Musical Theatre / Gypsy, Queanbeyan Players. At the Q, Queanbeyan, until November 8. Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

The role of Rose in the musical Gypsy is considered the Holy Grail for most musical theatre leading ladies. 

Written specifically for Ethel Merman, with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the storyline for Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoir of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee. 

The musical however focuses on Lee’s mother, Rose, and her efforts to live her life through her two daughters, June and Louise. The character of Louise is based on Lee, while June is based on Lee’s sister, actress June Havoc.

When Gypsy premiered on Broadway in 1959, American theatre critic Frank Rich described the musical as “nothing if not Broadway’s own brassy, unlikely answer to King Lear”, while Clive Barnes described Rose as “one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical”. 

In Queanbeyan Player’s production, directed and designed by Jude Colquhoun, with costumes by Suzan Cooper, Rose is played by Emma White, who certainly has the clarion voice of a Merman, and is a formidable actress who manages to make the audience care about Rose despite her “take-no-prisoners” determination to make her daughters theatrical “stars” whatever the cost. 

However, White’s propensity to drop her voice suddenly during important speeches, therefore denying her audience significant information, along with an unsettling tendency to shout into her microphone during tense moments, weakened the impact of her otherwise excellent performance. 

Emily Pogson makes Louise’s transition from talentless “spare” to sophisticated burlesque queen, believable, while Paris Ellis, faced with the formidable challenge of following diminutive Matilda Hutchinson as Baby June, still managed to charm with her portrayal of the maturing Dainty June, the favoured daughter who escapes her mother’s clutches. 

Steven Galinec brought a natural charm and fine singing voice to his performance as the ever-reliable, Herbie, while Alissa Pearson, offered a scene-stealing double-act in contrasting roles, first as the efficient Miss Cratchet, before lighting up the stage as stripper Electra when she joined Aleisha Croxford as Tessie Tura, and Sarah Hull as Mazeppa to enlighten the audience to the key to success as a stripper with “You Gotta Get A Gimmick”. 

To do justice to the show’s superb score, which contains such classics as Everything’s Coming Up Roses, Small World, Together Wherever We Go, and Let Me Entertain You, Queanbeyan Players has mounted an excellent 22-piece orchestra, under the baton of Brigid Cummins.

But the decision to place the orchestra onstage, visible throughout the entire show, provided a series of visual impediments that compromised the success of the production.

Apart from making nonsense of Rose’s instructions to the orchestra, delivered to the orchestra pit in front of her, with the orchestra clearly behind her, it gave the show the appearance of being a concert version, rather than a full theatrical presentation. 

Scenic elements were bundled on and off, in full view of the audience, lessening their impact, continually interrupting the pace of the show and, despite everyone’s best efforts, providing the show with an overall scrappy appearance, despite the spectacular lighting design by Zac Harvey.

Also, although the orchestra sounded magnificent once it settled on opening night, it was a shame that the celebrated overture got off to a shaky start, sounding under-rehearsed with significant sound balance issues. 

A shame, given that the overture is the first thing the audience hears and therefore provides the all-important first impression of what is to follow. 

Nevertheless, Queanbeyan Players is to be applauded for taking on the challenges and providing a welcome opportunity to experience one of Broadway’s most celebrated musicals. 

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