I grew up with golden-age chestnut musical theater productions, You know, My Fair Lady, Anything Goes, The Music Man, The Sound of Music among many others…I have appeared in them on stage, and I have directed almost all of them at one time or another. Wow, did The Croswell Opera House present an incredible production of the mother-of-them-all, Gypsy, the past two weeks in Adrian.
I am currently residing and working in Florida, but there was no way I was going to miss this production, so I arrived just in time to see the final performance this past Sunday, and I couldn’t have been happier wth the product. I knew it was in good hands when I saw that Erica Wyman Abrahamson was directing (and boy, was it outstanding), Bradley Baker was an excellent vocal director with Bill Hayes conducting the exceptional orchestra (How fun seeing him conducting and not in the pit playing this time!). Erica brought with her Christopher Childers from California to choreograph the show and it was spot-on perfect. Deidre Reed’s costumes were stunning, and Love Ruddell’s hair and wigs were period perfect. Marty Tutt’s scenic design was warm and (when needed) brassy – as were Molly Sobiechowski’s lighting and Karl Kasischke’s sound design. Kudos to Elizabeth Olgren’s stage management of this massive show, and (for better or worse) kid-wrangling.
It was surprising to see how many people in the audience were unfamiliar with the story (in all honestly I didn’t think there was ANYONE who hadn’t seen the show or the movie before) – but it kind of points to how distant some of these shows from the 50’s are to many audience members. They vocally reacted throughout, and in a way that audiences might have during the original run. This is not a show for children, even though there are many children in the show’s first act. Most are no longer in the theater when the show arrives at it’s more adult conclusion. While there were some gasps in the audience when the name Gypsy Rose Lee is finally mentioned (mostly from the older audience) I am going to bet that at least half the audience had no idea that was a real person. (Baby June, incidentally, grew up to be movie and stage star June Havoc…Louise of course became Gypsy Rose Lee, the world’s most famous (and richest) stripper in burlesque). So there was a history lesson in store for some.
But the show, of course, revolves around Mama Rose – who pushes, prods, and controls things as the stage-mother of all stage-mothers. And the production couldn’t have had a finer Rose than Julia Spanja Hoffert whose acting, vocals, and movement just “became” Rose. It was a standing ovation performance and I have no doubt she will be doing this role elsewhere in the future as well. Her salesman-come-manager/lover was played with heart by her husband Jared Hoffert and this was a match that had chemistry built-in (some might remember them as the Jewish shop-owner and non-Jewish landlady in Cabaret a few seasons ago.)
Emma Skaggs was the perfect Louise (another triple-threat performer who I hope gets to do this role over and over and over.) Her ability to morph from teenage mousy second-fiddle daughter to self-confident beautiful celebrity Gypsy was exhilarating to watch. Abigail Lipsitz as teenage June (their ages are purposefully never mentioned in the show) was very strong and their duet on “If Mamma Was Married” was an early showstopper (by early, I mean 40 minutes into the three hour musical.) Cece Underwood and Giuliana Kozak were capable younger versions of the two – forever nine years old.
Special mention to the outstanding stripper trio – Abrahamason herself as Tessie Tura, Stephanie L Stephan as Mazeppa, and Cindy Eberhardt as Electra – performing with a butterfly with a life of its own, a trumpet, and electric lights — “To have no talent is not enough” and the three ladies simply brought down the house (also Stephen Sondheim’s best lyrics in the show).
The entire large ensemble, kids and adults, were terrific in this big, big, big musical – one that I consider the most perfectly written show of the golden age of musicals. I was entertained, I was overwhelmed, I was thrilled, and I was so happy I made the trip north for the few days to catch this musical before it was gone. It’s stunning theater: when the big buildup is dying vaudeville and its transformation, presented in a stunning musical theater stage production, that leads to something…well…very different. I think everything will always be coming up roses for this musical, and hopefully many of you got a chance to see this one because it was stellar.
Photos courtesy of The Croswell Opera House.
Mostly Musical Theatre 
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