Folks, it's real. Despite a full-throated denial of the news earlier this year, six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald will indeed return to Broadway in a new revival of Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, and Stephen Sondheim's Gypsy. To be directed by George C. Wolfe, the revival will reopen the Majestic Theatre, which has been dark since the historic 2023 closing of The Phantom of the Opera. Performances of Gypsy will begin November 21 ahead of a December 19 opening night.
Camille A. Brown is choreographing, with further creative team members and casting to be announced. Watch a trailer for the upcoming revival above.
“When we began this journey, we had the specific dream of pairing Audra McDonald, our most lauded stage actress, with legendary director George C. Wolfe in a musical deemed by many to be the greatest. Sometimes the theatre gods smile upon us. This is one such time. We could not be more honored to bring this particular Gypsy to the Broadway stage and also include the singular Camille A. Brown as part of our creative team," say producers Tom Kirdahy and Mara Isaacs in a statement. Kevin Ryan, Diane Scott Carter, Peter May, and Thomas M. Neff are also on the producing team.
News of the revival has been rumored for quite some time, centered around a report in the New York Post. McDonald called the report "a rumor" on the red carpet of the Screen Actors Guild Awards earlier this year, but now we know she was just being coy.
The casting will pair McDonald, who with a historic six Tony Award wins under her belt is considered by many the best of the best on Broadway, with a role many consider the greatest in all of musical theatre, the King Lear of Broadway musicals. The role of the domineering stage mother Rose was originally written for Ethel Merman, with its songs tailored to her brassy belt—the character's lengthy song list includes such favorites as "Some People," "Everything's Coming Up Roses," and "Rose's Turn." McDonald is a Juilliard-trained soprano who sings mostly in head voice, but that hasn't stopped her from singing belty songs like "Cabaret," "I Am What I Am," and "Home" in concert. All three were included in McDonald's 2022 concert at the London Palladium, which is currently streaming via PBS.
Gypsy, based on the mostly fictional memoir of famed burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee, is one of Broadway's favorites to revive. Since premiering in 1959, the show has returned to Broadway in 1974, starring Angela Lansbury; 1989, starring Tyne Daly; 2003, starring Bernadette Peters; and 2008, starring Patti LuPone. The work has been filmed three times: a 1962 feature film starring Rosalind Russell, a 1993 TV film starring Bette Midler, and a filmed stage performance of a 2015 London revival starring Imelda Staunton.
Tickets go on sale May 30 at 10 AM ET at Telecharge.com. Visit GypsyBway.com.
