All roses for Shaw’s long-awaited Gypsy
It’s not out of the question for “Momma” Rose to be fashionably late, but four years?
That’s how long it has been since the Shaw Festival announced it was doing the classic musical “Gypsy” for the first time since the 2005 season. It was immediately pegged as the main event of the 2020 season.
Cue the world going to hell and Shaw’s entire 2020 season being wiped out.
It was then slated for 2021, but that also fell apart because of lockdowns and the pandemic making it impossible for such a large cast to even rehearse together.
At this point, no one would blame artistic director Tim Carroll for letting the old girl go, but he once again slotted her in for this season. This time, she finally made it.
“Long-awaited” hardly describes this production, which will — as expected — be the festival’s biggest crowd-pleaser of the summer. The classic Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim songs still hit the mark, the timeless story still resonates. A lot of shows have been branded the ‘Great American Musical,’ but “Gypsy” makes a strong case.
Of course, separating the good from great productions usually lays with the casting of Rose Hovick, the merciless mom determined to make her two daughters stars on the fading vaudeville circuit during the ’20s and ’30s. She’s a bullish woman who can’t be reasoned with, with three ex-husbands to show for it. It’s a plum role played by the likes of Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury and Bernadette Peters through the years.
It’s no surprise Kate Hennig is superb in the Shaw production — from the moment casting was announced nearly four years ago, she felt perfect. It’s one of those towering, emotional performances that every so often elevates the annual Shaw musical into something special.
She’s so dominating here, she could have likely carried the entire show on her own. But director Jay Turvey (replacing original director Kimberley Rampersand) surrounds her with stellar support. Julie Lumsden is both vulnerable and, by the end, spiteful as the more reserved daughter Louise, forced into the spotlight when her more talented sister June (Madelyn Kriese) finally quits Rose’s lame stage show, in which she has to sing “May We Entertain You” over and over.
Likewise, Jason Cadieux is endearing as the former agent Herbie, talked back into the business by Rose’s sheer force of will (and promise of marriage). Most cautionary tales of theatre would position him as the villain, but Herbie is like Rose’s calming influence until he too has had enough.
Hennig anchors it all — domineering but almost sympathetic in her need for show business success, even if it means everyone resents her. Hennig can coax tears in one scene, cut glass with a glare in the next. When she sings the show’s centrepiece tune “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” you can feel decades of desperation and relief pouring out.
COVID did its best to KO this production, but like Rose herself, it was too stubborn to quit. The bumpy road to the Festival Theatre was worth the wait for “Gypsy.”
‘Gypsy’ will run at the Shaw Festival Theatre until October