GYPSY

A MUSICAL FABLE

So said the blurb from the Ballarat Arts Acadamy.

I had heard all about this Styne-Sondheim musical based on the book by Arthur Laurents but had never seen the show or the movie. So it was that I chose to go to the last performance of the programme in fact I had never been to the Post Office Box Theatre either so it was a totally new experience for me.

Having been to ‘Singing In The Rain’ and being impressed by that totally professional presentation I was keen to see what else our local ‘big smoke’ could come up with. Considering that most regional centres cannot field even one performing group I was not expecting that Ballarat could have more than three Top Class Theatre Groups.

I was, I suppose, not expecting much from University Students even though those august institutions seem to be the breeding ground for most of our comedians graduating predominantly from the Faculty of Law. The only other group of funny people coming from the legal profession are politicians who also seem to like performing in that long-standing show called ‘Question Time’.

Anyway, as I was saying, I was not holding my breath for a top notch show. The 10-piece orchestra at least for the Overture played a bit like a drunken burlesque troupe and was, in my opinion at the time, a bit rough but as the feet began tapping and the singing burst out upon the audience it seemed that the orchestra blended seamlessly with the on-stage cast and by the third scene Megan Adair (Gypsy Rose Lee), Lauren Baistow (Rose) and Bramwell Lancashire (Herbie) fully transported me into the world of Gypsy Rose Lee and lost my feeling of just being a spectator. (Bramwell Lancashire? Now what a mighty fine stage name that seems to be. It sort of reminds me of Berlington Bertie from Bow.)

Even though the Post Office Box Theatre is not really the best showcase for a fully cast musical it did present some challenges which were quiet ably solved by Douglas Iain Smith the Set Designer and the Director Terence O’Connell.

On the negative side I have one question for show-people who might read this article. Why is it that second-hand smoke from cigarettes is excluded from the theatre only to be replaced by first-hand smoke from a machine creating the atmosphere?

Finally I am still horrified that these students are brain-washed to believe they are professional and are banned from participating in local amateur productions. Because of this many of them will progress no further than a Pet Food Commercial.

In the film industry in America young people will even appear in porn movies so as ‘to be seen’ and the potential of a lucrative acting career. Very few ever make it past the casting couch and so they open themselves up to all potential avenues of employment.

To make our students believe that they should only ever appear in ‘professional productions’ closes them off from the opportunity to make a name for themselves and ‘be seen’.

What is better an ordinary job with a reasonable living and building a career in acting, or an acting job for three months a year if lucky and a part time job at Subway where you could be artistic with sandwiches but live in poverty?

It is still true that if you can’t do it you teach it. So we end up with a whole host of unemployed actors teaching others how to be unemployed actors.