50 years ago: Gypsy opened on Broadway

Gypsy Jule Styne (music), Stephen Sondheim (lyrics)

The Musical

Opened on Broadway: May 21, 1959 Number of Performances: 702 Opened at London’s West End: May 29, 1973 Number of Performances: 300 Movie Release: November 1, 1962

Cast Album

Charted: July 20, 1959 Peak: 13 US Sales (in millions): -- Genre: show tunes

Soundtrack

Charted: December 15, 1962 Peak: 10 US Sales (in millions): -- Genre: show tunes

Songs on Cast Album: Song Title (Performers) Overture Let Me Entertain You (JACQUELINE MAYRO/ KAREN MOORE/ ETHEL MERMAN) Some People (ETHEL MERMAN/ STEPHEN SONDHEIM) Small World (ETHEL MERMAN/ JACK KLUGMAN) Baby June and Her Newsboys Mr. Goldstone, I Love You (ETHEL MERMAN) Little Lamb (SANDRA CHURCH) You’ll Never Get Away from Me (ETHEL MERMAN/ JACK KLUGMAN) Dainty June and Her Farmboys If Momma Was Married (SANDRA CHURCH/ LANE BRADBURY) All I Need Is the Girl (PAUL WALLACE/ SANDRA CHURCH) Everything’s Coming Up Roses (ETHEL MERMAN) Together (Wherever We Go) (ETHEL MERMAN/ JACK KLUGMAN/ SANDRA CHURCH) You Gotta Get a Gimmick (FAITH DANE/ CHOTZI FOLEY/ MARIA KARNILOVA) Let Me Entertain You (SANDRA CHURCH) Rose’s Turn (ETHEL MERMAN) Songs on Soundtrack: Overture Small World Some People Baby June And Her Newsboys (Let Me Entertain You) Mr. Goldstone, I Love You Little Lamb You'll Never Get Away From Me Dainty June And Her Farm Boys If Mama Was Married All I Need Is The Girl Everything's Coming Up Roses Together Wherever We Go You Gotta Have A Gimmick Let Me Entertain You Rose's Turn Finale

Rating: 4.502 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings for cast album and soundtrack combined) Quotable: “One of the crowning achievements of the mid-20th century’s conventional musical theatre art form” – Wikipedia Awards (Cast Album and Soundtrack): (Click on award to learn more).

About the Show: Critic Ben Brantley said Gypsy may be the greatest of all American musicals.” WK-C Frank Rich said it was “Broadway’s own brassy, unlikely answer to King Lear.” WK-C This 1959 tribute to burlesque was loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of famed striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee. The story “casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life” WK-C by following Gypsy’s mother, Rose, and her efforts to raise her daughters as performers. Producer David Merrick had read a selection of the memoirs in Harper’s Magazine and sought the rights, knowing Ethel Merman was looking for a starring vehicle. Arthur Laurents was tapped to write the book and Stephen Sondheim, with whom Laurents had worked on West Side Story, was brought in to write the lyrics after Irving Berlin and Cole Porter declined. Merman wanted Jule Styne to write the music, but Sondheim initially refused since he wanted to write the music and lyrics – that is, until he was persuaded to take the job by Oscar Hammerstein. WK-C The talents of Styne, who represented broad show business entertainment, and Sondheim, who symbolized more “modern, dark, psychological drama,” MWR made for a perfect balance. It “was considered the definitive Merman performance and the crowning achievement of her long career.” MWR Theater critic Clive Barnes described Rose as “one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical.” WK-C The musical, which ran for 702 performances, introduced “the Merman standard Everything’s Coming Up Roses, and the song that is invariably used to introduce anything having to do with the strip tease, Let Me Entertain You.” MWR In 1962, it was made into a film directed by Mervyn LeRoy. In his book The Musical Film, Douglas McVay said, “Fine as West Side Story is…it is equaled and, arguably, surpassed – in a rather different idiom – by another filmed Broadway hit: Mervyn LeRoy’s Gypsy.” WK-S

Resources and Related Links: MWR Marjorie Elln Ruhlmann & William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide (cast album) WK-C Wikipedia (musical) WK-S All Music Guide (film) Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/22/2011; last updated 12/23/2021.