By Dale King
The musical Gypsy is a compendium of ultimates and ultimatums. It focuses on a quintessential stage mother who tries like crazy to squeeze stardom into her two daughters, yet she pitches a fit when the young ladies find fame and seem to leave her in the dust.
The 1959 musical, based loosely on the memoirs of famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, and pulled together for the theater by composer Jule Styne and lyricist Stephen Sondheim from a book by Arthur Laurents, rounds out calendar year 2015 at Broward Stage Door Theatre in Margate.
A talented cast led by Carbonell-winning vocalist/actress Ann Marie Olson creates a performance well worth an evening’s diversion. Olson has the chops and the lungs to portray Rose Hovick, the ultimate showbiz mother determined to achieve fame for and through her daughters, Louise (Kelly Zieglar), who becomes Gypsy Rose Lee, and June (Erica Rose Mendez), whose eventual disgust for her mom’s belligerence causes her to defect from the act mother has ached to create. She goes on to become actress June Havoc.
Olson grasps the intricacies of Rose so well that the hideous side of this woman who is prepared to sacrifice her children and her own last hope for marital happiness to the whims of stardom is clearly visible. She makes it abundantly clear that, by the time she sings “Rose’s Turn” on a deserted stage in the show’s finale, she’s well on her way to an emotional breakdown.
The production does manage to mix humor with tearful tragedy and broken hopes. There is initially something comic about Rose’s barnstorming performance that is admirably balanced by the enduring decency of Matthew Korinko as Rose’s devoted companion, Herbie. And the three burned-out strippers who share their wise, but shop-worn advice with Louise in the song “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” — Christina Groom, Stephanie Genovese and Ellie Pattison — have the audience in stitches as they go about removing their stitches.
The musical contains many songs that have become popular standards, including “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Together (Wherever We Go,” “Small World,” “Some People,” “Let Me Entertain You,” “All I Need Is the Girl,” and “Rose’s Turn.”
Actually, “Let Me Entertain You” is performed a few times, as a childlike enticement to the audience by Baby June, but as a more sensuous, come-hither proposal when vocalized by Louise as Gypsy Rose Lee.
Still, pathos does seem to permeate the show. As Rose aggressively pushes her girls to play the vaudeville circuit in the early 1920s, it’s clear that her “I’m-just-doing-this-for-you” mentality is a charade. She is clearly filling the vacancies of her own life vicariously.
While Baby June (Lola McClure) is an extroverted, talented child star, Louise (portrayed as a child by Zoe McClure) is not only shy, she is always being pushed to the back and treated as “one of the boys.” When June leaves and Louise becomes “the star,” clearly the family is on the financial skids. That’s why they are booked into the only place that will take them, a strip joint looking for something legitimate to keep the cops away.
From there, Louise, faced with stripping or getting carted away when one of the other “actors” is arrested for soliciting, wades tentatively into the ecdysiast trade — like a non-swimmer entering cold water. It takes some doing — and Zieglar does a terrific job of taking those initially nervous first steps — until she becomes a pro at doffing her duds with lots of sophistication.
Rose resists the idea of turning her daughter loose without a mother’s tender touch and constant help. Harsh words are said, and Louise, now Gypsy, dressed in a glittering, black, backless gown and covered in mink, seems to have risen far above her mom on the celebrity chart. The tragic tale of “Rose’s Turn” does manage to level the playing field and bring a measure of resolution.
Dan Kelley directs Gypsy with an emphasis on the actors. Scenery is a bit sparse, so the talent has to win it with the audience. And it does.
Lending a hand with the on-stage dance steps is choreographer Chrissi Ardito.
Olson has a commanding voice, clear and strong, one that truly suits the tunes. Her role as Rose is her first venture onto the Broward stage, but it likely won’t be her last.
Also new to Broward is Zieglar, who triumphantly pulls off Louise’s transformation from gauche teenager to skillful stripper. Her take on “Let Me Entertain You” showing her growing confidence onstage is sly and sexy.
The McClures are scene-stealers as the younger version of Rose’s kids. And Korinko portrays the perfect love-struck follower, passionate for Rose without question, until he finally realizes what is really happening and goes ballistic.
Mendez shows up in a transitional, but important part, as the elder June in “Madame Rose’s Toreadorables,” a last useless effort to save the dying vaudeville industry.
Gypsy is playing through Jan. 3 at the Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W. Sample Road, Margate. Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with 2 p.m. matinees Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. For tickets and information, call 954-344-7765.