Gypsy

We went to see 'Gypsy' on Saturday night, a show Chris has been looking forward to and which only opened on Thursday, so we're seeing it on day three while the buzz is still around from opening night. You could almost feel the excitement in the theatre, especially amongst the more flamboyant gentlemen in the audience, and more especially those in the row behind us.

The orchestra was on stage for the performance, in full view for the overture and then hidden during the show. And then on came Patti LuPone walking up onto the stage from the stalls to massive applause at the start of the first scene. This is the tale of the ultimate stage mother, bossing everyone around to get her way and try to make first one daughter and then another a star and this hides and feeds off her own deep longing to be in showbiz and be a star. And this encapsulates what I don't like about the show - I don't like Rose, the mother, her shouting, her bullying, her failure to be a sympathetic character. I know that's what it's all about and I need to get beyond that, but I can't.

The production has scant scenery or props but it doesn't really need it since the music, the songs and the acting take us where we need to go, not bits 'n' bobs on stage. It was, as you'd expect, a very professional production. Patti LuPone gave excellent performances during her two big songs that closed each act and brought the house down and 'Rose's Turn' in particular, the final song of the show, gave us all what for in spades and the audience erupted into a five minutes standing ovation. I thought that was too much, especially since the show only has another few minutes to run after that song and we could all see Gypsy, the daughter, waiting to come on stage to begin the final short scene with her mother. It was almost selfish of the audience to keep her waiting, the audience seemingly wanting to be part of the experience of the show.

I liked Laura Benanti as Louise (who becomes Gypsy, the world famous stripper), the gawky daughter whose role in life is to make her sister look good on stage. When her sister runs away then it's Louise who gets the full power of Mama Rose's star-struck ambitions. I liked the way that Laura gradually moved Louise from the side to the centre stage and, during 'Let Me Entertain You' as she learns to strip, she visibly and audibly grew in confidence, a really good performance.

It would be nice to see this again in a few months time when the buzz has died down and it's grown into itself a bit more. I suspect that's when we'll see the real show.