Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurent’s GYPSY is both a musical history and an exposé of 20th Century American theater itself.
The play reveals the sometimes broken people who actually make showbiz happen, by telling the story of Mama Rose, a woman driven to make her youngest daughter, June, a star in the vaudeville theater of the 1920s.
Rose’s big dreams for her child are unfortunately born from her own life’s disappointments, having been abandoned by her mother and later, by the father of her daughters. When Baby June can no longer take the pressure put on her by her mother, she also leaves to make her own career in show business. A broken Mama Rose must then turn her attention to her older daughter, Louise (the future Gypsy Rose Lee), whose talents were not like those of her sister.
If you look closely at the personality of the title character, the legendary striptease artist, Gypsy Rose Lee, you will likely find her to be the most well-adjusted and healthiest personality in the musical. Her story is about someone triumphantly overcoming the control of a domineering stage mother. And when she finally asserts herself, she learns to love her life on her own terms.
There’s a lot not known about the actual Gypsy Rose Lee. She was an animal lover. She continued to work on Broadway and in movies under the name, Louise Hovick, even as she simultaneously became Minsky’s legendary strip-tease artist. She became a member of New York’s literati and a sought-after member of New York society. She even shared rooms with New York’s Intelligentsia at the famous February House, living alongside the likes of W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Paul Bowles, and Carson McCullers, while socializing with the likes of Salvador Dali, Anaïs Nin, and Richard Wright. Finally writing her own memoir (the basis of this play), Gypsy Rose Lee turned her unconventional life into a legendary story about mothers, daughters, show business and the nature of talent. It’s a story we all need to hear. Enjoy the show!
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A very special thanks to South Shore Music Circus & South Shore Playhouse Association, Inc. for their generous financial support!
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STROBE LIGHTING EFFECTS WILL BE USED ONCE DURING ACT 1 IN THIS PERFORMANCE. PATRONS WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY LIGHT STIMULATION EFFECTS ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT OUR STAFF FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PRIOR TO ENTERING THE THEATER.
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