Gypsy - Suggested by the Memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)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 loosely 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[1] and Frank Rich;[2] 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..."
The character of Rose was described by Barnes as "one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical... bossy, demanding, horrific...."[3] Rich described Rose as "a monster".[2] Critic Walter Kerr commented that though Rose is a monster, she must be liked and understood.[4]Patti LuPone describes Rose as follows: "She has tunnel vision, she's driven, and she loves her kids.... And she is a survivor. I do not see her as a monster at all -- she may do monstrous things, but that does not make a monster."[5] - from Wikipedia

Click Here to see more reviews about: Gypsy - Suggested by the Memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee

Click here for more information about Gypsy - Suggested by the Memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee