Powerhouse Broadway veteran Tovah Feldshuh stars in Gypsy at Bristol Riverside Theatre as part of its 25th Anniversary Season through January 15. With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Arthur Laurents, the production is directed by Keith Baker and also features Robert Newman, Amanda Rose, Brittney Lee Hamilton, Joe Grandy, Bethe B. Austin, Kathryn Kendall, and Demetria Joyce Bailey. Check out performance highlights from the show below!
Previews began Tuesday, December 6 with opening night on Thursday, December 8. Performances run Tuesday through Sunday until January 15. Tickets start at $40, with discounts for students and groups. Tickets are available visiting brtstage.org or calling the BRT Box Office at 215-785-0100. Bristol Riverside Theatre is located at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, PA.
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." Following the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage, the musical contains many popular standards, including "Small World," "Everything's Coming up Roses", "Some People", "Let Me Entertain You", and "Rose's Turn".
Keith Baker (director) has directed more than 40 productions for BRT including Chicago (nominated for six Barrymore Awards), The Balkan Women (winner of a Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play), The Dresser (nominated for a Barrymore Award for Best Director of a Play) and Dear World (nominated for three Barrymore Awards). As an actor he opened BRT's 25th Anniversary season with Barrymore and also appeared in productions of Old Wicked Songs, Defiance, Proof, Hamlet, A Little Night Music, Arsenic and Old Lace, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Baker has been nominated eleven times for the prestigious Carbonell Awards, for which he was twice the recipient for Best Actor. Prior to coming to BRT, Baker was Artistic Director for the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and the Florida Repertory Theatre.
The production also features local child talents Wynnewood resident Gaby Bradbury, Ambler native Riley Kanter, and Ambler resident Claire O'Neill. Other cast members include Rachel Beiswenger, Breanna Pursell, Erika Strasburg and Paul Weagraff.
Gypsy brings together a creative team of set designer Nels Anderson, costume designer Tracy Christensen, and lighting designer Ryan O'Gara. Eric Barnes is musical director and Kathryn Kendall is choreographer.
The BRT mainstage season continues with the world premiere of A Raw Space by Jon Marans (January 31-February 19); Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling featuring an all-female cast of local favorites (March 20-April 8), and the mega-hit, award-winning musical Rent by Jonathan Larson (May 8-June 3).
Since 1986, BRT has brought consistently acclaimed professional theatre to Bucks County and maintained a long-term commitment to finding and developing new plays. The theatre is the recipient of over 66 Barrymore Award nominations for Excellence in Theatre, given annually by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. In addition to its mainstage productions, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community, with such programs as children's theatre, community concerts and exhibitions of local visual arts. Currently under the direction of Artistic Director Keith Baker, Founding Director Susan D. Atkinson, and Managing Director, Amy Kaissar, BRT enters its 25th anniversary season. For information, visit www.brtstage.org.
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