Imelda Staunton is a knockout in this tragicomic musical set in the world of Twenties and Thirties vaudeville. She’s both appealing and deliberately absurd as Momma Rose, an ambitious woman convinced she can turn her family into stars. She pins her greatest hopes on baton-twirling daughter June — whom we see as a precocious child (remarkably elastic Georgia Pemberton) and an excitable adult (impressive Gemma Sutton). But it’s her other daughter, Louise, who eventually tastes celebrity — as stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.
Jonathan Kent’s revival of a show first seen in 1959 is tense, vigorous and sometimes very funny. A superb band under Nicholas Skilbeck conjures the brassy flair and richness of Jule Styne’s score, there are ingeniously irreverent lyrics from the young Stephen Sondheim, and Stephen Mear’s choreography has a bright-eyed wit.
The production also captures the darkness of Arthur Laurents’s book. Momma Rose is a flawed figure — a kleptomaniac and fantasist — as well as a gutsy one, belting out the show-stopping tunes (in particular Rose’s Turn and Everything’s Coming Up Roses). Staunton does a fine job of conveying her complexity. And Lara Pulver perfectly evokes the agony of metamorphosing from submissive Louise into daring Gypsy Rose Lee.
Until Nov 8 (01243 781312, cft.org.uk)
