American Musical Theater

THTR 3012-5012
Fall 2017

Gypsy

Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by
Arthur Laurents. 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." 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", "Some People", "Let Me Entertain You", and
"Rose's Turn". 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 and Frank Rich. Rich even calls it the American
musical theatre's answer to King Lear. Theater critic Clive Barnes wrote that "Gypsy is
one of the best of musicals..." and described the character of Rose as "one of the few truly
complex characters in the American musical...."

Background

A musical based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee was a project of producer David
Merrick and actress Ethel Merman. Merrick had read a chapter of Lee's memoirs in
Harper's Magazine and approached Lee to obtain the rights. Jerome Robbins was
interested, and wanted Leland Hayward as co-producer; Merman also wanted Hayward to
produce her next show. Merrick and Hayward approached Arthur Laurents to write the
book. As he relates, Laurents initially was not interested until he saw that the story was
one of parents living their children's lives. Composers Irving Berlin and Cole Porter
declined the project. Finally, Robbins asked Stephen Sondheim, who agreed to do it.
Sondheim had worked with Robbins and Laurents on the musical West Side Story.
However, Merman did not want an unknown composer, and wanted Jule Styne to write
the music. Although Sondheim initially refused to write only the lyrics, he was persuaded
by Oscar Hammerstein to accept the job. The creative team was in place.

Synopsis

Act I
Rose and her two daughters, Baby June and Louise, play the vaudeville circuit around the
United States in the early 1920s. Rose, the archetype of a stage mother, is aggressive and
domineering, pushing her children to perform. While June is an extroverted, talented

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child star, the older girl, Louise, is shy. The kiddie act has one song, "Let Me Entertain
You", that they sing over and over again, with June always as the center-piece and Louise
often as one of the "boys". Rose has big dreams for the girls but encounters setbacks, as
she tells her father ("Some People"). When Rose meets a former agent, Herbie, she
persuades him to become their manager using her seductive and feminine wiles ("Small
World"). The girls grow up, and June, now billed as Dainty June, and her act have a
chance to perform for Mr. Goldstone ("Mr. Goldstone, I love you"). Herbie wants Rose to
marry him, but she keeps making excuses. Dainty June is offered a shot at a Performing
Arts school after an audition. However, Rose turns this down immediately, refusing to
break up the act. Louise and June fantasize what life would be like if Rose were married
and finished with show business ("If Mama was Married"). A few months later, still on
the road from show to show, Tulsa, one of the boys from the act, confides in Louise that
he has been working on his own act ("All I Need Is The Girl"), Louise fantasizes that she
and he could do the act together. Shortly after, before leaving for another city, June is
missing. Louise runs in with a note she found. June wrote it, explaining she has grown
sick of her mother and has eloped with Tulsa, and they will do the new act. Rose is hurt,
but then optimistically vows that she will make Louise a star, proclaiming that
"Everything's Coming up Roses."
Act II
Louise is now a young woman, and Rose has built a pale imitation of the Dainty June act
for her. Using all girls, instead of boys, Rose and Herbie try valiantly to sell "Madame
Rose's Toreadorables" to a fading vaudeville industry. However, they are still together
("Together, Wherever We Go"). With no vaudeville venues left, Louise and her second-
rate act wind up accidentally booked at a burlesque house in Wichita, Kansas, as a means
to deter police raids. Rose is anguished, as she sees what a booking in burlesque means to
her dreams of success, but Louise persuades her that two weeks' pay for the new act is
better than unemployment. As they are introduced to Louise, three of the strippers on the
bill advise her on what it takes to be a successful stripper, a "gimmick," something that
"makes your strip special" ("You Gotta Get a Gimmick"). Backstage, Rose proposes to
Herbie. He asks her to break up the act and let Louise have a normal life, and she
reluctantly accepts, agreeing they will marry the day after their show closes. On the last
day of the booking, the star stripper in the burlesque show is arrested for solicitation.
Desperate, Rose cannot resist the urge to give Louise another nudge toward stardom, and
she volunteers Louise to do the strip tease as a last-minute replacement. Disgusted at
Rose's blind ambition for her daughter, Herbie walks out on Rose forever ("Small World
Reprise"). Although reluctant, Louise wants to please her mother and she goes on,
assured by Rose that she needn't actually strip, but simply walk elegantly and tease them
by dropping a single shoulder strap. Shy and hesitant, she sings a titillating version of
"Let Me Entertain You," the song that their kiddie act had used. She removes only her
glove. The audience goes wild, and this becomes Louise's "gimmick."
In the months that follow she becomes secure, always following her mother's advice to
"Make 'em beg for more, and then don't give it to them!" This is demonstrated in a
montage in which the song becomes brasher and brassier, and more and more articles of
clothing come off. Ultimately, Louise becomes a major burlesque star and does not need
her mother any longer. After a bitter argument between Rose and Louise, who has
become the sophisticated "Gypsy Rose Lee," Rose realizes Herbie and June are both

