★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Reviewer - Harry

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

Production contains: strobe lighting

After 8 years since the WestEnd revival starring the fabulous Imelda Staunton, Gypsy the Musical is back and maybe even better than ever at The Mill at Sonning.

Gypsy is a fable about a real-life performer called Gypsy Rose Lee. The show tells the tale of travelling around the vaudeville circuit in America and the road to fame in the burlesque world, whilst also having to face the challenges of poverty in her family. Gypsy is a classic musical with a message that is still relevant today. My initial thoughts going in were mixed, like where the band was? How will the space in the auditorium work? Will this show/story work now? I knew the classic songs “Everythings Coming Up Roses”, “Rose’s Turn” “Together We Go”, as they all get played on musical theatre radio, and I had seen the televised version - but it was great to see it on a live stage.

The production is directed by Joseph Pitcher, with the original book written by Arthur Laurents and music Julie Styne and the production's choreography by Alex Christian and Rachael Moran.

The show takes on many themes; hope, acceptance, coming of age and destiny. With a running time of around 2 hours 20 minutes with an interval, the show gives you something to think about every step of the way whether that is as a critic or just a theatregoer.

The direction by Joseph Pitcher was great, often reflecting on memories and flashbacks of a young Gypsy Rose Lee to help move the story along but also to remind us of what happened before, allowing each scene to fit like a jigsaw piece.The use of audience side entrances was great. Using the sides for backstage settings going upstairs to offices, or entering a scary burlesque club in act two, was a great way to use the whole auditorium efficiently and functionally when working with a smaller stage. It made the production feel bigger and it gave a sense of location and made you feel, as an audience member, part of the show, which is great.

The script, originally written by Arthur Laurents, was just delightful. No matter if you have seen this show before or like me not at all, the script doesn’t get old. I think actually it makes you realise how much meaning goes into writing a script for a show. The show takes suggested memoirs from the real-life Gypsy Rose Lee which helped the show’s writer a lot obviously, the script really gives the sense of Rose living her life through Gypsy and June as she couldn’t do it herself and now seeing it, as a modern-day reference, maybe Rose is like a mum on the popular TV series Dance Moms. A mum who is always wanting the best for her kids no matter what it takes or how loud you need to be? The show has a lot of meaning and enhances themes while also making you realise others too.

Alex Christian and Rachel Moran’s choreography was high energy and fast-paced, getting the audience to be engaged really well, they aligned against the fun songs but then had simple moves for the slower-paced songs, which juxtaposed really well. Both dance style variations thought of the pacings and timings and you can see this clearly throughout.

Evelyn Hopkins played Louise/ “Gypsy” well creating a sense of big sister and older daughter and letting the limelight go to Baby June. The emotional sense of being treated second best showed well and made the audience want to root for her from the start. The acting techniques used by Evelyn were cleverly chosen enabling her to make this role utterly her own. Evelyn had no trouble singing the score giving you a different insight on vocal techniques, ranges and ability, such as Little Lamb which had so much emotion making it into a deep inner monologue. By using the Stanislavski 3 Circles of attention using the first stage which is talking to yourself, helped convey the thoughts and feelings of the character as a whole.

Rebecca Thornhill takes on the mammoth task of portraying Rose (Mama). When someone has such a strong influence on the story. Rebecca a really interesting exploration of a loving mother with a twist of control and then flows into how far she was willing to take her own passions through her daughter’s. Her charisma and the way she portrayed her emotions through frustration at Directors or finding love with Herbie, came across at all times, whilst always keeping the audience’s attention fully with her. Let’s face it she blew the audience away with her amazing performance of the Final Song “Rose’s Turn” - I know I felt every word and I’m pretty sure the audience did too.
The whole cast brought the show to life, through the singing, acting, dancing and playing various instruments on the stage, bringing a different feel to the stage and revitalising a classic. The whole cast worked together well, the ensemble played various parts and had to be flexible with their acting skills, utilising their own individual skills, again adding to an overall great performance. I have to call out the three Burlesque Dancers, Laura Tyrer (Tessie), Susannah Van Den Berg (Mazeppa) and Natalie Winsor (Electra). They were absolutely brilliant and you can tell the whole audience loved them.

The Mill at Sonning has produced a great production of a classic musical, giving it a new and fresh feel through the staging, the location and the cast. The whole experience because of the location, the relaxed dining atmosphere, and the intimate staging makes this a unique place to see a show. Then because of the production/show/cast it took me out of modern-day real life and took me back to the 1920/30s, definitely worth the trip from Sheffield. The cast didn’t feel like they were in the early stages of the show, this felt like they had been running for a long time. The theatre may have been small but the production was big.

My advice is if you can go and see Gypsy now, do it