Touring Broadway Musical Classic Gypsy Comes to Eisenhower Oct. 25
October 8, 2007
A touring Broadway production of Gypsy, one of the jewels of American musical theater, comes to Penn State for one performance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, in Eisenhower Auditorium. The musical, based loosely on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee (the famous striptease artist), includes the popular standards "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "You Gotta Have a Gimmick," "Small World" and "Let Me Entertain You."
Created by Broadway hall of famers Jule Styne (music), Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) and Arthur Laurents (book), the show is set amid the worlds of vaudeville and burlesque. Gypsy focuses on Rose, whose character has become synonymous with the show business mother driven to make her child a star.
Section one and two tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are $48 and $42 for an adult, $38 and $32 for a University Park student and $43 and $37 for a person 18 and younger. Buy tickets online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at (814) 863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also on sale at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays), Penn State Tickets Downtown (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday), HUB-Robeson Center (11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays) and Bryce Jordan Center (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays).
Leading theater critics, among them Ben Brantley and Frank Rich, have called Gypsy the greatest American musical. In addition to the original production in 1959, which starred Ethel Merman, the show was revived on Broadway in 1974 starring Angela Lansbury, 1989 starring Tyne Daly and 2003 starring Bernadette Peters. A 1962 Warner Bros. film adaptation starred Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood.
The touring production coming to State College, produced by Phoenix Entertainment, stars Kathy Halenda as Rose and Missy Dowse as Louise (Gypsy Rose Lee). Sam Viverito is the director and choreographer.
Halenda has appeared in more than 180 productions, including a dozen national tours. Major roles on tour have included Nancy in Oliver!, Mae West in Ziegfeld, Golde in Fiddler on the Roof and Maggie Jones in 42nd Street. The Brassy Broads of Broadway, her one-woman show, premiered at a cabaret in Manhattan. She has sung the national anthem at New York City's Madison Square Garden and Boston's Fenway Park.
Dowse, on leave after her third year as a student at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., is making her national tour debut after starring in regional productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Women and Grease.
Viverito last year directed and choreographed the national tour of Man of La Mancha and the Seoul, South Korea, production of The King and I. He‚s working on mounting the Korean productions of Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame and Bat Boy. He has also worked on national tours of A Chorus Line, 42nd Street, La Cage Aux Folles and Evita.
The Village at Penn State Life Care Retirement Community sponsors the performance. WTAJ-TV 10 and MAJIC 99 are the media sponsors. Audio description, which is especially helpful to patrons with sight loss, is available for this performance at no extra charge to ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring a visiting artist or local expert, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379