Since making her Broadway debut in “Six: The Musical” three years in the past, Pleasure Woods has established herself as one of many New York theater scene’s most versatile and dependable younger stars.
As lots of her younger followers can attest, the Chicago-born actor and singer was a standout in “The Notebook” final 12 months. Her appearances within the off-Broadway productions of “Little Shop of Horrors” and “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” have additionally received acclaim.
Presently, she could be seen reverse six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald within the smash Broadway revival of “Gypsy,” an expertise she describes as each a private {and professional} game-changer.
“It means a lot to us to be representing ourselves, our people, our art in this show that is such a monumental mark on Broadway history,” she advised HuffPost. “So I’m kind of starting from scratch, in terms of what is possible for me and what my dreams can look like. If I can do this, then it opens up a door of things I might be capable of.”
Woods’ sentiments possible received’t come as a shock to theatergoers, on condition that “Gypsy” is extensively regarded as one of many best musicals within the American canon. That includes songs by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, the present follows the lifetime of Rose “Louise” Hovick (Woods), who — after years of being pushed to carry out in vaudeville as a baby beside her sister, June (Jordan Tyson), by their ruthlessly formidable mom, Momma Rose (McDonald) —turns into the legendary stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee.
“Gypsy” has been staged on Broadway 5 occasions since its 1959 premiere, with Momma Rose being dropped at life by powerhouse performers Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone. The present manufacturing, which opened at New York’s Majestic Theatre in December, is directed by George C. Wolfe and marks the primary time the present has been reimagined with three Black actors because the Hovick girls ― a casting alternative that lends the 66-year-old musical new depth.
Woods is very heartbreaking in “Little Lamb,” a wistful ballad sung by a teenage Louise early within the present’s first act. She additionally captures her character’s rags-to-riches transformation into Gypsy Rose Lee with aplomb in “The Strip,” an Act 2 showstopper. “I’m glad that I have a contract with a little bit of paid cardio,” she quipped, alluding to the onstage fast modifications the Josephine Baker-inspired quantity entails.
Arturo Holmes through Getty Photographs
However merely touchdown the audition was a revelation, Woods says. Her first expertise with the present was the 1993 tv film, starring Bette Midler as Momma Rose. “In theater school, they spent a lot of time loving on ‘Gypsy’ and making us see how beautiful of a piece it was. But I also never saw myself in those clips we would watch or in scripts that we would read,” she defined. “So I didn’t think much of it as something I’d ever be a part of.”
Tyson and Woods joined “Gypsy” after having co-starred in “The Notebook,” enjoying the central character of Allie Calhoun at completely different ages. Although the musical adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ 1996 novel acquired blended opinions, it nonetheless gave Woods a breakout second when her Act II solo, “My Days,” grew to become a viral smash on TikTok.
Curiously, Woods admits she “was gunning for Jordan [to be cast] more than myself” for a lot of the “Gypsy” audition course of, noting, “Around the fourth audition, I was like, OK, if they want to do a complete press gag, then they’ll take both of us.” Nonetheless, she wasn’t ready for the “exhausting” transition out of 1 Broadway present and into one other: “I’ll process ‘The Notebook’ being over maybe at the Tonys this year. There’s been no time to stop and breathe.”
Marleen Moise through Getty Photographs
By all accounts, “Gypsy” is one among Broadway’s greatest hits this season, having received near-universal reward from critics. Former Vice President Kamala Harris caught a efficiency of the present whereas in New York final weekend, and each McDonald and Woods look poised to be contenders on the Tony Awards this spring.
One individual serving to Woods keep grounded each on- and offstage is McDonald herself.
“There are times I still very much feel out of my depth, just like there are big shoes to fill,” she defined. “One day in rehearsal, while we were still in the beginning stages, I went up to Audra and in the absolute fog of being in my head, said, ‘I’m so sorry. Today was not a good day for me.’ And she’s like, ‘Girl, I have no idea what I’m doing, either.’”
“It was very validating and affirming,” she added. “She’s been the most wonderful person to work with. It’s not giving diva at all.”
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