Gypsy is a 1959
musical with music by
Jule Styne, lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim, and a book by
Arthur Laurents. It is usually referred to as simply
Gypsy.
Gypsy is based on the
1957 memoirs of
Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous
striptease artist, and focuses on her mother,
Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate
show business mother." In particular, it follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of
show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress
June Havoc.
The musical contains many songs that became popular standards, including "Small World," "
Everything's Coming up Roses", "You'll Never Get Away from Me," and "Let Me Entertain You." It is frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of the mid-20th century's conventional musical theatre art form, often called the "
book musical."
Gypsy has been referred to as the greatest American musical by numerous critics and writers, among them
Ben Brantley[Brantley, Ben. "New Momma Takes Charge" New York Times May 2, 2003] and
Frank Rich;
[Rich, Frank. The Hot Seat. Random House, 1998.] Rich even goes so far as to call it the American musical theatre's answer to
King Lear. Theater critic
Clive Barnes wrote that "Gypsy is one of the best of musicals...." He described the character of Rose as "one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical...."
[Barnes, Clive. "Gypsy Bounces Back With Zest and Lilt" New York Times, September 24, 1974.]
