Iowa City Community Theatre's “Gypsy" at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts -- April 17 through 19.
Friday, April 17, through Sunday, April 19
Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth Street, Coralville IA
Boasting unforgettable show tunes including "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Rose's Turn," "Together (Wherever We Go)," "If Mama Was Married," and "Let Me Entertain You," the musical classic Gypsy enjoys an April 17 through 19 run at the Coralville Center for the Arts, this production of Iowa City Community Theatre featuring timeless music by Jule Styne, a trenchant book by Arthur Laurents, and wickedly smart lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
Regarded by many theatre professionals as the finest musical ever created, Gypsy is the ultimate tale of an ambitious stage mother fighting for her daughters’ success – while secretly yearning for her own. Set all across America in the 1920s and '30s, when vaudeville was dying and burlesque was born, this landmark show explores the world of two-bit show business with brass, humor, heart and sophistication.
Gypsy opened at the Broadway Theatre on May 21, 1959, in a legendary production starring Ethel Merman as Rose and Sandra Church as Louise. Later moving to the Imperial Theatre, the show played for a total of 702 performances. In London, Gypsy played for 300 performances at the Piccadilly Theatre, this rendition starring Angela Lansbury as Rose. This extremely successful musical has been revived on Broadway no fewer than five times, with presentations starring Lansbury in 1974, Tyne Daly in 1989, Bernadette Peters in 2003, Patti LuPone in 2008, and Audra McDonald in 2024.
Frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of mid-20th-century musical theatre art form, Gypsy has been referred to as the greatest American musical by numerous critics and writers, among them Ben Brantley ("what may be the greatest of all American musical.") and Frank Rich, who wrote that "Gypsy is nothing if not Broadway's own brassy, unlikely answer to King Lear." Theatre critic Clive Barnes, meanwhile, wrote that "Gypsy is one of the best of musicals..." and described Rose as "one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical." For its Iowa City Community Theatre presentation, Gypsy is being directed by Will Asmus, with its music direction by Wes Habley.
Iowa Community Theatre's Gypsy will be performed at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts April 17 through 19, with performances on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Admission is $18.70-27.50, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)248-9370 and visiting CoralvilleArts.org.
