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Gypsy

The Mother of All Musicals! The jewel of Broadway's Golden Age, Gypsy boasts an incomparable score, a brilliantly conceived book, and one of the greatest leading roles ever to grace the Broadway stage.

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Description

  • Full Length Musical
  • Dramatic Comedy
  • 120 minutes

  • Time Period: 1920s, 1930s
  • Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
  • Cautions: Mild Adult Themes
  • Orchestra Size: Large

  • Performance Group:
  • High School/Secondary, College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Professional Theatre

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! 1975 Tony Award for Best Actress
    Winner! 2 1975 Theatre World Awards (Zan Charisse and John Sheridan)
    Winner! 2 1990 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical
    Winner! 2 1990 Drama Desk Awards for Revival and Actress
    Winner! 2 Outer Critics Circle Awards for Revival and Actress
    Winner! 2 Theatre World Awards (John Lambert and Christa Moore)
    Winner! 2003 Theatre World Award (Tammy Blanchard)
    Winner! 3 2008 Tony Awards for Actress; Featured Actress and Featured Actor
    Winner! 3 2008 Drama Desk Awards for Actress; Featured Actress and Featured Actor
    Winner! 2 Outer Critics Circle Award for Actress and Featured Actress
Regarded by many theatre professionals as the finest musical ever created, Gypsy is the ultimate tale of an ambitious stage mother fighting for her daughters' success - while secretly yearning for her own. Set all across America in the 1920s and 30s, when vaudeville was dying and burlesque was born, Arthur Laurents' landmark show explores the world of two-bit show business with brass, humor, heart, and sophistication.

The celebrated score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim boasts one glorious hit after another, including: "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Let Me Entertain You," "Some People," "You'll Never Get Away from Me," "If Momma Was Married," "All I Need Is the Girl," "You Gotta Get A Gimmick," "Small World," and "Together Wherever We Go."
REVIEWS:

"The quintessential American musical."

Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter

"I've always had only one choice in the category of favorite musical. It is Gypsy...a wrenching fable about a tyrannical stage mother and the daughters she both champions and cripples - yet also a showcase for one classic Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim song and rousing Jerome Robbins vaudeville routine after another."

Frank Rich, The New York Times

"Styne’s score [is] one of the best for any show ever."

Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"Fabulous...a testament to the power of the integrated musical in that the book by Arthur Laurents, the music by Jule Styne and the lyrics by Stephen Sondheim are all partners in a genuine coalition."

Michael Billington, The Guardian

"Gypsy, the 1959 fable of the last days of vaudeville, shines with a magnified transparency that lets you see right down to the naked core of characters so hungry for attention that it warps them."

Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"With its backstage shenanigans, dark-tinged striver's success story, and characters perpetually on the road, Gypsy is arguably, in thematic terms, the quintessential American musical."

Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter

Premiere Production:

Gypsy opened at the Broadway Theatre on May 21, 1959, starring Ethel Merman as Rose and Sandra Church as Louise. Later moving to the Imperial Theatre, the show played for a total of 702 performances. In London, Gypsy played for 300 performances at the Piccadilly Theatre, starring Angela Lansbury as Rose. This extremely successful show has been revived on Broadway no less than four times: starring Angela Lansbury in 1974, Tyne Daly in 1989, Bernadette Peters in 2003, and Patti LuPone in 2008. A 2015 revival at the Savoy Theatre in London starred Imelda Staunton.