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gone, and now Louise is lost to her as well. Rose, feeling sad, useless and bitter asks
"Why did I do it? What did it get me?" ("Rose's Turn"). It is during this number that all of
Rose's unrequited dreams of her own stardom and her personal demons surface. She
fantasizes about her own lit-up runway and cheering audience, but finally admits "I did it
for me." After her admission to Louise, Mother and daughter tentatively step toward
reconciliation in the end.
In the 1974 and 2008 Broadway revivals, although the final dialogue scene remains, there
is not a happy ending, but rather a bleak, sad one as all hopes of reconciliation for Rose
and Louise fall flat when Louise walks away, laughing sarcastically at Rose's new
"dream." The audience is then left with a Rose whose dream of her own lit up marquee
slowly fades away to her craziness within taking over.

Songs

Act I
▪ “Overture” – Orchestra
▪ “May We Entertain You?” – Baby June and Baby Louise
▪ “Some People” – Rose
▪ “Small World” – Rose and Herbie
▪ “Baby June and Her Newsboys” – Baby June and Newsboys
▪ “Mr. Goldstone, I Love You”† – Rose, Herbie, Ensemble
▪ “Little Lamb” – Louise
▪ “You'll Never Get Away From Me” – Rose and Herbie
▪ “Dainty June and Her Farmboys” – June and Farmboys
▪ “If Momma Was Married” – June and Louise
▪ “All I Need is the Girl” – Tulsa and Louise
▪ “Everything's Coming up Roses” – Rose
Act II
▪ “Madame Rose's Toreadorables” – Louise, Rose and the Hollywood Blondes
▪ “Together, Wherever We Go”** – Rose, Herbie, and Louise
▪ “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” – Mazeppa, Electra, and Tessie Tura
▪ “Let Me Entertain You”†† – Louise
▪ “Rose's Turn” – Rose
▪

During the pre-Broadway tryout tour, several songs were cut, including a song for
Herbie called "Nice She Ain't" (cut because it was given to Jack Klugman one
week prior to opening and he could not memorize the keys and staging one week
before), and a song for Baby June and Baby Louise titled "Mama's Talkin' Soft".
The latter song was cut because the staging required the little girls to stand on a
platform elevated above the stage, and the young actress playing Baby Louise was

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terrified. It was also cut because the show was running too long. "Mama's Talkin'
Soft" was later recorded by Petula Clark and released as a single in the UK in
1959. Other cut songs include "Mother's Day", a song for Baby June's act, "Smile,
Girls", which involves Rose trying to teach the untalented girls to smile in order to
make the act look good, "Who Needs Him?", which Rose sings to herself after
Herbie leaves Rose, and "Three Wishes for Christmas", a burlesque number
similar to one that would be performed at Minsky's Burlesque.

Jule Styne (December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was a British-born
American songwriter especially famous for a series of Broadway musicals, which
included several very well known and frequently revived shows.

