Gypsy

This is a well written, amusing but poignant tale of an ambitious mother who lives her life through her daughters whatever the cost to them and whatever sacrifices they have to make.

Laura Judge gave a powerful performance as Rose the domineering mother. She steered her family and their fellow performers through the world of Vaudeville until this world fell apart. Along the way she finds a new agent, Herbie played magnificently by Ian White, but sadly he cannot deal with her obsession and leaves her to her own devices.

The two young sisters, Baby June (Sophia Rose) and Baby Louise (Jemima McDonald) were delightful in their roles of child stars and as they grew up the parts were taken over by Chloe Judge and Pip Barton. These two worked well together and they gave a lovely rendition of 'If Momma Was Married', a cry from the heart for some normality in their lives.

There was a strong team of young men wh made up the dance team and Fergal Mullen Wilkinson as Tulsa gave a lovely performance in 'All I Need Is The Girl'. 

When Baby June elopes with Tulsa Rose then has to concentrate on making Louise a star but Louise soon takes matters into her own hands and carves her own career. Pip was delightful as the tomboy Louise who transforms into the glamorous burlesque queen.

This is a show with lots of scene changes and some very split second costume changes and these all seemed to happen quite smoothly. There were some nice little cameo roles which is all important to this type of show.

The sets were simple but we had rather a lot of smoke at times which didn't always seem appropriate for some scenes.

This story never fails to move me and there are some great songs throughout the performance. It was lovely to listen to the well played overture and the orchestra played sympathetically throughout the show never drowning the singing.

Well done to all involved in this most enjoyable show.

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