Gypsy (c) Julieta Cervantes
Broadway: Gypsy
At the Majestic Theatre
It’s a no-brainer. One of the most acclaimed musical theater actresses of our generation tackling the King Lear of musical characters, and it doesn’t matter what I or anyone else says, you have to see the latest Gypsy. Audra McDonald is playing Madame Rose (never Momma Rose) and even before she yells out “Sing out, Louise” from the house, the audience is already clapping and cheering loudly in anticipation of every classic Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim song she will tackle in the next two-plus hours. And they (and you) will not be disappointed. Not to jump to conclusions (as it were) but her big finale number, “Rose’s Turn,” is explosive, emotional, exhausting and everything you expect from a consummate actress and expressive singer like McDonald. The role has only been tackled on Broadway with the biggest names (Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone and, yes, even Tyne Daly), and it was inevitable that McDonald would get her chance to unlock the ultimate stage mother/monster that is Rose. McDonald doesn’t sugarcoat Rose’s ambitions for herself and her daughters June (Jordan Tyson) and Louise (Joy Woods), no matter how many people she takes advantage of, which includes her father and her boyfriend, the ulcer-ridden Herbie (Danny Burstein). McDonald is assisted by director George C. Wolfe’s concept that this depression era musical rarely rises above its depression. You can feel Rose’s determination in McDonald, as if she were playing Mother Courage with all the sets and cow costumes strapped to her back. When there are setbacks, especially the one that ends act one, her number, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” is more a song about horror (“Momma is gonna see to it…”) to Herbie and Louise than optimism.
Gypsy (c) Julieta Cervantes
But is the rest of Wolfe’s production up to Audra McDonald’s performance. Mostly. The production feels less flashy than previous incarnations, with the great Santo Loquasto’s sets and the always inspiring Toni-Leslie James’s costumes seemingly inspired by black and white silent films rather than opulent, showbiz, Broadway musicals. When Tulsa, the lead dancer of Dainty Jane’s Newsboys sings “All I Need Is the Girl,” Kevin Csolak plays it less as a guy looking to fulfill his dream and more as one who needs a new job to eat. The three strippers of “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” (led by the reliably funny Lesli Margherita) seems more desperate here than usual, with their gimmicks faltering in a sad way rather than a resilient one. Herbie again is relegated to the background of Rose’s ambition, but the always reliable Burstein gives such a heartbreaking deflated balloon of a performance that whoever is producing the next Death of a Salesman can stop looking for their next Willy Loman. And, of course, there’s Louise, who if you didn’t know, ends up becoming the real life, celebrated burlesque stripper Gypsy Rose Lee of the title, but it’s the genius of the show that even a bio-musical about Gypsy (no matter how good Woods is in Louise’s transformation) is always hijacked by her mother. The only number that doesn’t work is “Mr. Goldstone,” seemingly the moment that should be the happiest, feels so dour that the whole egg roll bit is lost to a lot of unnecessary stage business that steps on most of Sondheim’s comic rhymes. But when “Rose’s Turn” ends and McDonald is bathed in the much-deserved standing ovation, the audience knows they are witnessing Broadway history.
Cult of Love (c) Joan Marcus
Broadway: Cult of Love
2nd Stage Production at the Helen Hayes Theatre
Every holiday season, Broadway revives a chestnut, whether it’s A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Story or, as we got this season, the musical version of Elf. Don’t expect, however a yearly revival of Leslye Headland’s black comedy Cult of Love, even though it’s about the Dahl family, who gather every Christmas to sing carols and perform other annual traditions. Even on a cozy winter set by John Lee Beatty, it soon becomes obvious that not all is well in this Connecticut home. Even as the adult children of Ginny (Mare Winningham) and Bill (David Rasche) indulge them with song, the bickering soon begins, starting with Ginny’s reluctance to acknowledge Bill’s growing memory problem. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Why do eldest son, the lawyer Mark (Zachary Quinto) and his wife Rachel (Molly Bernard) seem so distant while youngest daughter Diana (Shailene Woodley, in an impressive Broadway debut) seems almost too close to her preacher husband, James (Christopher Lowell)? The most caustic of the siblings is the chef Evie (Rebecca Henderson), who is newly married to her wife Pippa (Roberta Colindrez), whom she feels her family is not welcoming enough. Then there’s the question if the beloved of all the siblings, Johnny (Christopher Sears) will even make it to Christmas Eve dinner. Ginny has no doubt he will, despite talk of rehab and recent radio silence. All this gingerly kid gloves-ing appears to stem from the titled Cult of Love, namely Ginny’s fidelity to the family’s religious upbringing, despite the fact that three of her children have categorically rejected religion in their own lives. This is all played with laugh-out loud comedy precision by the cast, with poisonous and memorable double-entendres filling Headland’s dialogue. It’s like December: Osage County mixed with last season’s Appropriate. Except for too much overlapping dialogue at the beginning of the play during some important character exposition, director Trip Cullman keeps everything moving smoothly throughout this 100-minutes, no intermission dream production. Headland’s play may have one too many family secrets to spill, but it’s enjoyable even for those in the audience who go home for the holidays out of obligation rather than the love of the figgy pudding. Especially during this political climate, Cult of Love may hit too close to home.
The Pirates of Penzance (c) Danny Bristoll
Theater: The Pirates of Penzance
Presented by New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (closed)
Before we get a glittery new revisal of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1879 The Pirates of Penzance operetta at the Roundabout later this season, I was glad to have the opportunity to see a more “traditional” production for comparison. I remember seeing the 1983 film version, based on the successful 1980 Broadway production with the same leads (Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, George Rose and Rex Smith), but a lot of the plot had been forgotten so I was glad the venerable New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players’ second show of their 50th season was their popular 1879 repertory production of Pirates. Frederic (Alex Corson), who had mistakenly pledged himself to the servitude of the titled hooligans led by the Pirate King (David Wannen), has finally reached his 21st birthday and can now be free. On his first day of freedom, he meets the Major General (the invaluable James Mills) and his daughters, including the bookish Mabel (Sophie Thompson), but before they can even start flirting, the Pirate King returns saying Frederic’s still in debt to him because of, well, let’s say it has something to do with birthdays and leap years. This is all silly stuff, and the company certainly plays up this aspect with their signature gleeful abandon and cheeky improvisation. The orchestra was ably led by Associate Conductor Joseph Rubin and the production has a DIY feel to it with its adorably kitschy sets and costumes. The audience ate it all up, from the clowning to the love story to the famous songs (the gentleman sitting across from me literally mouthed the entire “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” with Mills). While I do look forward to the upcoming Roundabout Broadway production with a new book by Rupert Holmes, which is said to update the story to New Orleans, seeing a production by NYGASP (my favorite of all theatrical acronyms) and their fidelity to the original material has its charms as well. If you missed this solid Pirates, be sure to catch their third production of Iolanthe, Gilbert & Sullivan’s fairy tale about fairies.
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