"Gypsy - A Musical Fable" by Blind Eye.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

"Gypsy" is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister.

Rose approaches Herbie, a former manager to manage Louise and June. The girls grow up and they are now known as, "Dainty June and Her Farmboys". Tulsa, one of the “Farmboys” confides in Louise in a new act he is working on and while Louise fantasizes in being part of the act with Tulsa, he elopes with June after she leaves a note saying that she is tired of the act. Rose concentrates on making Louise a star, but does everything come up roses for Rose and her family?

This is the first musical staged by Blind Eye, and it was first night, and that combination, I think, resulted in some nerves in some of the adult performances. Some of the timing with some vocals were a little out, but again, I think this was down to nerves. the majority of my wincing came from the technical side; but on to that later, it's time for me to get positive.

Lindsey Hemingway plays Momma Rose and Lindsey injected so much character into this role that you started to do a U Turn on your initial feelings about this pushy stage mother. Wonderfully driven and bossy to start with but as the play continues, and especially in the second act, you start to understand some of her motives for how she treated her children. You could see the fire in Lindsey's eyes with Rose's drive, as well as the determination that she was not going to let those who walked away from her, knock her down. A lovely passionate portrayal of the ultimate stage momma.

Herbie is played by Sam Howard, who I think I last saw in a local production of "All the Fun Of The Fair". Sam has wonderful stage presence, matched by a voice that is perfect for musicals. Lindsey and Sam create a real chemistry which makes you feel for both Rose and Herbie.

Louise is played by Emily Hudson and we see a massive journey for Louise, and two different sides of Emily's acting skills. From always being told by Rose that she has no talent, to being the one that is in demand for her burlesque performances, which were done extremely well. Another solid vocal performance.

Baby Louise is played by Olivia Thomason-Vardy.

Dainty June is played by Emme Gunn, and I love seeing adults playing kids; there's something quite surreal about it but it's that reversal back to acting like a child that makes roles like these fun to watch, especially with the costumes that Dainty June has to wear.

Baby June is played by Caitlin Rodgers.

John McCormack plays Tulsa and I can imagine that, by his facial expressions, playing a child performer fills him with great fun, because he looks like he is enjoying the role. When JJ explains to Louise about his dream, you buy into it and believe in his image, looking in the direction of his vision of his girl who he wants to dance with. A lovely contrast with the brash stage manager ordering the girls, Rose and Herbie around, until Herbie puts him in his place.

Ann Colgan (Tessie Tura/Yonkers), Pippa Ward (Mazeppa) and Ashleigh Wilkinson (Electra) provide one of the highlights as the three strippers with a gimmick in "You Gotta Get A Gimmick" routine. I remember so well the Royal Variety Performance of this routine performed many years ago by Cilla Black, Paul O Grady and Barbara Windsor. Ann, Pippa and Ashleigh were on a par with that performance, and I loved the saucy costumes.

Miss Cratchitt is played by Gill Cook, who always puts a smile on my face, irrespective of what role she plays, and playing the crotchety Cratchitt provides Gill with a few moments of character-driven grumpiness.

Kay Thomason-Vardy (L.A.), Danielle Rodgers (Agnes), Beth Duffy (Marjorie May), Gabrielle Tilley (The Balloon Girl/ Newsboy/ Farmboy/ Toreadorable), Eloise Chamberlain (Clarissa The Clarinet Girl/ Newsboy/ A Farmboy/ Toreadorable), Michelle Beecroft (Renee/ Showgirl), Paul Duffy (Uncle Jocko, Weber, Kringelein/Phil), Kevin Jones (Pop/Cigar), Steve Webb (Mr Goldstone/Bourgeron-Cochon), Lexie Rodgers (Ballerina/ Newsboy) and last but not least Evan Thomason-Vardy (Acrobat/ Newsboy).

Lexie and Evan being two of the youngest children in the cast and uber cute.

Directed by Beth Duffy, assisted by Adam Chapman. This show is nearly three hours long with the interval, but it really didn't seem that long; it wasn't until I came out of the auditorium and saw the clock that I realised how long I'd been in there. That always shows me how engaged I was with the show, not realising how fast the time went. And that engagement in the musical shows the quality of the direction of the musical.

Choreographed by Ann Colgan, who I was reminded that Ann used to be the dance teacher at my lad's school in Nottingham. You can obviously see those dancer qualities in Ann's incredible figure, which is shown to the best effect in the "Gimmick" section, and by her fantastic costume. I was talking about the "Gimmick" section in the interval and that i was looking forward to it, and it did not disappoint for comedy and choreographic reasons.

There are some really good choreographed pieces, and I love the tap sections.

Musical Director is David Hails. The show is to backing tracks and there were a few slips of fingers when starting the tracks and resulted in the piece being stopped and restarted. Unfortunately using a band for backing has become increasingly more expensive, and while I am not a fan of backing tracks, sometimes to put on a musical you have to use what is on offer to keep the costs down. Missing a cue on a backing track means you have to start after the cue. Again, the missed cue will be down to first night nerves.

There are so many classic songs in this musical "Let Me Entertain You", "Small World", "Some People", "All I Need Is The Girl", "Together Wherever We Go", "You Gotta Get A Gimmick", "You'll Never Get Away From Me" and of course "Everything's Coming Up Roses". "Gypsy" also has one of the best overtures for any classic musical ever.

The marvellous costumes were designed and created by John McCormack, and there are so many of them. The glamour of the "Gimmick" section as well as the burlesque costumes for Louise, and Rose's scarlet outfit were gorgeous.

The Set is by Zackary McCormack and Grant Hemingway. The folding section making it easy to move from Rose's home to the stage set and the theatre dressing rooms.

There is also an audio and black and white visual section that is projected on the back of the set which sets the mood for the era and is designed by Paul Duffy.

Sound Operation is by Nick Elliott. I don't know if there is a section on stage that is a blackspot for the mic packs but there were several times when the sound just dipped out and was lost. That seems to be a problem with many of the theatre groups' sound at the Duchess.

Lighting Operation is by Richard Chamberlain. There were a couple of times when the actor speaking was left in the dark while the spotlight was at the other end of the stage.

Hopefully both sound and light operations will be perfected for the rest of the run.

Kirsty Smith stage manages the whole production, making sure that everyone is where they should be on stage.

"Gypsy - A Musical Fable" is at The Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 25 November.

Photos by Gavin Mawditt.