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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 25, 2003
HUDSON -- You can understand directors and actors wanting to put their own signature on a classic role like Mama Rose in the musical Gypsy. After all, the show and the role of the pushy stage mom behind stripper/author/movie actor Gypsy Rose Lee was specifically written for the one-and-only Ethel Merman, and who wants to give the audience an impersonation of la Merman?
That might explain why actor Shannon Lee Jones and director Bruce Blaine made the Show Palace Dinner Theatre's Mama a classy dame instead of a brassy broad.
The reinterpretation works well in some scenes. When Mama meets her newest suitor, Herbie (Bobb James), the romantic sparks seem genuine. When she showers theater mogul Mr. Goldstone (Erik Michelsen) with affection, it's comical and sweet.
But it doesn't work in others. Mama Rose can't be admirable, but she can be warm and funny and lovable. She's an aging woman trying to relive her own disappointing life through her kids. If the actor wants the audience to forgive Mama for doing that, she must make Mama's overweening ambition look as ridiculous as it is. The role cries out for some playful stage business, but too often Jones plays it with deadly earnestness.
On the considerable plus side, Jones is gorgeous, delivers lines like they're real conversations and is gifted with a belting voice that knocks her solos Some People, Everything's Coming Up Roses and the poignant and powerful finale, Rose's Turn, right out of the park.
The show has other good points: Tom Hansen's detailed, colorful, quickly changed sets; Michelsen's costumes (though Mama Rose's final costume must be less glamorous); and the three burlesque house strippers (Katie Kerwin, Susan Haldeman, Julie Czarnecki), who add much-needed comic relief.
Kristie Kerwin in the title role of Louise/Gypsy is another problem altogether. She handles the early tomboy scenes fine, but she falls apart once she becomes Gypsy, playing her stripper scenes like a zany Lucille Ball. Louise is supposed to molt into a sexy butterfly, not Ethel Mertz's sidekick on the chocolate factory line.
The crucial confrontation between Gypsy and Mama near the end of the show should be Gypsy's confident declaration of independence. Here it's a screaming match, without nuance or buildup of dramatic tension.
Gypsy can be a great show, and the Show Palace version has the basic talent and the trimmings in place. With some judicious tinkering, it can shine.
REVIEW: Gypsy, through March 30 at Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson. Dinner and show, $37.50; show only, $26.45, plus tax and tip. Call (727) 863-7949 in west Pasco, toll free 1-888-655-7469 elsewhere.