Career

Styne attended Chicago Musical College, but before then he had already attracted
attention of another teenager, Mike Todd, later a successful film producer, who
commissioned him to write a song for a musical act that he was creating. It would be the
first of over 1,500 published songs Styne would compose in his career.
Styne established his own dance band, which brought him to the notice of Hollywood,
where he was championed by Frank Sinatra and where he began a collaboration with
lyricist Sammy Cahn, with whom he wrote many songs for the movies, including "It's
Been a Long, Long Time," "Five Minutes More," and the Oscar-winning "Three Coins in
the Fountain". He collaborated on the score for the 1955 musical film My Sister Eileen
with Leo Robin. Ten of his songs were nominated for the Oscar, many written with Cahn,
including "I've Heard That Song Before" (#1 for 13 weeks for Harry James and his
orchestra in 1943), "I'll Walk Alone", "It's Magic", and "I Fall in Love Too Easily".
In 1947, Styne wrote his first score for a Broadway musical, High Button Shoes with
Cahn, and over the next several decades wrote the scores for many Broadway shows,
most notably Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Peter Pan (additional music), Bells Are Ringing,
Gypsy, Do Re Mi, Funny Girl, Sugar (with a story based on the movie Some Like It Hot,
but all new music), and the Tony-winning Hallelujah, Baby!.
His collaborators included, among others, Sammy Cahn, Leo Robin, Betty Comden and
Adolph Green, Stephen Sondheim, and Bob Merrill.
Styne wrote original music for the short-lived, themed amusement park Freedomland
U.S.A. which opened on June 19, 1960.
Styne was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972[2] and the American Theatre
Hall of Fame in 1981, and he was a recipient of a Drama Desk Special Award and the
Kennedy Center Honors in 1990.

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Songs

A selection of the many songs that Styne wrote:

▪ "Don't Rain on My Parade"
▪ "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"
▪ "Everything's Coming Up Roses"
▪ "Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York"
▪ "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry"
▪ "How Do You Speak To An Angel"
▪ "I Fall In Love Too Easily"
▪ "I Still Get Jealous"
▪ "I've Heard That Song Before"
▪ "Just In Time"
▪ "Let Me Entertain You"
▪ "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"
▪ "Long Before I Knew You"
▪ "Make Someone Happy"
▪ "Neverland"
▪ "Papa, Wont You Dance with Me?"
▪ "The Party's Over"
▪ "People"
▪ "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" sung by Frank Sinatra
▪ "Sunday" with Ned Miller
▪ "Time After Time"
Credits
▪ Ice Capades of 1943 (1942) - Styne contributed one song
▪ Glad to See You! (1944) - closed in Philadelphia PA during tryout
▪ High Button Shoes (1947)
▪ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949)
▪ Michael Todd's Peep Show (1950) - Styne contributed 2 numbers
▪ Two on the Aisle (1951)
▪ Hazel Flagg (1953)
▪ Peter Pan (1954) (additional music)
▪ My Sister Eileen (1955)
▪ Bells Are Ringing (1956)
▪ Say, Darling (1958)
▪ Gypsy (1959)
▪ Do Re Mi (1960)
▪ Subways Are For Sleeping (1961)
▪ Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
▪ Arturo Ui (1963) - Styne contributed incidental music to this Bertolt Brecht play
▪ Funny Girl (1964)
▪ Wonderworld (1964) - lyrics by Styne's son, Stanley

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▪ Fade Out - Fade In (1964)
▪ Something More! (1964) -directed by Styne
▪ The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood (1965)
▪ Hallelujah, Baby! (1967)
▪ Darling of the Day (1968)
▪ Look to the Lilies (1970)
▪ The Night the Animals Talked (1970)
▪ Prettybelle (1971) - closed in Boston
▪ Sugar (1972)
▪ Lorelei (1974) - essentially a sequel/revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
▪ Hellzapoppin'! (1976) - closed in Baltimore during pre-Broadway tryout
▪ Bar Mitzvah Boy (1978)
▪ One Night Stand (1980) - closed during preview period
▪ Pieces of Eight (1985)
The Red Shoes (1993)

Assignment # 19

1) Read the script and be able to discuss, plot, characters, is this a tragic musical or a
musical comedy, what remarks can you make about the book scenes.
2) Do you think Rose is a “monster”?
3) Listen to the two versions of “Let me Entertain you”. Knowing what you know
about musical styles, how does the first version fit into a vaudville style and the
2nd a Burlesque?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROf6zwQ7ZLU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRN5JKG3whE

