Start to finish, GYPSY never lets up. From the first trumpet blast to the last hot spotlight, this musical legend packs a wallop. Theatre giants Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome Robbins combined forces to trace the glitzy showbiz rise of two daughters, fueled by an overbearing, ambitious stage mother, Rose, as her larger-than-life dreams turned them into stars. Big, brassy, energetic, heart touching, funny and memorable, GYPSY reaffirms America’s love of good old-fashioned entertainment with songs like “Let Me Entertain You,” “Some People,” “You Gotta Have A Gimmick,” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” Everyone agrees – Broadway musicals don’t get much better than GYPSY!

“Keeps hitting height after height, leaving you dazzled” Entertainment Weekly

“The Greatest of all American Musicals” New York Times
“An emphatic hit!” N.Y. Post

The Story Of Gypsy…

The story starts in Seattle with stage mother, Rose, pushing her two daughters into Uncle Jocko's Kiddie Show. June, her mother feels, is the most likely to become a star. Louise is plainer and quieter; she stands meekly in her sister's shadow. A new act called 'Baby June and her Newsboys' is conceived by Rose, and the family is off to the 'big time' in Los Angeles. The act steeped in star spangled banners, dancing horses (Louise plays the rear end), and screaming newsboys moves to Dallas, Akron, New York, Buffalo and Omaha. Along the way Rose meets Herbie, a theatrical agent, and hires him as manager. He makes himself father to the troupe, sharing with them their meals of chow mien, Rose's favorite food. Rose scrimps as she schemes and scrambles for bookings and billings to maintain their hand to mouth existence. She sleeps her charges six in a dingy hotel room and makes their costumes from hotel blankets. Her object is to make her two penniless girls into world stars. The girls begin to grow up and the act becomes 'Dainty June and her Newsboys.' Unfortunately its quality does not improve. Bookings are cancelled and the act moves on.

Louise wishes that Momma would marry a plain man so they could settle down. Herbie proposes but is rejected. June elopes with Tulsa, one of the boys in the act. Rose sets out to make Louise into the star. She bursts into new enthusiasm with the rousing number Everything's Coming Up Roses. Behind Rose lies a worrying sense of doom; a feeling that she never will fulfill her dream of stardom for her girls because it is really a dream of stardom for herself.
 
Finally the troupe reaches the bottom, a burlesque house in Wichita. Rose laments that she would rather starve than perform there. Louise realizes there is no vaudeville left except for burlesque. Here the clumsy Louise shoots into stardom by becoming something different: a ladylike stripper. Three strippers dressed respectively in a ballet costume, a trumpet and well placed electric light bulbs are used in a most exaggerated, but very funny number, You Gotta Get a Gimmick, to indicate the difference between the usual brassy stripper and the very elegant Louise. At last Louise breaks away from her mother and goes out on her own as Gypsy Rose Lee.

Rose bursts into the plaintive Rose's Turn in which she sings of her suppressed talents that she has sacrificed to further the careers of her unappreciative daughters.

Who was GYPSY ROSE LEE

Born Rose Louise Hovick in 1914, she was to earn her fame as the world’s most famous stripper. Her early career consisted of touring the provinces in a vaudeville act co-starring with her sister, and managed by her mother. Her sister, June Havoc, began a solo career, and Rose Louise became the Gypsy Rose Lee character, “intellectual stripper”. Soon she had made it to Minsky’s, the most famous burlesque house in the United States, where waitresses in French maid costumes sprayed the audience with perfume.

In 1937, when mayor LaGuardia shut down all of New York’s burlesque houses, Lee was forced to head west to Hollywood, and began her film career. In 1939, she returned to headline New York World’s fair. Initially appearing as Louise Hovich, she earned billing as Gypsy Rose Lee by 1943, and she excelled at comic roles in films such as 'Belle of the Yukon' in 1944. Through these films, however, Lee was to remain completely clothed at all times.

Lee’s talents were not to be confined to mere performing, however. A novelist and memoir writer, she also saw her adaptations of her work storm the stage. Lee’s 'The G-string Murders' was adapted as 'Lady of Burlesque' in 1943, and her 'The Naked Genius' adapted in 'Doll Face'. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Lee became a television guest star, exhibiting a witty, self-deprecating character. She even succeeded in hosting her own talk show on at least two occasions.

It was her – admittedly fanciful - autobiography, 'Gypsy: A Memoir', published in 1957, which secured her fame. It was adapted for the stage by Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim.
The motion picture adaptation of the tale of stripper, and brutal encouraging mother, became a great success. Starring Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood, the film was a great success, and cemented Lee’s legend.

Diagnosed with cancer in 1969 she died on April 26th, 1970.

Recommended for Mature Audiences

Tickets for GYPSY are available at The Capitol Theatre box office: 509-853-ARTS or 800-325-SEAT.

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