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136-472: The musical contains many songs that became popular standards, including " Everything's Coming Up Roses ", " Rose's Turn ", "Small World", " Together (Wherever We Go) ", " You Gotta Get a Gimmick ", and " Let Me Entertain You ". It is frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of the mid-twentieth century's conventional musical theatre art form, often called the book musical . Gypsy has been referred to as

272-471: A MacArthur Fellow and Tony Award -winning actor, are frequently lauded as "New Vaudevillians". References to vaudeville and the use of its distinctive argot continue throughout North American popular culture. Words such as "flop" and "gag" were terms created from the vaudeville era and have entered the American idiom. Vaudevillian techniques can commonly be witnessed on television and in movies, remarkably in

408-521: 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

544-530: A 24-week tour of North America, starting in Toronto, and then travelling to many cities, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Boston. The production opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 23, 1974, for a planned limited engagement, and closed on January 4, 1975, after 120 performances and four previews. It was completely recast for the American tour and Broadway run with

680-584: A Broadway show. This is when she began experimenting with improvisational comedy and quickly found her unique success, even taking her performances global with acts in the U.K. Sophie Tucker , a Russian Jewish immigrant, was told by promoter Chris Brown that she was not attractive enough to succeed in show business without doing Blackface, so she performed that way for the first two years onstage, until one day she decided to go without it, and achieved much greater success being herself from that point on, especially with her song "Some of These Days." Moms Mabley

816-416: 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

952-417: A burlesque number similar to one that would be performed at Minsky's Burlesque . In analyzing the character of Rose, Clive Barnes described her as "bossy, demanding, horrific". Rich described Rose as "a monster". Critic Walter Kerr commented that though Rose is a monster, she must be liked and understood. Patti LuPone describes Rose: "She has tunnel vision, she's driven, and she loves her kids.... And she

1088-463: A commitment to entertainment equally inoffensive to men, women and children. Acts that violated this ethos (e.g., those that used words such as "hell") were admonished and threatened with expulsion from the week's remaining performances or were canceled altogether. In spite of such threats, performers routinely flouted this censorship , often to the delight of the very audience members whose sensibilities were supposedly endangered. He eventually instituted

1224-480: A form of entertainment. He incorporated them in his shows as early as 1902. Later, he entered into a partnership with the Famous Players–Lasky , a major Hollywood production company and an affiliate of Paramount Pictures . By the late 1920s, most vaudeville shows included a healthy selection of cinema. Earlier in the century, many vaudevillians, cognizant of the threat represented by cinema, held out hope that

1360-632: A last-minute replacement. Herbie is disgusted at how low Rose has stooped and he finally walks out on her ("Small World" (Reprise)). Although reluctant, Louise goes on, assured by Rose that she needn't actually strip but simply walk elegantly and tease by dropping a single shoulder strap. Shy and hesitant, she sings a titillating version of the old vaudeville song "May We Entertain You". She removes only her glove, but she speaks directly to her audience, which becomes her "gimmick". Louise becomes secure, always following her mother's advice to "Make 'em beg for more, and then don't give it to them!" With each performance,

1496-415: A launching pad for later careers. They left live performance before achieving the national celebrity of earlier vaudeville stars, and found fame in new venues. The line between live and filmed performances was blurred by the number of vaudeville entrepreneurs who made more or less successful forays into the movie business. For example, Alexander Pantages quickly realized the importance of motion pictures as

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1632-436: A live lamb. Excitement was generated around LuPone playing the role of Rose and producers were eager to see Price's production, with the hope of moving it to New York. Jack Viertel , the artistic director of New York City Center Encores! saw the production and was so impressed that he contacted Arthur Laurents, requesting that he direct a new production of the show for a new summer "Encores!" program. From July 9 to 29, 2007,

1768-522: A marketing strategy to attract many different audiences. As stated in Andrew Erdman 's book Blue Vaudeville , the Vaudeville stage was "a highly sexualized space ... where unclad bodies, provocative dancers, and singers of 'blue' lyrics all vied for attention." Such performances highlighted and objectified the female body as a "sexual delight", but more than that, historians think that Vaudeville marked

