EVERETT – That Mama Rose has quite a set of lungs on her.
And if your only reason to see the blockbuster musical “Gypsy” was to hear Mama sing “Everything’s Coming up Roses,” it’s reason enough.
When Mama Rose belts out that number, prepare for the goose bumps. The effect is chilling. “We can do it, Mama is gonna see to it.” Mama’s gone over the edge, there’s madness in her eyes, desperation in her voice.
It’s a turning point in the “Gypsy” story in which Mama Rose has discovered her daughter, June, the one who Mama banked on being a star, has left. Ran off and got married. And Rose is left with her other daughter, Louise.
Louise wasn’t much on talent. But she was statuesque and beautiful. And she went on to become the “most publicized woman in the world”: Gypsy Rose Lee, the queen of burlesque.
That story is told in a beautifully sung, artfully staged and comically lit performance by the cast of the Northwest Savoyards.
Laura Abel as the over-the-top stage mom played Mama Rose like a woman who has longed for that role all her life. From “Some People” to “You’ll Never Get Away From Me” to “Everything’s Coming up Roses,” Abel never lets up. She is joined on stage by husband Mark Abel playing subservient manager Herbie, whose deadpan delivery of such one-liners as “you looked like a pioneer woman without a frontier” hit the mark every time.
The couple’s on-stage chemistry was built in.
Gypsy Rose Lee was played by Cayman Ilika. The audience got an inkling of Ilika’s capability to sing in her sweetly delivered “Little Lamb.” But the tease was all over when Ilika produced a powerfully clear rendition of “If Momma Was Married.” She sings the lyrical duet with her sister June, played by Adrienne Baltz.
The song needed and received the clarity of these two voices because genius lyricist Stephen Sondheim filled the piece with double entendres, puns and punch lines that would have been lost under lesser singers.
Other highlights of the show included a startling performance of baby June by 5-year-old Britt Flatmo of Mukilteo, whose large voice betrayed her petite frame.
The score for “Gypsy” was given first-rate treatment under the musical direction of David Spring. And then there were the strippers: Tessie (Lisa Thiroux), Mazeppa (Gina Wilheim) and Electra (Cara Hazzard). Their song “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” was hilarious.
In the final number, “Let Me Entertain You,” the audience again got to appreciate the chops of Ilika. But come on, people, have more fun. Interact. “Gypsy” asked for begging, so you gotta beg for more.
Arts reporter Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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