GYPSY To Kick-Off 2013 Season

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GYPSY, one of the greatest muscials ever written, will open the Marin Summer Theater 2013 season.  

A story about the ultimate stage mother and her daughters, GYPSY is a musical based on the real  life of burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee.  The rhinestone splendors of vaudeville are brought to life to the accompaniment of Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim's zesty songs as Madam Rose drags her daughters June and Louise from one second-rate theatre to another. GYPSY will be presented over two weekends on July 5, 6, 7, 12 and 13.  

GYPSY originally played for 702 performances on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre starring Ethel Merman as Madam Rose.  It premiered in London at the Piccadilly Theatre staring Angela Lansbury. The show has been revived on Broadway no less than four times: In 1974 with Angela Lansbury, in 1989 with Tyne Daly, in 2003 with Bernadette Peters, and in 2008 with Patti LuPone as Rose.  The show was made into a movie in 1962.  

Featuring unforgettable songs such as "Let Me Entertain You," "Some People" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses", GYPSY is one of the greatest musicals of the golden age of Broadway.  Productions of GYPSY have won Tony awards for Actress, Revival, Featured Actress, and Featured Actor.  New York Times' Reviewer Frank Rich wrote  that "GYPSY is Broadway's own brassy, unlikely answer to 'King Lear.'"

Gypsy has great parts for men and women, but is an especially challanging show for actresses.  It requires strong acting, singing and dancing.  June and Louise are portrayed as young girls and as teenagers, often requiring two sets of actresses.  There are dancing and singing newsboys and girls, and cows.  

And then there is Madam Rose.  Theater critic Clive Barnes wrote that " 'Gypsy' is one of the best of musicals..." and described the character of Rose as "one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical....".  Pushy, loud and manipulating, Rose will stop at nothing until her girls are stars.