Before she became Gypsy Rose Lee, Louise Hovick was “excess baggage” in her mother’s eyes. Momma Rose wasn’t a monster, or even neglectful. It was a matter of focus — on June, her younger, more talented daughter.
Lauren Perry plays Momma Rose. She provides this insight into the reason Momma Rose doted on June to Louise’s virtual exclusion.
“I’m a stage mom who is living vicariously through her children, slash child, the favorite child, who I have chosen to lavish all of my attention and affection on because I believe she can make it and, thus, I make it,” Perry pointed out.
It was the 1920s. Vaudeville’s heyday. All about “the act.” Dainty June is the headliner, but she needs a supporting cast. So Momma Rose conscripts the gawky, no-talent Louise, dressing her as a cow.
“My second child is sort of a prop that I bring in to enhance her performance, but she never can quite get it right,” Perry added.
Louise accepts her role without question. She’s portrayed by Valerie Prottsman.
“As Louise, I kind of accept most of the time that I’m just there in the background because I know that I have no talent,” Prottsman explains.
The tables turn when June elopes in order to get away from her overbearing mother - and pursue a career as a legit film star. Now, Momma Rose sets her sights on turning Louise into a Vaudeville star.
But Louise bristles at the idea of being her sister’s stand-in. When happenstance affords the opportunity for Louise to become a burlesque entertainer, she gets a gimmick that makes the crowds go wild.
Within a short time, Momma Rose becomes “excess baggage” in Louise’s meteoric rise to the top.
Ainsley York, who plays June, says it’s a deceptive story that commands an audience.
“People think it’s about strippers. But the big story is about a mother, her daughters, their relationship, and her personal journey, and I think that’s what people are missing,” said York. “They need to come to see that it’s so much more than just the iconic stripper that we know Gypsy Rose Lee was.”
So let Perry, Prottsman. York and company entertain you. You’ll have a real good time.
“Gypsy” runs at Fort Myers Theatre through March 16.
MORE INFORMATION:
Arthur Laurents wrote the book, adapting Gypsy Rose Lee’s 1957 memoir; Jule Styne provided the music; and Stephen Sondheim supplied the lyrics.
“Gypsy” opened on Broadway on May 21, 1959 to rave reviews, with one critic calling it “one of the most perfect musicals ever written.”
Gypsy Rose Lee was in the house on opening night with her 15-year-old son, Erik.
Louise had many nicknames and appellations throughout her brief life (she died of lung cancer at the age of 59.) Besides “excess baggage” (the Vaudeville term for anything that doesn’t earn its keep), “prop” and “Plug,” reviewers and reporters called her “an elegant epidermal exhibitor,” a “strippeuse” and a “prima strippa assoluta.”
One little known fact: Louise and June shared the same name. Both girls were named “Ellen June Hovick” on their birth certificates.
What Louise lacked in singing, dancing and acting skills, she made up in intellect. Louise received a little formal education while she was in the care and custody of relatives, but once she joined Momma Rose and June on the Vaudeville circuit, she became a voracious reader, devouring Boccaccio, Shakespeare and the classics.
While Louise resigned herself the roles of backup and prop, she nevertheless disdained the puff roles June played on stage – although she did envy her glamorous costumes and the applause she received from appreciative audiences.
In Act Two, “Gypsy” contains a sequence in which Louise morphs from shy, awkward stripper to the epitome of burlesque in spite of her modest endowments. While she had small breasts and an ample derriere, she was tall and leggy, especially in heels. But it was the comedy she injected into her routines that made her act unique. She was tall, unavailable, wryly self-deprecating and a quick wit (once quipping that she couldn’t be naked because she was completely covered by a blue spotlight). These attributes alleviated her of the vulgarity that typified other burlesque performers and performances.
In a major sense, “Gypsy” is as much about Momma Rose as it is about Louise or June. But the stage play casts her as a woman who craved the spotlight but lacked the talent to live there herself, so she pushed her daughters to live the life she couldn’t create for herself. (“Rose’s Turn”)
In truth, Rose was a victim of mental illness. In addition to lying, conning, manipulating, extorting and blackmailing her daughters and using a string of husbands and lovers of both sexes, she also murdered an unfaithful gay lover. She was even reputed to have lamented to Louise on her deathbed that she was sorry she couldn’t take her all the way down along with her.”
Louise published her memoir three years after Rose’s death; June published hers, titled “Early Havoc,” two years after that (in 1959).
“Gypsy” is directed and choreographed by Robin Dawn Ryan.
Lauren Perry stars as Momma Rose in Fort Myers Theatre’s production of the musical. While Perry is better known as a director, choreographer and costume designer, her acting credits include Mrs. Wormwood in “Matilda the Musical” and Sister Margaretta in “Sound of Music.” Prior to a 20-year hiatus, she appeared as Panic in “Hercules the Muse-ical” and Casey in “Island Magic” for Disney Cruiselines. In addition to dance experience, Lauren has her degree in early childhood education and has worked teaching Pre-K and 1st -6th grades for several years in both private and public schools. She has also taught and competed professionally in ballroom dance with Fred Astaire franchised studios.
Valerie Prottsman is Louise. Previous stage credits include Kitty in “The Drowsy Chaperone” for Fort Myers Theatre, Jovie in “Elf the Musical” and the ensemble in “Beauty and the Beast.” Both represented Valerie’s first foray into community theater. However, she’s no stranger to performing in front of crowds, having been in both show choir and marching band.
Charlie Blum appears in the role of Herbie. Ainsley York is June.
Isla Gatesman plays Baby Louise and Claire Leonard appears in the role of Baby June.
The rest of the cast includes Allison Lund as the stripper Electra; Sue Smith as Tessie Tura (and Mrs. Cratchitt); Ian Gatesman as Mr. Goldstone, Georgie and Pastey; Bryce Smith as Uncle Jocko, Weber and Phil; Jeffrey Bowden as Kringelein, Pop and Cigar; Nathanial Mulvaney at Tulsa; Kieran McKinney at L.A., Newsboy and Stagehand; Bennet Reistad as Yonkers; Winter Talley as Angie and Marjorie May; Layla Butterworth as Edna and Renee; Keira Durst as Dolores; Iris Serrano as Thelma/Waitress; Asha Edwards at Newsboy; Jonah Cressman ast Newsboy and Bourgeron-Cochon; Sydney Butler as Newsboy; Brenna Perry as Balloon Girl; Everett Solow as Clarence; and Elsie Hancock as Ballerina.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
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To read more stories about the arts in Southwest Florida visit Tom Hall's website: SWFL Art in the News.