Gypsy on Broadway Tickets

By: Arthur Laurents
Songs by: Jule Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics)
Director: George C. Wolfe
Choreography: Camille A. Brown
Cast list: Audra McDonald (as Rose)

A classic musical, Gypsy follows Momma Rose as vaudeville declines in the early twentieth century. A constant dreamer and an unbearable stage mom, Rose looks to push her daughter June into the spotlight at any cost — even if it means isolating the less talented sister Louise. Traveling the country and picking up boys for acts, and a love interest, Herbie, Rose stops at nothing to succeed.

It has its consequences: fed up by her mother’s indomitable force, June leaves the act, and her family. Stuck with Louise, Rose is convinced she can make the other sister a star, and somehow she does: Louise becomes Gypsy Rose Lee, one of the burlesque scene’s most famous strippers. Even that, however, does not satisfy Rose, who becomes secondary as Louise’s career ascends. Left alone, Rose, a role embodied by some of Broadway’s most acclaimed actresses, must come to terms with her own lack of self-love.

What to watch for

• Audra McDonald is so accomplished she was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 2016 from President Barack Obama and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2017.
• Gypsy first premiered on Broadway in 1959; since then, it has enjoyed multiple revivals, including ones directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes and the librettist himself, Arthur Laurents.
• Many famous actresses have played Rose, including Ethel Merman, Bernadette Peters, Angela Lansbury, and Patti LuPone.
• George C. Wolfe has worked with McDonald before, previously in Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed on Broadway.