Review: Studio Tenn's Exquisite GYPSY Revival

Nan Gurley's stunning performance of Mama Rose is reason enough to see Studio Tenn's 2015-16 season opening production of Gypsy - the legendary backstage musical about the rise to stardom of Gypsy Rose Lee - but there is so much more to be found in director Matt Logan's sumptuously appointed show than her career-crowning portrayal of the near-mythical character.

Onstage in Jamison Hall of The Factory at Franklin through October 4, Studio Tenn's Gypsy is eye-poppingly gorgeous, featuring all of the design elements one requires to be transported back to the days of vaudeville and burlesque in the first half of the 20th century. Logan's costumes (with nary a character pump in sight) and scenic elements are ideally conceived, beautifully designed and expertly realized (and wonderfully lit by Stephen Moss, whose unerring eye provides the illumination that bathes the stage in the warm glow of nostalgic reminiscence): Once again, Nashville area audiences are treated to a Broadway caliber production brought vividly to the stage by a home-grown company of theater artists intent on giving their followers and fans the ultimate theatrical experience.

Yet, as visually beautiful as Studio Tenn's Gypsy is - and as perfectly cast as this production happens to be - what it really proves is the enduring power of Arthur Laurents' superbly written book (and the fictionalized characters he creates from real people found in Lee's memoirs) and the lasting impact of Jule Styne's musical score and Stephen Sondheim's extraordinary lyrics. Only time will tell if this essentially timeless musical "fable" will be surpassed in its historic import by the many laudable works that have followed in its wake since 1959.

For me, however, they are all pretenders to the throne occupied by Gypsy for the past almost-60 years. Has any musical since integrated songs, dialogue, characters, setting and themes so seamlessly and so effectively as Gypsy? Have characters (such flawed, challenging and captivating people) been created who continue to resonate so vigorously as Mama Rose and her daughters? And is there an overture that so readily encapsulates the transformative, transporting power of musical theater as Styne's Gypsy overture, which immediately whisks you away from the day-to-day travails of life to the imaginatively heightened world of Dainty June and her Newsboys?

Logan's vision for Gypsy makes the most of his cast's immense talents and he delivers a production that is at once true to the original impact of the work created by Lee, Laurents, Styne and Sondheim, yet he brings a fresh perspective to the legendary material. Logan's practiced eye provides an all-encompassing artistic approach which ensures a production of spectacular proportions. His costumes are exquisite evocations of period-perfect clothes and the design for the set (produced in collaboration with technical director Mitch White) is the perfect backdrop for the action that transpires onstage.

Furthermore, Logan's direction drives the story ever-forward - the show is exceptionally well-paced - as he deftly marshals the company's collective talent to unparalleled excellence.

Colorful and clever, Studio Tenn's Gypsy - with musical direction by Stephen Kummer, who conducts his orchestra with finesse and confidence, and choreography by Emily Tello Speck that propels the story forward with a skillful blend of sharp-witted appreciation of the material - is joyfully, good naturedly mounted to take audiences on a theatrical journey that they will long remember (the buzz among patrons during intermission and post-final curtain was almost reverently awestruck).

Much of that awe, certainly, is reserved for the startling star turn by Nan Gurley as Mama Rose, a role she seems to have been destined to play. Gurley makes use of all her talents and abilities to bring Mama Rose to life without even a hint of caricature, instead imbuing her with charm and a resolute focus that belies the larger-than-life aspects of the character. Instead of giving us a Mama Rose who is evil and self-absorbed, Gurley's stage mother is filled with determination, her ambition to make her daughters the stars she believes them to be coming straight from the heart. While Gurley initially seems too refined for the more raucously drafted Rose of Laurents' script, she strips away any hint of stagey artifice to give a no-holds-barred performance that seems genuinely maternal.

Gurley's Mama Rose is nothing like the monster lesser actresses may portray, rather she is driven by her desire to make the most of life for her daughters. Gurley invests the character with an expansive view of the world, showing us the tremendous love Rose has for her daughters, while exhibiting the laser focus that some may misinterpret as self-serving and, perhaps, horrific.

As expected, Gurley performs Rose's songs with great regard for the material, yet somehow she manages a refreshingly original interpretation of the songs that have become such an integral part of the musical theater canon. Her climactic first act performance of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" is worth the price of a ticket, eclipsed only by her searing performance of "Rose's Turn" that brings the show to its ultimate denouement.

Gurley plays opposite the ethereal Mia Rose Lynne who, as Louise (the introspective young girl who becomes burlesque legend Gypsy Rose Lee) gives as good as she gets, playing her with a ferocity that has often seemed an afterthought in other performances of the role we've encountered over the years. Lynne's performance evolves over the course of the play, elegantly representing Louise's growth as a woman and as an entertainer. Lynne's revealing (no pun intended) performance of Gypsy Rose Lee's rise to stardom is intelligently performed, telegraphing her character's eventual embrace of her talents and the resulting power of her onstage abilities with grace and wit.

Matthew Carlton plays Herbie (Mama Rose's long-suffering suitor and the girls' agent) with a great deal of heart, ingratiatingly self-sacrificing and enormously likable. Carlton's easy charm makes his years-long efforts to marry Rose far more believable than it should be. Maggie Richardson's Dainty June is winsomely drawn and effectively played, while Caleb Marshall plays Tulsa with an elegance that ensures the artistic success of "All I Need Is the Girl."

Very nearly stealing the show from its leading players, however, are the outrageously talented and terrifically appealing trio of Tessie Tura, Mazeppa and Electra - the three strippers who have become the stuff of musical theater legend via the cleverly written "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" - played to excessive perfection by Erin Parker, Sarah Jane Nelson and Casey Hebbel. Riotously funny, yet somehow thoroughly believable, the three women make the most of their brief time onstage to create an indelible impression.

Derek Whittaker and David Compton play numerous roles with ease, while the members of Logan's ensemble (who portray newsboys, farmboys, Rose Louise's Hollywood Blondes and any number of personages) perform with commitment and focus.

• Gypsy. Book by Arthur Laurents. Music by Jule Styne. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Directed by Matt Logan. Musical direction by Stephen Kummer. Choreography by Emily Tello Speck. Presented by Studio Tenn at Jamison Hall, The Factory at Franklin. Through October 4. For tickets, call (615) 541-8200; for details, go to www.StudioTenn.com. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes (including one 15-minute intermission).

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