Characters

  • Casting: 2M, 6F
  • Casting Attributes: Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle), Roles for Teens, Roles for Children
  • Chorus Size: Large

  • Principals
    ROSE — the Mother
    JUNE — Rose’s daughter
    LOUISE — Rose’s other daughter, later Gypsy, the stripper
    TESSIE TURA — ballet stripper
    MAZEPPA — trumpet stripper
    ELECTRAa — lightbulb stripper
    HERBIE — candy salesman and Rose’s manager
    TULSATulsa — farm boy, etc. (with others)

    Supporting
    UNCLE JOCKO — vaudeville master of ceremonies
    GEORGIE — Jocko’s assistant
    BALLOON GIRL — auditioning child; non-speaking
    CLARIENT BOY (CLARENCE) — auditioning child
    BABY JUNE — Rose’s baby daughter
    BABY LOUISE — Rose’s other baby daughter
    POP — Rose’s father
    RICH MAN — driver of a touring car; non-speaking
    RICH MAN'S SON — driver’s son; non-speaking
    TAP DANCING URCHIN — roadside kid; non-speaking
    LITTLE BOY SCOUT — another roadside kid; non-speaking
    WEBER — theatre manager in Los Angeles
    L.A. — farm boy, etc. (with others)
    YONKERS — farm boy, etc. (with others)
    ANGIE — farm boy, etc. (with others)
    KRINGELEIN — hotel manager in Akron
    MR. GOLDSTONE — representative of the Orpheum Circuit
    MISS CRATCHITT — secretary at Grantziger’s Palace
    AGNES — Hollywood Blonde
    MARJORIE MAY — Hollywood Blonde
    DOLORES — Hollywood Blonde
    THELMA — Hollywood Blonde; non-speaking
    GAIL — Hollywood Blonde; non-speaking
    CIGAR — theatre manager in Wichita
    PASTEY — stage manager in Wichita
    OFFSTAGE ANNOUNCER — introducing Gypsy across the country
    RENÉE — Louise’s maid
    PHIL — Louise’s press agent
    BOURGERON-COCHON — photographer

    Others
    AUDITIONING KIDS & THEIR MOTHERS
    BOY SCOUTS
    HOTEL GUESTS
    RESTAURANT WAIT STAFF
    FRONT & REAR COW
    STAGEHANDS AT GRANTZIGER'S AND IN WICHITA
    OTHER STRIPPERS
    BACKSTAGE FIGURES & SHOWGIRLS

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    Perusal Material Shipped immediately. This is optional. Order Now

    1 x Lib-Vocal Book

    		$24.00
    Rehearsal Material Shipped a minimum of 3 months before the last performance. This must be hired as a condition of the License to produce this show.

    33 x Prompt Book & Chorus-Vocal Parts
    1 x Piano-Conductor's Score

    		$550.00 +$135.00/pm
    Orchestral Material Shipped a minimum of 1 month before the last performance. This is optional.

    2 Violin A
    1 Violin B
    1 Viola
    1 Cello
    1 Bass

    1 Reed I: Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet & Alto Saxophone
    1 Reed II: *Flute, *Piccolo, Clarinet & Alto Saxophone
    1 Reed III: *Flute, *Piccolo, Clarinet, *Bass Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone & *Bass Saxophone
    1 Reed IV: *Oboe, *English Horn, Clarinet & Tenor Saxophone
    1 Reed V: Clarinet, *Bass Clarinet, *Bassoon & Baritone Saxophone

    1 Horn
    1 Trumpets I & II
    1 Trumpet III
    1 Trombone I
    1 Trombone II
    1 Trombone III (Bass Trombone)

    1 Harp

    2 Percussion I & II:
    Timpani (2 Drums)
    Snare Drum (Brushes & Sticks)
    Bass Drum
    Tom-Tom
    Suspended Cymbal (Soft & Hard Mallets)
    Hand Cymbals
    Hi-Hat Cymbals
    Tam Tam
    Xylophone
    Vibraphone
    Glockenspiel
    Slapstick
    Castanets
    Temple Blocks
    Slide Whistle
    Bird Whistle
    Cow Bell
    Wood Block
    Chimes
    Maracas

    Piano-Celeste (Piano-Conductor's Score sent with rehearsal material)

    ( * indicates optional Reed instrument)

    		$350.00 +$135.00/pm

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