The Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theatre had billed a concert performance of Styne and Sondheim’s Gypsy as the “centrepiece” of its celebrations of Styne’s centenary. But just a week ago, disaster struck: Kathryn Evans, hired for the lead role of Mama Rose, was involved in a car accident and broke her collarbone. Joanna Benjamin, the festival’s director, seriously contemplated the prospect of cancellation.
This is, famously, the “King Lear” of musical theatre roles for leading ladies, and the actresses capable of rising to its challenges are few and far between, even more so at less than a week’s notice to learn, rehearse and deliver. But last Monday, Rachel Izen – a jobbing West End actress who was most recently to be found in the rather more intimate surrounds of Clapham’s Landor Theatre, where she appeared in Follies – stepped up to the plate and last night saved the day and the play in the vast surrounds of the 1,900 seater Wales Millennium Centre.
And even if it has to be admitted that she wasn’t always vocally equipped for the more expansive stretches of the score, she nailed the part both dramatically and emotionally. Weight, in every sense, was on her side: she’s a physically robust presence, which anchored the character’s gravity and desperation to live her life vicariously through her daughters even more poignantly. But she also brought an impressive level of commitment to the role, going entirely ‘off book’ for the occasion, as were the rest of the company of this slick, enjoyable presentation.
She, and the rest of the company that included a dynamic trio of strippers in Julia McKenzie (making a rare but hugely welcome return to the singing stage), Liz Robertson and Rebecca Wheatley, as well as How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? runner-up Helena Blackman as Louise and Lara Pulver as June, were duly embraced by a very healthy house.
The show has, unaccountably, not been seen in the West End since a 1973 revival with Angela Lansbury at the Piccadilly, and it is high time it was brought back. I gather there are already plans to do so. Cardiff provided an admirable taster.
