Gypsy

The sets on this production were wonderful and really complimented each scene beautifully (of which there were many). The lighting enhanced the scenes and Lee Brennan and John Buckley and his team who build in house truly worked their magic and used the space available with minimum disruption to changes. The stage crew did a fabulous job on changes to set keeping the time to a minimum in what is a long show particularly Act 1.

                                                                                   

The sound worked well to compliment the actors on stage and their characters. The costumes and wigs were wonderful and props in keeping with the time.

 

The Orchestra sounded fantastic under the baton of Paul Firth whose hard work at rehearsals paid off with some stunning vocal performances.

 

The supporting cast all played their parts exceptionally well including the Farm boys who were all great dancers, The junior Newsies who performed like a true Vaudeville act and The Toreadorables who backed the new act with great singing and dancing.

 

All the supporting cast played their parts well but the Three Strippers, Amy Turner as Electra, Claire Egerton as Mazeppa and Sarah Thewlis as Tessie were all well cast and performed their parts brilliantly and with humour. “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” was a brilliant number and good use was made of the walkway around the Orchestra. Equally Gary Jones McCaw as Tulsa danced and sounded wonderful on his number “All I Need is the Girl”. The choreography across the show was wonderful but this number was absolutely breathtaking and I didn’t want it to end.

 

Baby June and Baby Louise were brilliantly portrayed by Holly Dewsnap and Brodie Smith. Both had great characterisations and vocally put in superb performances. The change over to Dainty June and Louise was very effective with brilliant lighting and the continuation of each characterisation. Claire Egerton was great as June with the annoying vocals and over the top showbiz smile and actions that her mother promoted. I loved her touching scenes with her sister and “If Momma Was Married” was gorgeous and showed the affection the girls had for each other.

 

Laura Meredith-Hoyle was stunning as Louise who finally finds the thing she is good at much to her mother’s disgust. Her portrayal as the forgotten sister who then grows in confidence was portrayed with conviction. Vocally Laura never put a foot wrong and her acting and dancing in the role was also faultless.

 

Jon Crebbin was great as Herbie. His touching scenes with the girls especially Louise were lovely and left me upset that his kind nature, warmth and supportive personality were trodden on and destroyed by Rose. Vocally Jon is a master and my only complaint is he didn’t have a solo or more numbers.

 

Samantha Bates was superb as Mama Rose with great comic timing, nice vocals and tone that lacked some strength for some of the numbers, great dance moves and acting that had me hating her but also feeling so very sorry for her in the space of minutes. Her characterisation of Mama Rose was driven and faultless. Of course this show rests on the actress playing Mama Rose as this has to be one of the most challenging roles in Musical Theatre due to the complexity of songs, physically demanding acting and characterisation, The final scenes and songs of both Act1 and 2 were beautifully acted with a lovely vocal tone.

                                                                                 

Well done to the production team on a fabulous show and the cast who nailed every character. This was another show from start to finish.

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