The Broadway Ferret

Image from www.newyorkcitytheatre.com

Rating: 4 out of 5

A new year, a new review.

For the few people who don’t know anything about the show, it’s based on the memoir of Gypsy Rose Lee, a burlesque dancer.  It tells the story of how Gypsy’s mother, Rose, pushed her daughters (the other one was named Rose June, if you can believe it), into the vaudeville circuit and how it affected their lives.  To the average person, it’s a study on why one shouldn’t be an overbearing stage mother.  Although, and I won’t give away the ending, it does have a bittersweet ending.

I thought Patti LuPone was ok.  I really bought her desperation and delusion to make her daughters stars.  You can tell Rose had a goal for her daughters whether they wanted to go along with it or not.  And when you find out why she did what she did for her daughters, it really adds to the sadness of her situation.  I really liked Laura Benanti’s portrayal of Rose Louise because you got to see her character evolve from a wallflower who’s awkward onstage to one finds herself relishing the limelight.  The scene where her character confronts her mother about her life was perhaps one of the best scenes in the show.

Image from www.nytimes.com

I thought the story was good, if somewhat disturbing.  The fact that it was based on a true story just added to the shock of watching grown women act as though they were still children.  As a result, the story distracted from the show itself, in my opinion.  I found myself almost unable to pay attention to the performances in general.

I liked the sets, though they seemed pretty generic.  It looked like it a high school set of Gypsy, rather than one on Broadway.  I did like how part of the set looked like a stage, almost like watching a show within a show.  I think this part of the set shows Rose’s mentality, that her daughters are always putting on a show.  The placards that change with almost every scene is a nice touch. 

I thought this show was good.  I would recommend it to adults only, because of some of the content.  I would highly recommend this to all parents, in the hopes that they wouldn’t do to their children what Rose did to her daughters.

Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes w/one intermission