Audra McDonald offers a mesmerizingly original take on the mother of all stage mothers. While the actress wields a certain needling charm, especially when trying to ingratiate herself with any man who might book her daughters onto a vaudeville programme, her Rose is perhaps the most monstrous version of the character that I’ve seen. Her soprano leans more toward operatic vibrato than traditional musical theater belting, an approach that brings a somewhat tremulous quality to her solos. The effect is to soften a character whose every utterance seems to have a braying sense of neediness. One reason Gypsy has endured for so long is that it depicts an idea that has become even more endemic in our society since its 1959 premiere: an unquenchable hunger for fame, even second-hand. McDonald captures the essence of that yearning in a performance so powerful that we don’t dare look away.
Read my full review in the February issue of U.K.-based Musicals magazine. ★★★★☆
GYPSY
Majestic Theatre, Broadway
Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes (with 1 intermission)
Tickets on sale through June 29.
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