Imelda Staunton to Star in UK GYPSY Revival?

Imelda Staunton, the actress who earned rave reviews for her work in the new West End production of SWEENEY TODD, may be headed back to the stage in another Stephen Sondheim show not long after SWEENEY TODD closes its doors on September 22.

A West End revival of GYPSY is reportedly in the works for 2013, with Staunton playing the imposing Rose.

"[It's] a whole different ballgame," Staunton tells the New York Times. "A daunting role, a very American character."

Staunton is a BAFTA-winning actress who has appeared in musicals including Into The Woods, Guys And Dolls and Mack And Mabel, and plays including Life X 3, There Came A Gypsy Riding, Uncle Vanya and Entertaining Mr Sloane in the West End.

On screen, Staunton has starred in numerous films including Shakespeare In Love, Much Ado About Nothing, Sense And Sensibility and Vera Drake - for which she won a BAFTA and received an Oscar nomination - as well as the hugely popular television serial Cranford and the Harry Potter series of films. 

Gypsy, which featured Sondheim's lyrics along with music from Jule Styne and a book by Arthur Laurents, first opened at Broadway's Imperial Theatre on May 25th, 1959 and ran for 702 performances, garnering 8 Tony nominations. 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.