughter with an overbearing and pushy mother went from playing second-fiddle to her sister in a Vaudeville variety act, to becoming possibly the world's most well-known and loved stripper, 'Gypsy Rose Lee'. It's a true story - fantasised just enough to make it sensational and give it an up-beat storyline for a musical, but nevertheless, it is a rather harrowing and disturbing story which would have social workers and government agencies becoming involved if this were 2019. It's not, it's taken from Gypsy's own memoirs (published in 1957) and we are transported back to the early 1920s to start with as we meet a very young Gypsy Rose - known then by her real name, Louise, and her younger, more talented and starstruck sister, June.
Gypsy, often described as the greatest American musical of all time, focuses not on Louise though, but on her mother, the domineering 'battleship-like' Rose, who, it seems is prepared to go to any length in order to see first June, and later Louise become famous. Perhaps that isn't too surprising when you realise that the music is by Jule Styne [already famous for the big hits 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and 'Bells Are Ringing', before going on to write the music for 'Funny Girl' and 'Some Like It Hot'], and the lyrics come from the mind and pen of the incomparable Stephen Sondheim.
Rose has already gone through three husbands, and when she meets Herbie it looks like there may well be a fourth on the horizon. However, things are not going well with the act and the girls are disgruntled. Already blossoming teenagers they are forced into pretending to be prepubescant children both on and off stage, and repeating the same act endlessly from theatre to theatre across the country is taking its toll both mentally and physically on them all. For June, enough is enough, and she elopes with one of the boys from the act, disappearing from our story completely. Without June, Rose seems somewhat lost, until she realises that she could lavish all her attention and drive onto the less attractive, shy and insecure Louise. Reluctantly Louise goes along with it, wishing only that her mother would settle down, marry Herbie, and stop trying to put all of Rose's own dreams into her. In a rare moment of self-evaluation, Rose does finally realise and admit that she was living out her own ambitions through her children. However, that's after she has already signed Louise up to a Burlesque theatre show to be the last minute replacement of the star strip act. Again, mostly because she has no more fight left in her and is sick of trying to reason with her mother, she agrees, and the rest, as they say, is history!
The Royal Exchange have a long and illustrious history of producing musicals which would normally be seen on a prosc.arch stage in their intimate round space. It's never an easy one for any designer, and to find just the right balance of set and space; realism and imagination; necessity and luxury, is never going to be an easy ask. Francis O'Connor however did not fare too well with this production. Seated where I was I did not understand what the metal rigging was, why it was moved around the edges of the stage, and indeed why my view of the stage was either obfuscated or obscured completely when they positioned this (as they frequently did) right in my line of vision. It was only during the interval when walking on the stage did I discover that it was meant to be the prosc.arch of a theatre stage. [and used for various other things throughout too!] Sadly, this did not work well and hindered both my view and enjoyment. A miniature railway and train travelled the perimeter of the front circle. An interesting touch, but totally unnecessary and it took me until almost the interval to notice it. A small band took a small section of the first circle, and sounded in fine form all evening, with a good balance.
The cast however were all in fine form, a superbly selected ensemble. Right from the bottom up, each cast member gave brilliant performances, astounding us with fantastic dancing in such a small space (lovely choroegraphy by Andrew Wright). I especially admired Louis Gaunt's Tulsa.
Ria Jones took the lead role of Rose. It's a very difficult character to play since she has to be hard-nosed and brusque, sharp-tongued yet somehow loveable the entire time, and she hardly leaves the stage. Vocally Jones seemed to be channeling both Ethel Merman and Bette Midler, and was beginning by the time the interval came to sound very 'samey', but all credit to Jones, it is a notoriously difficult role and so comparison with the (more) famous stars of the role are bound to come into play. Personally I would have preferred a little more change in dynamic, the emotional roller-coaster was there but Rose never really took part in it, she was always much more of an observer. Perhaps that was directional and intentional.
Herbie (Dale Rapley) was superb. Immediately personable and his character's ineffectiveness placed perfectly. His final 'worm-that-turned' speech gave me a huge lump in my throat. However, the one who went on the biggext journey this evening, and impressed me the most was Melissa James as Louise. Transforming from the ugly duckling into the swan and surprising me with every emotional and developmental change. I have never heard 'Little Lamb' sung so purely and believably before. ... and what a transformation!
The show wouldn't be a show though without 'beginning at the beginning' of these characters' journeys, and to do this a whole team of children were recruited... 16 in total, split into two rotating teams. This evening the show started with a very young June (Marley Quinlan-Gardner) and Louise (Maddison Arnold) heading a hugely talented Red Team with brilliant gymnastic skills from a young Scarlett Weagram. Their parts in the story integral and the changeover during the Uncle Sam sequence was seamless. Perhaps understandable that they didn't but it would have been nice to have included them in the curtain call too though!
It's quite a long musical, and could still benefit from some judicious editing (to the tune of at least 10 minutes) but The Royal Exchange's production is very faithful to the original concept and sticks very closely to the show's original intent, which is not only to their immense credit but to the show's (and our) benefit too. I laughed and I cried, and was completely immersed in this tragi-comedy-with-heart for the full three hours. Despite my perhaps uber-critical misgivings this is definitely one of the best shows I have seen at The Royal Exchange for a very long time, and the heart-warming storyline combined with superb performances and well-known catchy songs make for a perfect un-seasonal, seasonal treat for young and old alike.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 5/12/19
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