[For the remainder of the year, my San Jose and Peninsula theater reviews will be posted on Talkin’ Broadway with only introductions to those reviews on this site]. Please continue to https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj296.html for full review.

Some characters in plays leave an indelible imprint on the audience.  Occasionally, it is not the title character who earns that distinction.  So it is with Gypsy.  Mama Rose, who is the real central figure and the real gypsy, represents the archetype of the stage mother – bumptious, brazenly ambitious, and living through the successes of her children to the point that she sacrifices all else in that quest.  This musical is biographical, and one performing daughter that Rose became estranged from ultimately became stage and screen actress June Havoc.  The other would become the most storied stripper of her era and perhaps the most famous of all time, Gypsy Rose Lee.

The musical debuted on Broadway in 1959, enjoying a highly successful but not historic run.  Gypsy was nominated for eight Tony Awards but won none.  Yet, it is viewed by most critics as one of the finest musicals ever written and by several influential ones as the greatest musical written up to that time.  Several Broadway revivals have followed, most recently in 2024-5, starring Audra McDonald, who has won the most Tonys of any performer and received a nomination for this one.

It must be daunting to step into the legendary shoes of many of the greatest and most iconic actresses.  Among others who placed their stamp on the role, Ethel Merman created Rose for the stage, and Rosalind Russell starred in the movie.  Palo Alto Players has enlisted Caitlin Gjerdrum as Rose, and she is absolutely stupendous.

First of all, Gjerdrum has the pipes, with power to spare.  She blasts away buoyantly and optimistically on composer Jule Styne’s “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” in which she gives encouragement to her no-talent daughter Louise (Whitney Hisako Moore), who would become Gypsy Rose Lee.  Among lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant formulations, this song not only conveys Rose’s need to dominate but plays effectively on her name.  Rose also reveals her ambition in “Some People” in which she notes that a sedentary life is okay for others, but not for her.

Gjerdrum brings compassion as well in the hopeful and beautiful “Small World.” She has a long, warm relationship with their act’s managing agent Herbie (Ray D’Ambrosio), and in the song she notes all of their complementarities which make them a fine couple……………..