Kevin Whately and Lara Pulver in Talks to Join Chichester's GYPSY, Fall 2014

According to the Daily Mail, Kevin Whately and Lara Pulver are in talks to join the cast of GYPSY, led by Imelda Staunton as Rose at the Chichester Festival Theatre this October. Whately would play Herbie, Rose's love interest and manager, and Pulver would star as Louise Hovick, a.k.a. Gypsy Rose Lee. The production will be directed by Jonathan Kent.

Read the original report here.

Gypsy hasn't been seen in the West End in more than 30 years. The musical, featuring book by Arthur Laurents, Music by Jule Styne and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, is based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee. The original production by David Merrick and Leland Hayward features direction and choreography by Jerome Robbins. The original Broadway show starred Ethel Merman as Rose and played for 702 performances at the Broadway Theatre. Gypsy then played 300 performances in London starring Angela Lansbury. Gypsy has been revived on Broadway four times, starring in turn Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone.

The musical tells the story of the ultimate stage mother, Rose, and her daughters June and Louise. The family takes their vaudeville act-a dying art-on the road in the 1920s and runs straight into the burgeoning art of burlesque. The music features the songs "Let Me Entertain You", "Some People", "If Momma Was Married", "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and more.

Whately has appeared onstage in several plays, including Twelve Angry Men. He has starred on television in Inspector Morse and Lewis, as well as Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Peak Practice and more. His film credits include Purely Belter, Paranoid, The English Patient, B & B, The Return of the Solider and more.

Pulver starred in the West End in 2007's Parade at the Donmar Warehouse, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award. She also appeared onstage in The Last Five Years at the London Fringe in 2006. On the big screen, Pulver has appeared in Legacy and Language of a Broken Heart. Her TV credits include Robin Hood, True Blood, Spooks, Sherlock, Da Vinci's Demons, Skins and more.

Photo Credit: Limelight Studios

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