Gypsy, arguably the greatest American musical, has never had a Broadway production without one of its original creators in charge. Revivals in 1974 (with Angela Lansbury) and 1989 (with Tyne Daly) were directed by Arthur Laurents, who wrote the original book to go with the Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim score. But at the helm of the current revival here is Sam Mendes, fresh from a string of successes in film and on stage (his travelling Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night have been nominated for several awards by the Drama Desk, a New York critics' group).
In the part of Mama Rose, which Mendes has called "the King Lear of musical theatre", is Bernadette Peters. The petite actress with the Betty Boop squeak has struck many as ill-suited to the role of the maniacal stage mother using her children to fulfill her thwarted ambitions. The irony is that Mendes's production is lacklustre, but Peters's battle with the part is mesmerizing.
Early on, trying to act the juggernaut, Peters rushes some lines into garble, and her singing voice plummets to uncomfortably low registers. Though she works hard to give the impression of indomitability, it seems out of her grasp. Then, late in act one, as she reads a letter from her daughter June, who has eloped, Rose's face freezes into a Medusa-like mask of determination.
Seizing on her second daughter, Louise, Rose promises to make her a star. As she belts out, "We can do it/ Momma is gonna see to it", a chill creeps up one's spine.
Even then, the sunny second-act trio, Together, Wherever We Go, serves as a reminder that Peters's natural gift is musical comedy. Still, she ploughs ahead, a bantam wrestling with a leviathan role, to the crucial point when Rose volunteers Louise as a stand-in for a stripper in a sleazy burlesque house. That moment carries all the shock it should, and actress and role seem united at last.
Throughout Mendes's production, Rose is the centre of attention: even during the children's performances, he keeps her visible backstage. And she does have a loving side, both for her children and for John Dossett's handsome, devoted Herbie.
The rest of the cast is fine, too, although Tammy Blanchard, a charming Louise, conveys little sense of having fun when she strips, as the real Gypsy Rose Lee surely did.
Mendes offers no new insights, and sometimes the direction is inept. Gypsy is often regarded as an indestructible musical; if that is true, Mendes's production is an unnecessary stress test.
· Open run. Box office: 00 1 212 239 6200.