1904-523: A method of understanding different groups and their societal positions within their cities. The use of the greenhorn immigrant for comedic effect showcased how immigrants were viewed as new arrivals, but also what they could aspire to be. In addition to interpreting visual ethnic caricatures, the Irish American ideal of transitioning from the shanty to the lace curtain became a model of economic upward mobility for immigrant groups. The continued growth of

2040-513: A pale imitation of the Dainty June act for her. Using all girls, Rose and Herbie try valiantly to sell "Madame Rose's Toreadorables" to a fading vaudeville industry. However, they are still together (" Together, Wherever We Go "). With no vaudeville venues left, Louise and her second-rate act wind up accidentally booked at a burlesque house in Wichita, Kansas , as a means to deter police raids. Rose

2176-662: A planned opening date of December 19 at the Majestic Theatre . Other notable productions of Gypsy include: Marga Lopez as Rose and Claudia Islas as Louise. Enrique Gómez Vadillo, director. Also with Raúl Ramírez and Eduardo Alcaraz. The production opened at the Teatro Astral in Buenos Aires , directed by Víctor García Peralta. Mabel Manzotti starred as Rose, with Sandra Guida as Louise, Eleonora Wexler as June, and Ambar La Fox as Tessie Tura. A Mexican revival opened at

2312-606: A recording by Johnny Mathis . When the show closed in March 1961, two national touring companies toured the US. The first company starred Merman and opened in March 1961 at the Rochester, New York Auditorium, and closed in December 1961 at the American, St. Louis , Missouri . The second national company starred Mitzi Green as Rose, followed by Mary McCarty. A young Bernadette Peters appeared in

2448-776: A run at the Chichester Festival Theatre , which won the Critics' Choice Theatre Award for Best Musical in 2014, a West End revival of Gypsy opened at the Savoy Theatre on April 15, 2015, in a limited run through November 28. Directed by Jonathan Kent with choreography by Stephen Mear and set and costume design by Anthony Ward , the production starred Imelda Staunton as Rose, Peter Davison as Herbie, Lara Pulver as Louise, Gemma Sutton as June, Dan Burton as Tulsa, Anita Louise Combe as Tessie Tura, Louise Gold as Mazzeppa and Julie Legrand as Electra. The London production

2584-528: A serious actress but was advised to remain in comedy. She went on to star in a few films but again returned to vaudeville, her original career. Another famous vaudevillian actress was Trixie Friganza , originally born Delia O'Callaghan. She had a famous catchphrase: "You know Trixie with her bag of tricks." She began her career in opera, performing to help provide for her family. The oldest of three daughters, she wanted to help her family financially but had to do it secretly, as female performers were frowned on at

2720-572: A set of guidelines to be an audience member at his show, and these were reinforced by the ushers working in the theatre. This "polite entertainment" also extended to Keith's company members. He went to extreme measures to maintain this level of modesty. Keith even went as far as posting warnings backstage such as this: "Don't say 'slob' or 'son of a gun' or 'hully gee' on the stage unless you want to be canceled peremptorily... if you are guilty of uttering anything sacrilegious or even suggestive you will be immediately closed and will never again be allowed in

2856-459: A single (an individual male or female performer); next would be an alley-oop (an acrobatic act); then another single, followed by yet another sketch such as a blackface comedy. The acts that followed these for the rest of the show would vary from musicals to jugglers to song-and-dance singles and end with a final extravaganza – either musical or drama – with the full company. These shows would feature such stars as ragtime and jazz pianist Eubie Blake ,

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2992-402: A single host introducing a series of acts became a popular television style and can be seen consistently in the development of television, from The Milton Berle Show in 1948 to Late Night with David Letterman in the 1980s. The multi-act format had renewed success in shows such as Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar and The Ed Sullivan Show . Today, performers such as Bill Irwin ,

3128-563: A six-week run in March 2012. Directed by Paul Kerryson and starring Australian musical theatre actor Caroline O'Connor as Rose. Among the cast were Victoria Hamilton-Barritt as Louise, David Fleeshman as Herbie, and Daisy Maywood as Dainty June. In July 2014, Leslie Uggams starred as Rose, directed by Vincent Cardinal (CRT, Artistic Director), with musical direction by David Williams. The production also featured Michael James Leslie as Pop, Scott Ripley as Herbie, Alanna Saunders as June, and Amandina Altomare as Louise. Uggams' appearance marks

