Gypsy review, Chichester Festival Theatre

Whenever Imelda Staunton appears in musicals at The Festival Theatre, the audience is on its feet.  Last time it was for Sweeney Todd a macabre and glorious tour de force alongside Michael Ball.  Tonight it was her magnificent portrayal of Rose Hovick in Jonathan Kent's loving, light-touch, production of Laurents and Styne and Sondheim's Gypsy. It's a great night out: funny and sad, the music's terrific, Stephen Mear's choreography is a treat, the costumes are great, the casting works, the story is utterly unbelievable - except it's true - and the open ending can induce either tears or smiles or both.

Gypsy is the true tale of a showbiz mother with an unflagging appetite for celebrity. She teams her daughters - Baby June, the blonde popsie, and her plain older sister, Baby Louise, who is literally the back end of the pantomime cow - with a group of small boys and takes them around the country in search of stardom. Growing up is not allowed. Each year, the children's birthday cakes have ten candles - even when they've morphed into towering adults. Finally, June runs off and Rose is forced to accept that Vaudeville and her dreams are dead; but Louise (the excellent Laura Pulver) is still there... Under Rose's savage guidance - a spotlight is all that matters - she emerges as the feted, legendary, burlesque dancer, Gypsy Rose Lee.

Real Baby Louise/Baby June

Gypsy is Rose's story however, and Staunton presents the full complexity of a woman whose ache for the stage is matched by an attachment to her children so great that there's a blurring around intention: is she living her dreams through them, or gifting them the dream denied to her? Whatever the answer, she abuses her position as a mother and misuses the love of a good man - Kevin Whately as Herbie - to realise her ambitions. It is to Staunton's credit that even while acknowledging the monster within, one is filled with sadness and admiration for her. She also sings with real power: Rose's Turn and Everything's Coming Up Roses are a treat.

In conclusion: After a couple of Festival Theatre productions with taped or muffled music from the back of the stage, it's a treat to have Nicholas Skilbeck's full and lusty orchestra in the pit. The young June was fabulous, as were all the children in the early scenes (actors alternate). A pleasing dog has a cameo, and there is a lovely dance solo from Dan Burton as Tulsa.


References
Gypsy, Chichester Festival Theatre, Tickets


Chichester Festival Theatre, Oaklands Park, West Sussex, PO19 6AP      Run ends 8 November