A seductive, witty ‘Gypsy’

For a woman with just a seventh-grade education, Gypsy Rose Lee was one smart cookie. One of the smartest things she did was wait until her meddling battleaxe of a stage mother, the infamous Momma Rose, was dead before writing her memoir, “Gypsy.”

The book was a hit before it was ever a play. John Steinbeck wrote admiringly, “I bet some of it is even true, and if it wasn’t, it is now.”

“Gypsy: A Musical Fable” (the tag was added at the insistence of sister June, who disputed some of the details) has the golden parentage of Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim. Thanks to the genius of their collaboration, the irresistible story lives on, a perennial stage favorite. Now playing at Live Arts’ downstage theatre, this witty, seductive “Gypsy” would have warmed Momma Rosa’s heart — if she’d had one.

Even in her own biography, the fabled daughter plays second fiddle to the mother, which makes the casting of Mama Rose the keystone of the structure. Fortunately there’s Lydia Horan, who takes control from the beginning and never lets go.

One part charm, 99 parts ambition, Rose pushes, finagles, threatens and cajoles to get what she wants. Introducing her daughters “Baby June” and Baby Louise” into vaudeville just as vaudeville was breathing its last, Rose found no job too demeaning, no hotel too seedy, no plan too far-fetched for her delusions of grandeur.

Ms. Horan adroitly corners that sense of escalating psychosis, charmingly under control in such ditties as “Some People” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” but spreading like an ink stain in the startling “Rose’s Turn.”

John Gibson directs with the same adventurous instinct that brought us last season’s remarkable “Sweeney Todd.” An almost bare stage takes on the look of train stations, rehearsal halls, hotel rooms and flop houses, a campground, even a restaurant and, yes, back stages and bare stages. A lush ensemble moving through multiple roles within the cavalcade become doors, back-up dancers, waitresses, audition assistants and strippers.

Representing the last chance for love and stability in Rose’s life, Herbie (an engaging performance by Doug Schnieder) takes it till he can’t take any more then walks out, but the grown Louise doesn’t have that option. Pushed into a strip act, she learns about the beauty of gimmicks (the ribald and uproarious “You Gotta Get A Gimmick”) and finds hers as the “lady stripper.” The rest is history.

Representing characters as both their children and adult selves can be tricky, but this particular problem is handled smoothly with the very self-possessed young Georgia Castleman and Camden Luck playing Baby Louise and Baby June. Little June is the blonde-ringleted Shirley Temple type, all dimpled smiles as she carries the weight of her mother’s monstrous ambition on her tiny shoulders. But the teenaged June (Jessica Wilbert) sees more promise in Tulsa, a glibly romantic singing and tapping youth played by Perry Medlin.

  That leaves Robin Hyer as the half-grown Louise to pick up where June left off. Ms. Hyer is a stunning beauty who grows in the role as Momma Rose’s relentless driving finally bears fruit and produces something she’d never counted on: a successful daughter who can run her own career, thank you.

A six-member orchestra sits unobtrusively offstage, but close enough to figure in the audition scenes. Benoit Beauchamp and Robert Benjamin’s lights are sharp and crisply tuned in to mood and timing. Costumes by Tricia Emlet work where they have to work and play when they get to play. Gypsy’s grown-up costumes are eye-popping, but nothing quite matches the inventiveness of strippers Mazeppa, Electra and Tessie Tura.

“Gypsy” strikes a crucial balance between the making of the famous performer, the infamous mother who made her, and the top drawer ensemble work. It also illustrates some of life’s most valuable lessons: Believe in your dreams, maybe your mother really is crazy, and if you gotta bump it, bump it with a trumpet.

Lawrence is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. She teaches drama and English at Culpeper County High School.

Want to go?

What: “Gypsy: A Musical Fable,” playing through Oct. 25

Where: Live Arts, downstage theatre, Charlottesville

Call: (434) 977-4177

Online: livearts.org