3264-438: A song for Herbie called "Nice She Ain't" (cut because it was given to Jack Klugman one week prior to opening and he could not memorize the keys and staging in time), and a song for Baby June and Baby Louise titled "Mama's Talkin' Soft". The latter song was cut partly because the staging required the little girls to stand on a platform elevated above the stage, which terrified the young actress playing Baby Louise and partly because

3400-659: A surprise to audience members when such beautiful women actually possessed talent in addition to their appealing looks. This element of surprise colored much of the reaction to the female entertainment of this time. In the 1920s, announcements seeking all-girl bands for vaudeville performances appeared in industry publications like Billboard , Variety and in newspapers. Bands like The Ingenues and The Dixie Sweethearts were well-publicized, while other groups were simply described as "all-girl Revue". According to Feminist Theory, similar trends in theater and film objectified women, an example of male gaze , as women's role in public life

3536-411: A taste for the risqué . In the 1840s, the minstrel show , another type of variety performance, and "the first emanation of a pervasive and purely American mass culture", grew to enormous popularity and formed what Nick Tosches called "the heart of 19th-century show business". A significant influence also came from "Dutch" (i.e., German or faux-German) minstrels and comedians. Medicine shows traveled

3672-489: A theatre where Mr. Keith is in authority." Along these same lines of discipline, Keith's theatre managers would occasionally send out blue envelopes with orders to omit certain suggestive lines of songs and possible substitutions for those words. If actors chose to ignore these orders or quit, they would get "a black mark" on their name and would never again be allowed to work on the Keith Circuit. Thus, actors learned to follow

3808-628: A time in which the female body became its own "sexual spectacle". This sexual image began sprouting everywhere an American went: the shops, a restaurant, the grocery store, etc. The more this image brought in the highest revenue, the more Vaudeville focused on acts involving women. Even acts that were as innocent as a sister act were higher sellers than a good brother act. Consequently, Erdman adds that female Vaudeville performers such as Julie Mackey and Gibson's Bathing Girls began to focus less on talent and more on physical appeal through their figure, tight gowns, and other revealing attire. It eventually came as

3944-564: A top vaudeville act. As the girls grow into adolescents, June and her act have a chance to perform for Mr. Goldstone of the Orpheum Circuit ("Mr. Goldstone, I Love You"). Meanwhile, Louise celebrates her birthday alone and wonders how old she is ("Little Lamb"). Rose rejects Herbie's marriage proposal and he considers leaving, but she asserts that he could never get away from her ("You'll Never Get Away From Me"). After an audition for T.T. Grantziger ("Dainty June and Her Farmboys/Broadway"), June

4080-566: A trained mule) shared a stage with acts more usually regarded as "highbrow" or classical entertainment (opera vocalists, classical musicians). B. F. Keith took the next step, starting in Boston , where he built an empire of theatres and brought vaudeville to the United States and Canada. Later, E. F. Albee , adoptive grandfather of the Pulitzer Prize -winning playwright Edward Albee , managed

4216-485: A typical North American vaudeville performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals , magicians, ventriloquists , strongmen , female and male impersonators , acrobats, clowns, illustrated songs , jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels , and films. A vaudeville performer

Gypsy (musical) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4352-401: A unique ethnic interplay between Irish American use of self-deprecation as humor and their diverse inner city surroundings. The interactions between newly arrived immigrants and settled immigrants within the backdrop of the unknown American urban landscape allowed vaudeville to be utilized as an avenue for expression and understanding. The often hostile immigrant experience in their new country

4488-793: A vulnerability to Rose that makes her human, not just some loud and cartoonish parody of a stage mother." The original Broadway production opened on May 21, 1959, at The Broadway Theatre , transferred to the Imperial Theatre , and closed on March 25, 1961, after 702 performances and two previews. The show was produced by David Merrick and directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins . Ethel Merman starred as Rose, with Jack Klugman as Herbie and Sandra Church as Louise. Scenic and Lighting design were by Jo Mielziner and costumes were by Raoul Pène Du Bois . The orchestrations, including an overture, were supplied by Sid Ramin and Robert Ginzler . Critic Frank Rich has referred to Robbins' work as one of

