Can I configure more than one gmail account in the gmail app without syncing everything?
Yes (if I understand you correctly). Just go into Settings - Accounts and Sync, then modify what things are synced per account. In other words, work@gmail.com can be set to sync gmail, contacts, calendar, etc. But you can set play@gmail.com to just sync gmail (not contacts, etc). There are checkboxes once you add the account.