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National Operatic & Dramatic Association

Gypsy

THE PRODUCTION  

"Gypsy" is one of those musicals where the audience say "I didn't know this song was from Gypsy" so, to some extent, the parts are more famous than the whole. Which is a pity because the show reaches heights that better-known musicals sometimes miss. It is a consummate "Show-Biz" musical and has everything. A sexy, funny, and sometimes touching story written with a built-in-up-beat optimism and with fantastic music and lyrics and larger-than-life characters. Quite a challenge in fact.

STAGING AND SET  

One of the most outstanding features of MARK THORBURN'S set design was its simplicity and creation of space by the virtual absence of set. The vast empty spaces used the imaginative small props to set the scene and thereby gave the cast, director and choreographer so many opportunities to exploit the singing and dancing to best effect. The backcloths were very well painted but the bedroom set was decidedly wobbly.

LIGHTING  

JONATHAN YORK and IAN LEGATE started as they meant to continue with highly effective lighting fade for "May We Entertain You"? The synchronisation of lights and curtains at the start of Act 2 was absolutely perfect. It was great accurate lighting throughout.

SOUND  

This was outsourced and was mostly what you would expect from specialists using professional equipment. There were however some glitches. The telephone bell came from a speaker in the rear stalls rather than from the stage and during "You Gotta Get A Gimmick" the level of sound rose and fell as the singers moved, but they were the exceptions to generally well-balanced sound.  

COSTUME

The costumes were great. CAROLINE RUSSELL & JANE HARRISON and DORINDA DUNCAN had chosen well and the excellent contrasts and wonderful colours made a tremendous contribution to the vibrancy of the show. Rose's first costume was a bit "frumpy" and one of the boy's jackets didn't fit closely enough to hide his stomach. When Louise changed from vaudeville to burlesque her subsequent costumes were brilliant and the Detroit section was especially striking.  

THE CAST  

THE CHORUS AND EVERYONE WHOM I DON'T MENTION BY NAME One of the most consistent strengths of The New Penny Theatre Company is the tremendous concentration, animation and commitment of the chorus and supporting cast. There is a tremendous comfort for the principles knowing the standards of even the smallest roles are faultless. There was a total depth of talent and support and wherever you looked on stage you found the animation, reaction and involvement.

BABY JUNE  

FREYA TURTON showed a talent that was beyond her years. During "May We Entertain You" her voice and movements was wonderfully "Shirley Temple" and Freya deserves high praise.  

BABY LOUISE

Every bit as good was BETHANY SHEPHERD showing great strength with a good voice and stage presence. Both "The Babes" hit the twenty's singing style beautifully and for them both I recommend "Watch This Space". With this talent at ten, the future looks bright.  

ROSE  

EMMA SOUTHORN took on this great role with enthusiastic exuberance and triumphed. Some of her words were garbled on her first entrance but in "Some People" she showed what a powerful singing voice she has. Emma has the ability to irritate and almost antagonize the audience with her crass, obstinate insensitivity. This was done very well. In fact, too well done in some respects. Rose does deserve some sympathy and a lighter touch now and again would have balanced the effect. She did this only once. When Herbie had finally had enough, she softened for a few moments of almost pathos and then went back to being Mrs Nasty. The contrast was very effective. As the relationship with Louise deteriorated Emma showed a great acting talent and interpreted the wonderful "Rose's Turn" well but towards the climax her voice faltered and somehow lacked its earlier strength.

HERBIE  

Your programme notes on MARK BOLKONSKY are absolutely right. Congratulations to Mark Thorburn for an inspired piece of casting in such a different character from Mark's previous three. He played the part perfectly bringing out the warmth of the character. From salesman to agent he showed a neat grasp of the role and his final exasperation and departure were very well done.

JENNY DEWAR  

Interpreted the part very well indeed. Her shy, hesitant nervous and "untalented" early scenes and the contrasting conversation to confident superstar were magnificent. Her singing was wonderfully not quite right and her gauche stage presence was excellent. It takes real talent to act and sing badly. "Little Lamb" was great and whether the missed notes were deliberate or not they were perfect for the part. Jenny was wonderfully placid in the face of Rose's enthusiasm for June and "Together Wherever We Go" was brilliant. When she embarked on her first strip-tease, her nervous start was very well done and "Let Me Entertain You" was excellent. And from then on she looked stunning. After "All I Need Is The Girl" I wrote "Louise is bloody great" And I didn't change my mind.

TULSA  

MATT FOWLER created wonderful moments with Louise in the same song. Good voice, smooth moves and talented dancing. He and Louise made an excellent pair.

MAZEPPA, ELECTRA and TESSE TURA  

"You Gotta Get A Gimmick" had a powerful strength of sound as a trio and ADELE BOLKONSKY, KIM BATES & ALISON NEWELL were great. They brought this song to a great climax.

MR GOLDSTONE  

CHUCK JULIAN was great without ever saying a word.

DIRECTION  

Congratulations to MARK THORBURN. The show had wonderful positioning grouping and moves. To have high spots you need to have some less than high and there weren't any. This was a well-directed, tightly controlled operation with deft touches in staging and maximum use of a talented cast. The mood changes were excellently done from the opening to the great climax and final curtain with a wonderful post-curtain reprise.  

CHOREOGRAPHY

The New Penny Theatre certainly finds a great talent. ALISON COYNE did a great job and both individuals and chorus members. The junior members did especially well and Alison had injected confidence and enthusiasm as well as skill. With so much strength on stage she built a cohesive, excellent series of dances where every individual contribution built a magnificent team result.

MUSIC

PETER HOLT has a great musical pedigree. And one can see why. The wonderful overture set the high standard for the evening which never dropped for a moment. I wrote "gutsy" to describe the music and so it continued. The second act started with identical strength and the music maintained the vivacity which was the hallmark of the whole production. Congratulations to a very talented and hard working team.

STAGE MANAGEMENT  

CHRIS DAVIES ran a tight and efficient ship. The timings were perfect and the scene changes made the most of The Swan's technical wizardry but it was the human element that made the difference. There was a constant look of smooth efficiency to every change.

PROGRAMME  

More multi-skilling from MARK THORBURN and a great design from JOHN GOOD HOLBROOK. Not only was the programme perfect in graphics, design, photography and quality' it was also hugely informative.

FRONT OF HOUSE  

As always, the organization and welcome were excellent and much appreciated. Thank you SANDY THORBURN and MELISSA EALES who took a few moments from her chaperone duties.  

EVERYONE ELSE ON THE SUPPORT PAGE  

I could praise every single discipline individually from a great supporting team but you wouldn't get this review until June. A lot of dedicated teamwork went into this production and the brilliant result could not have been achieved without the contributions of everyone. Please take this as a special congratulations.

FINALLY  

As you say "A lot can happen in one year". As far as the reviewer is concerned, all of it has been good. To start from scratch and achieve such brilliant success deserves the highest praise. It is difficult to understand how any of you have time for a "day-job". There is a great atmosphere of commitment. Thank you for inviting me and best wishes for "The Odd Couple". Break a collective leg. And going back to my first paragraph: - The challenge was well met!

John C. Draper.


P.S. And congratulations to JENNY DEWAR and DOMINIC AYARA-EKPE who never put any of their feet wrong.