Stray Dog opened "Gypsy" this past weekend, and for a stray, it's clearly a purebred. Once upon a time, probably 90% of the American population had heard one or another of the songs from its wonderful score, whether or not they knew just where the song came from, so popular were they. And the score, with the lyrics that delighted me as a high school kid in a small town, is just as witty. Who knew about Steven Sondheim in those semi-halcyon days of the Eisenhower Administration? Obviously the creators of this show did, thank goodness, foreshadowing much greatness to come.
Led by Deborah Sharn as Rose, Queen of Chutzpah and stage mother of nightmares, the cast sparkles and stumbles, both at the right time. The band, for instance, sounds wonderfully rocky sometimes, just the way a pit band would in a second-rate burlesque house, and deliberately bad choreography works just as it should. Scharn, physically small, seems to enlarge herself with Rose's drive and demands. And who knew she could belt songs so well? If she can make a generation that heard Ethel Merman sing this score forget Merman even for a little while, that's compliment enough.
Herbie, their agent who quickly becomes Rose's boyfriend is played by Ken Haller, giving Herbie strength and warmth and dignity. Rose's put-upon and dragged-around daughters were June, who grew up to be actress June Havoc, and Louise, who became Gypsy Rose Lee, exotic dancer, author, and mother of a son by director Otto Preminger. The younger versions of the girls, played respectively by Lily McDonald and Isabella Koster, are quite good. But it's the women they grow into, despite Rose's self-delusion, that intrigue. Jennifer Theby-Quinn, as Dainty June, even looks a little like Havoc as she simply flees her mother's increasing demands and delusions. Sabra Sellers, who plays Louise, eventually begins to glow as she finds her own strength and way in the world. Her dance number with Tulsa, Zach Wachter, is impressive.
Yes, Rose is at best a pain in the gluteus, and at worst quite bonkers, but Gary Bell's direction shows the sadness and fear behind all this rather than the anger and pain It all works wonderfully. Strong suggestion that tickets be ordered in advance; this is going to be selling very well in quiet south St. Louis. Neighbors will hear folks leaving, whistling the tunes.
Gypsy
Stray Dog Theatre
Tower Grove Abbey
2336 Tennessee Avenue
314-865-1995
Thurs.-Sat. through April 20