BWW Reviews: A Sparkling, Spangled GYPSY at York Little Theatre

Gypsy Rose Lee is an American original - if she hadn't invented herself, someone would have had to invent her for us. Striptease artist (with an emphasis on the "tease", union activist, movie performer (as was her sister, June Havoc), dog breeder, author/playwright, and successful daytime talk show host, the woman knocked by her mother for her intellectual pretensions gave the public more than they bargained for, and managed to get everyone... except possibly her mother... to love her for it. Who else could have started out successfully entertaining women's husbands on Minsky's stage and wind up entertaining them, instead, on television? Lover of Michael Todd and Otto Preminger, she never did anything by halves, and once she made it to the top, she stayed there.

Her life story, at least of a fashion, was penned by her in 1957, and by 1959 it was ready for Broadway, with a book by Arthur Laurents and music and lyrics by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim - again, not done by halves. GYPSY, like Gypsy Rose Lee, is an American classic - possibly the greatest of all of the 20th century book musicals, just as Gypsy herself possibly was the greatest of all the 20th century burlesque queens.

At York Little Theatre, directed by Christopher Quigley (who also headed costuming, quite spectacularly), it was just presented as one of the most successful offerings in their studio theatre. Despite concerns that it couldn't be staged successfully in the black box theatre, it was indeed staged, possibly as well as it's been done locally outside of professional theatre.

But GYPSY isn't just about staging, it's about people - and about enough of them that it's a two-lead show. Baby Louise, turned Gypsy Rose Lee, is one of them, the neglected, less cute, presumably less talented, of two forced-on-the-stage children, and the other is her mother, Mama Rose, the shining example of the vampiric stage mother who lives vicariously through her children's successes, regardless of their desires or their artistic limitations. (The real Rose Hovick did indeed have a fairly extraordinary life and decline, which has now been chronicled in print, though it was at the time deemed too sensational to be put in Lee's book or in the show.)

Louise is played by Jenna Mae Reck, and she's - as she discovers once she looks in the mirror - just beautiful. Is there any more clenching moment in theatre than Louise's yearning "look, mama, I'm pretty" in that strip club dressing room mirror, while Rose is outside the dressing room berating the music director? Reck does a lovely job of progressing from overaged tomboy and front half of a vaudeville cow to a terrified newcomer to burlesque to the hard-bitten successful businesswoman she became.

But it's Rose who's the real star of GYPSY, and Chris Ausherman acquits herself admirably in what's become the crowning belter role of many a career. Those who want a roaring "Everything's Coming Up Roses" or "Rose's Turn" would not be disappointed by Ausherman's performance. To be more reminiscent of Bernadette Peters than of Merman, Russell (in the movie), Daly or Lansbury is no sin; they've all been fine expositors of the fabled monster mother of show business. (Actually, Ausherman sounds more like Daly, but her performance is more reminiscent to this reviewer of Peters' work.) The taskmaster who truly believes she's done it all for her children rather than for herself comes through with Ausherman's performance; you can see that she's convinced herself she's been doing it for everyone but herself.

On the night in question, Bob Filer played Herbie (the part was shared with Mike Ausherman); Filer's a fine Herbie, one of those performers who makes an audience wish Herbie had just a bit more to do than to be seen in the background and occasionally warble a verse in response to the steamroller that is Rose. It's a pleasure to see Herbie's final heartbreak (and disgust) at how far Rose will go to put one of her children on stage, and how much more important to her that is than a relationship. (Rose's relationship failures are not exaggerated by Lee or by Laurents; in fact, they're a bit understated.)

Hillary Miller and Cory Holtzman are also fine as June (later June Havoc) and as Tulsa; equally fine, to an audience waiting for them, were Marisa Hoover, Stacey Schell, and Wendy Caldwell as strippers Tessie Tura, Mazeppa, and Electra. Schell's big, brassy belt was a perfect lead on "You Gotta Get a Gimmick," one of the songs the show's many fans have come to cherish. Kudos to costuming for a fine set of classy, classical, and, yes, electrifying striptease costumes, as well as to these ladies for their edification of Louise on the fine art of being an ecdysiast.

If anything in this production might be questioned, it would be the musical direction. The tempos on some of the songs seemed a bit unusual for the numbers, though the singers and musicians were all quite capable. Otherwise, this is a delightful community production of one of America's best-beloved musicals. Director Quigley should be proud of his work guiding this show.

GYPSY is followed in July by SHREK: THE MUSICAL. Tickets and further information can be found at www.ylt.org.

Photo credits: Photos by Scott/YLT

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