4) Listen to “You gotta get a gimmick”. How does this song marry music and
language to create a “Burlesque” style number?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRN5JKG3whE

5) Listen to the Overture to Gypsy. One of the best. Incredible Golden Age
Orchestrations when 29 musicians in a pit was the norm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSUKXRxdNRk

Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by

caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their
subjects. The word derives from the Italian burlesco, which itself derives from the Italian
burla – a joke, ridicule or mockery.
Burlesque overlaps in meaning with caricature, parody and travesty, and, in its theatrical
sense, with extravaganza, as presented during the Victorian era. "Burlesque" has been
used in English in this literary and theatrical sense since the late 17th century. It has been
applied retrospectively to works of Chaucer and Shakespeare and to the Graeco-Roman

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classics. Contrasting examples of literary burlesque are Alexander Pope's sly The Rape of
the Lock and Samuel Butler's irreverent Hudibras. An example of musical burlesque is
Richard Strauss's 1890 Burleske for piano and orchestra. Examples of theatrical
burlesques include W. S. Gilbert's Robert the Devil and the A. C. Torr – Meyer Lutz
shows, including Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué.
A later use of the term, particularly in the United States, refers to performances in a
variety show format. These were popular from the 1860s to the 1940s, often in cabarets
and clubs, as well as theatres, and featured bawdy comedy and female striptease. Some
Hollywood films attempted to recreate the spirit of these performances from the 1930s to
the 1960s, or within dramatic films, such as 1972's Cabaret (film) or 1979's All That Jazz,
or others. There has been a resurgence of interest in this format since the 1990s.

American burlesque

American burlesque shows were originally an offshoot of Victorian burlesque. The

English genre had been successfully staged in New York from the 1840s, and it was
popularised by a visiting British burlesque troupe, Lydia Thompson and the "British
Blondes", beginning in 1868 New York burlesque shows soon incorporated elements and
the structure of the popular minstrel shows. They consisted of three parts: first, songs and
ribald comic sketches by low comedians; second, assorted olios and male acts, such as
acrobats, magicians and solo singers; and third, chorus numbers and sometimes a
burlesque in the English style on politics or a current play. The entertainment was usually
concluded by an exotic dancer or a wrestling or boxing match.

While burlesque went out of fashion in England towards the end of the 19th century, to
be replaced by Edwardian musical comedy, the American style of burlesque flourished,
but with increasing focus on female nudity. Exotic "cooch" dances were brought in,
ostensibly Syrian in origin. The entertainments were given in clubs and cabarets, as well
as music halls and theatres. By the early 20th century, there were two national circuits of
burlesque shows competing with the vaudeville circuit, as well as resident companies in
New York, such as Minsky's at the Winter Garden.
The transition from burlesque on the old lines to striptease was gradual. At first
soubrettes showed off their figures while singing and dancing; some were less active but
compensated by appearing in elaborate stage costumes. The strippers gradually
supplanted the singing and dancing soubrettes; by 1932 there were at least 150 strip
principals in the US. Star strippers included Sally Rand, Gypsy Rose Lee, Tempest
Storm, Lili St. Cyr, Blaze Starr, Ann Corio and Margie Hart, who was celebrated enough
to be mentioned in song lyrics by Lorenz Hart and Cole Porter. By the late 1930s,
burlesque shows would have up to six strippers supported by one or two comics and a
master of ceremonies. Comics who appeared in burlesque early in their careers included
Fanny Brice, Mae West, Eddie Cantor, Abbott and Costello, W. C. Fields, Jackie
Gleason, Danny Thomas, Al Jolson, Bert Lahr, Phil Silvers, Sid Caesar, Danny Kaye,
Red Skelton and Sophie Tucker.
The uninhibited atmosphere of burlesque establishments owed much to the free flow of
alcoholic liquor, and the enforcement of Prohibition was a serious blow. In New York,
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia clamped down on burlesque, effectively putting it out of

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business by the early 1940s. It lingered on elsewhere in the U.S., increasingly neglected,
and by the 1970s, with nudity commonplace in theatres, reached "its final shabby
demise."