Gypsy – 01 January 2025

The music from Gypsy is frequently removed from its context because, frankly, the songs are beautiful enough that they can hold their own without the story that strings them together. For me, the nuanced performances, particularly regarding characters who never explicitly state how they feel about each other, impacted this production in ways that enriched the meaning and enhanced the audience’s ability to relate. Though there were moments where I felt I had to sit through mediocrity as part of the set up for the meaningful content toward the end (mostly the scenes with the young children), there were many more moments where I caught a glance or an inflection that keyed me in to the genuineness of Herbie (Danny Burstein)’s love for Mama Rose (Audra McDonald), Louise (Joy Woods)’s internalized pain from explicit rejection from her mother, June (Jordan Tyson)’s deliberate lack of talent (Jordan Tyson has it—as an aside, it made me sad to see her have to play a role where she wasn’t allowed to shine), and the near complete lack of relationship between Louise and June (which was the most surprising of all—how could child Louise separate her mother’s overbearing love from June from her own relationship with June?).

Gypsy asked some tough questions about love. Audra McDonald displayed an intense commitment to not villainizing Mama Rose for the way she took advantage of children and tried to live vicariously through her daughters. McDonald’s vocal inflection, both while singing and speaking, elucidated some level of trauma or mental health challenge that is not explicitly discussed but, to me as a social worker by day, was a pivotal part of why she had three former husbands, fear of pursuing her own aspirations, and nonsensical dreams for others. McDonald showed a kindness and tenderness at times, but also a forcefulness and lack of willingness to hear other people’s desires at pivotal moments when she made decisions about their bodies which they were too taken aback by to object—the men she did not pay for their performances, assuming that Herbie would still marry her despite her mistreatment of him, Louise performing as a stripper because Mama Rose needed the money, etc. June runs off to marry Tulsa (Kevin Csolack) despite the fact that Louise is the one who enjoys the magical moment watching Tulsa dance. Is there a connection between Tulsa and June, or is June just done being infantilized? Does Louise stick with Mama Rose when June leaves because she secretly liked Tulsa and is upset that June is taking away something else from her? Is this her chance at her mother’s love.

In this revival, the characters all came alive in new and intriguing ways that opened a floodgate of questions that made this show feel like it was less about a stage mom who takes things too far and more about social commentary on how success is defined. In particular, this production (nor any production of Gypsy I have seen), does not answer the pivotal question about why “being a star” is Mama Rose’s dream. Why is this the thing she forces on her children? Why does she invest in June’s success but won’t even let Louise wear a dress? Why is burlesque not an instantly acceptable answer when having her daughter strip is? How is Mama Rose benefiting from any of the people she is hurting? Audra McDonald’s breakdown toward the end of the show with the monologue that segued into a song shed a lot of light on the fact that she wanted to be a star, but it was never made clear why, even subtextually, this was her character’s metric for success. It was odd to see a mother openly state that she would prefer her daughters not go to school or study or receive an education, even when offered at no expense to her. McDonald’s portrayal of Mama Rose made me aware that this character is an example of the adage “hurt people hurt people.” There was a deep pain inside of her that pushed her to live through others and push away lovers and deny people wages and look down on performers of a different occupation (until she stands to benefit). I felt the raw, realness of Mama Rose’s pain channeled through Audra McDonald’s truly impressive performance.

Joy Woods had a very effective journey at Louise, though I wish her vocal transition from shyness to confidence had been a little less abrupt. Watching Woods stand up to McDonald with firm compassion despite intense anger was another impressively nuanced moment that captured the bitter truth of how much we hate the ones we love and how much we love the ones we hate. As a nitpicky artistic aside, I was confused that Danny Burstein’s bow was after Joy Woods. Joy Woods is the seminal, titular character of the show. She has many more lines and performs in many more songs. Her character is more demanding in terms of character arc and physical performance demands. Great as Burstein’s Herbie was, it felt uncomfortable thinking about this production slapping in the face the very people it’s trying to uplift.

The lighting (Jules Fischer and Peggy Eisenhauer) was absolutely breathtaking, and Toni-Leslie James walked the line between patriotic costume design and offensively patriotic costume design brilliantly in this nuanced moment of American politics. Scott Lehrer’s sound design was crystal clear and brilliantly executed. I fully enjoyed Arthur Laurents’s book, especially as the nuance of some of these lines felt like I was hearing them for the very first time. The full orchestra created a lot of magnificent, magical moments. All in all Gypsy impressed me on every level, and I am sincerely excited for potential nominations when awards season rolls around.

I did not attend this performance on a press pass.