Legendary composer/lyricist
Stephen Sondheim will no longer appear before the Ravinia Festival in
Chicago's August 11th performance of
Gypsy, starring Tony Award-winner
Patti LuPone as Rose.
"Tonight's pre-concert discussion with
Gypsy lyricist
Stephen Sondheim has been canceled for health reasons. We regret any inconvenience," states the Ravinia website; Sondheim was to have joined Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman for a pre-show discussion.
Gypsy plays through August 13th.
Directed by Lonny Price, Gypsy stars LuPone(Evita, Sweeney Todd) as Rose, the
stage mother who unconsciously and uncompromisingly lives out her show
business dreams through her daughters June and Louise (with the latter
becoming stripper Gypsy Rose Lee). Jessica Boevers (In My Life, Oklahoma!) plays Louise, with Jen Temen as June. Jack Willis (The Old Neighborhood, Julius Caesar) plays Herbie, who becomes the agent of Rose's children as well as her lover.
The cast also includes: Leo Ash Evens
as Tulsa, Katie Rancourt as Baby Louise, Ashton Smalling as Baby June,
Rengin Altay as Miss Cratchitt, Derin Altay as Electra, Jane Blass as
Mazeppa, Debra Watassek as Tessie Tura, Michael Weber as Uncle
Jocko/Mr. Goldstone and Richard Henzel as Pop/Kringelein, as well as
Nancy Braun, Molly C. Callinan, Javonte Childress, Robyn Clark, Nick Coussens, Joe Dempsey, Trevor Efinger, Elana Ernst, Kenneth-Michael Glass,
David Hull, Kamilah Lay, Cassandra Liveris, Katheryn Patton, Matt
Raftery, Richie Roesner, Justin Stein, Marc Tumminelli and Cedric Young.
Paul Gemigani conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the Ravinia production of the musical.
Gypsy, which also features music by Jule Styne and a book by Arthur Laurents, opened at the Imperial Theatre on May 25th, 1959 and ran for 702
performances, garnering 8 Tony nominations (it was overshadowed by the
more sugary The Sound of Music). Gypsy featured a star turn by Ethel Merman that has become legendary, and it also featured Sandra Church, Jack Klugman and Maria Karnilova. A number of revivals--in 1974 with Angela Lansbury, in 1989 with Tyne Daly and in 2003 with Bernadette Peters and directed by Sam Mendes--have all been successes.
