Patti LuPone to Star in Encores! Gypsy; Laurents Directs

Gypsy, starring Patti LuPone and directed by Arthur Laurents, will be the first offering of New York City Center's new Encores! Summer Stars series running from July 9 - 29 at New York City Center, W. 55th Street between 6th & 7th Avenues.  A July 12 opening is planned.

"Encores! Summer Stars will light up the summer night with classic works of the American musical theater, expanding City Center's acclaimed Encores! series with more fully-realized productions of memorable shows. Summer Stars will also shine bright, as leading actors get the chance to play roles they were born to play," according to press materials.

LuPone will play Rose, the quintessential stage mother, in this musical suggested by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee. One of the greatest musicals of all time, Gypsy is a musical fable with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The 1959 blockbuster, originally directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins,  features some of the biggest songs in Broadway history: "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Rose's Turn" and "Some People."

Bank of America is the Lead Sponsor for the 2007 New York City Center Encores! Summer Stars production of Gypsy.  

LuPone's memorable New York performances include Mrs. Lovett in last season's acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd, for which she received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Actress in a Musical; Noises Off ; Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play Master Class; Anything Goes (Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination, Best Actress in a Musical); The Cradle Will Rock; Nancy in Oliver!; Evita (Tony and Drama Desk Awards, Best Actress in a Musical); Working; and The Robber Bridegroom (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations, Best Featured Actress in a Musical).  LuPone has appeared in the Encores! productions of Pal Joey and Cole Porter's Can-Can.

Laurents' first play, Home of the Brave, opened on Broadway in 1945 followed by The Time of the Cuckoo and A Clearing in the Woods. He also has written the books for several musicals, including West Side Story, Gypsy, Anyone Can Whistle and Do I Hear a Waltz?, which was based on his play Time of the Cuckoo. Laurents has directed several Broadway productions as well, including the musicals I Can Get It for You Wholesale and La Cage Aux Folles, for which he won a Tony Award. Laurents has also written two novels, "The Way We Were," and "The Turning Point," both of which became successful films for which Laurents wrote the screenplays. He also wrote the screenplays for The Snake Pit, Anastasia and the Alfred Hitchcock film Rope.

New York City Center Encores! has, since 1994, celebrated the rarely-heard works of America's most important composers and lyricists.  Conceived as "concert versions," each Encores! season gives three scores the chance to be heard as originally intended by their creators.  

Tickets for Gypsy are available beginning April 9, 2007 at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix® at 212-581-1212, or online at www.nycitycenter.org.  Tickets for the Orchestra, Grand Tier are $110 & 95; Mid-Mezzanine tickets are $50; tickets for the Rear Mezzanine and Gallery are $25.

Photo by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.