Seeing Gypsy: The Musical

About two weekends ago, I saw Gypsy: The Musical at the Wilmington Drama League.  The show was done very professionally and I was impressed with the quality of the actors but I also enjoyed the use of foreshadowing in the show.  The show begins with a full blown stage mom, Rose and her two gifted girls, June and Louise.  It is noticeable that Rose favors June, giving her the leads in all of the girls' singing and dancing acts.  Louise is continuously pushed aside and takes the emotional beating without raising her voice.  The Vaudeville act has about four back-up males to work with the lead, June, in the performance.  Louise develops a liking towards on of these boys and he leads her on by singing and dancing with her when they were alone.  The song he sings is about how he needs to find his dream girl and Louise takes this as a major hint for whether they stand as just friends or more than friends.  However, this musical number between Louise and the boy foreshadows what sadly happens in a few scenes.  Rose wakes up to find a note from June saying she has left the traveling talent act and has run away to get married to the boy Louise liked.  This crushed Louise.  However, as an audience member, I could see it coming.  The series of event in the play leading up to this conflict were major signs that Louise was going to yet again be thrown under the bus.  Louise has is an underdog stock character.  Making this observation, one could give a very general outcome of the show without seeing the rest of it.  Louise will rise above and get everything she ever wanted.  The fame will get to her head and her mother will receive what she has always asked for, the fame for her daughters.  But getting back to the plot, since June left, Louise must take over her starring role in the Vaudeville act.  Automatically, Rose treats Louise with the same affection and adoration as she did with June.  I also could see this coming.  Then, as Louise continues to preform, she becomes more comfortable in her skin and develops almost a narcissistic attitude.  After a series of events that lead Louise to a burlesque house, she ends up with a fame as equal to that of present day Beyonce and with a tired and annoyed mother.  The fact that Rose got everything she ever wanted in her life, her children's recognition, she received it in a ironic way.  One could say karma had something to do with what happened in Rose's lifetime, but her ego wouldn't let her admit it.  Louise also, head in the clouds, found the light at the end of the glitter, mascara smeared tunnel, but in the end we see that she recognizes how much of a monster she has become just like how the foreshadowing predicted.

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