Theater News

Patti LuPone to Star in Full Production of Gypsy at City Center

Patti LuPone
Patti LuPone

Patti LuPone will star as Rose in a full production of the Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical Gypsy at City Center this summer. The show will be directed by Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book of the musical, based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee; it is slated to run July 9-29 and to open officially on July 12. No other casting or creative team personnel have yet been announced.

The production will be the first in a new spinoff of the popular City Center Encores! series of musicals in concert, the main difference in the two series being that the Encores! Summer Stars productions will have full sets and costumes. According to a statement from the venue, the new series “will light up the summer nights with classic works of the American musical theater, expanding City Center’s acclaimed Encores! series with 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.” No other presentation is planned for this summer.

LuPone was praised for her performance as Rose in a concert production of Gypsy that played August 11-13, 2006 at the Ravinia Festival outside of Chicago. Most recently seen on Broadway in Sweeney Todd, she won a Tony Award for her performance in the title role of Evita. Her other Broadway credits include Master Class, Anything Goes, Oliver!, Working, and The Old Neighborhood. She also starred in the Encores! productions of Pal Joey and Can-Can, in concert presentations of Sweeney Todd by the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony, and in the London productions of Sunset Boulevard, Les Misérables, and The Cradle Will Rock. Last month, she appeared with Audra McDonald in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny for the Los Angeles Opera.