Gypsy is a 1959 musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.

A new Broadway revival began previews on March 31, 2003 and opened on May 1, 2003 at the Shubert Theatre. The director was Sam Mendes, with choreography by Jerry Mitchell and costumes and sets by Anthony Ward. Bernadette Peters played the role of Rose. The New York Times described Peters as "a surefire box office draw who nonetheless may surprise some Gypsy aficionados...How will the ladylike Ms. Peters fit into the role of Rose, a part indelibly marked by its brassy, belting originator, Ethel Merman?...'One of the main reasons I wanted to do the piece was to cast someone as Rose that was closer to Rose as she really existed,' Mr. Mendes said. 'She was a tiny woman. And she was a charmer. And so is Bernadette.'" Laurents had talked to Mendes ("Roughly five years ago" according to The New York Times in 2003) about directing the revival, and Mendes said "he was surprised by the idea of casting Ms. Peters as Rose". Laurents notes of his suggestions on this production are in his 2009 book Mainly on Directing 'Gypsy', 'West Side Story' and Other Musicals. In a 2004 interview Laurents said that Peters' portrayal of Rose was "brilliant, original, totally unlike any of the others" while criticizing Mendes for the "physical production" which Laurents said "was misconceived and hurt the show more than people realized." Gypsy had begun previews with a virtually bare stage, but by opening night this had been changed to a minimalist set. The cast featured John Dossett as Herbie, Tammy Blanchard as Louise, Kate Reinders as June and David Burtka as Tulsa. The production was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actress in a Musical. In his review, Ben Brantley in The New York Times wrote that "the surprise coup of many a Broadway season...Working against type and expectation under the direction of Sam Mendes, Ms. Peters has created the most complex and compelling portrait of her long career...There have been many illustrious successors to Merman as Rose...Only Ms. Peters, however, can be said to have broken the Merman mold completely." Gypsy twice set new box office records for the Shubert Theatre. Its gross of $853,476 for the week of June 9-14, 2003 was the highest ever gross for a non-holiday week and the subsequent June 15-21, 2003 box office gross of $874,397 represented the highest gross for a show in Shubert history. However, The New York Times announced that Gypsy would close on February 28, 2004, stating: "Gypsy sold well for most of 2003. But by early January [2004], with tourists gone and local theatergoers staying inside during a brutal stretch of weather, the production's sales grew increasingly weak. More important, the show's advance sale, the main indicator of a production's staying power, began to shrink rapidly. It stood at less than $2 million yesterday." After an increase in the gross, the show's closing was postponed indefinitely, but Gypsy finally closed on May 30, 2004 after 451 performances and 33 previews. The production is believed to have recouped a little more than half of its $8 million investment. CANNOTANSWER

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