4624-505: A wide range of clientele. Many small towns had purpose-built theatres. A small yet interesting example might include what is called Grange Halls in northern New England, still being used. These are old-fashioned, wooden buildings with creaky, dimly-lit, wooden stages, which were meant to offset the isolation of a farming lifestyle. These stages could offer anything from child performers to contra-dances to visits by Santa to local, musical talent, to homemade foods such as whoopee pies. Some of

4760-526: Is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, while changing over time. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian Britain ,

4896-424: Is a survivor. I do not see her as a monster at all—she may do monstrous things, but that does not make a monster." Sondheim has said of the character: "The fact that she's monstrous to her daughters and the world is secondary... She's a very American character, a gallant figure and a life force." Sondheim also noted, "Yet the end of Gypsy is not entirely bleak. Louise comes out a star and forgives her mother. There

5032-410: Is anguished, as she sees what a booking in burlesque means to her dreams of success, but Louise persuades her that two weeks' pay for the new act is better than unemployment. Backstage, Rose proposes marriage to Herbie. He asks her to break up the act and let Louise have a normal life, and she reluctantly accepts, agreeing to marry the day after their show closes. As they are introduced to Louise, three of

5168-653: Is believed to have recouped a little more than half of its $ 8 million investment. Patti LuPone first portrayed Rose in Gypsy at the Chicago Ravinia Festival in August 2006, directed by Lonny Price and accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra . It began as a concert production but evolved into a full-fledged production featuring Jerome Robbins' original choreography (recreated by Bonnie Walker) and even

5304-421: Is hope for her. Rose does confront who she is in 'Rose's Turn.' There is a catharsis. It's not Rodgers and Hammerstein, but you feel maybe the mother and daughter will come to an understanding and maybe triumph over Rose's craziness and Louise's bitterness." Brantley noted that Rose is a "mythic character". She is "[t]raditionally presented as an armored tank on autopilot, which finally crashes only minutes before

5440-439: Is offered a place at a Performing Arts school. However, Rose turns this down, refusing to break up the act. Louise and June fantasize what life would be like if Rose were married and finished with show business ("If Momma Was Married"). A few months later, still on the road from show to show, Tulsa, one of the boys from the act, confides to Louise that he has been working on his own act and Louise fantasizes that she and he could do

5576-494: Is often considered to have been the death knell of vaudeville. Though talk of its resurrection was heard during the 1930s and later, the demise of the supporting apparatus of the circuits and the higher cost of live performance made any large-scale renewal of vaudeville unrealistic. The most striking examples of Gilded Age theatre architecture were commissioned by the big time vaudeville magnates and stood as monuments of their wealth and ambition. Examples of such architecture are

Gypsy (musical) - Misplaced Pages Continue

5712-477: Is often referred to as a "vaudevillian". Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon , minstrelsy , freak shows , dime museums , and literary American burlesque . Called "the heart of American show business", vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades. The origin of the term is obscure but often explained as being derived from

5848-425: Is performed at the end of the first act of Gypsy by stage mother Rose, upon learning her daughter June has eloped, abandoning the vaudeville act, and leaving Rose without a star for the show to which she has devoted her life. Rose's response is to make her other daughter Louise the object of her dubious star-making abilities. The title "Everything's Coming Up Roses" is a pun: Besides "roses" representing happiness,

5984-510: The vau de vire origin, a truncated form of chanson du Vau de Vire ' song of the Valley of the Vire ' . Around 1610, Jean le Houx collected these works as Le Livre des Chants nouveaux de Vaudevire , which is probably the direct origin of the word. With its first subtle appearances within the early 1860s, vaudeville was not initially a common form of entertainment. The form gradually evolved from

6120-786: The Boston tryout due to pit size. The production, directed by Len Pluger and Music Directed by Jay Dias, starred Sue Mathys as Rose, Ashton Smalling as Dainty June (she has previously been Baby June at Ravinia in 2006) and Caitlin Carter as Tessie Tura, with local performers Mary McElree as Louise and Sonny Franks as Herbie. Tovah Feldshuh starred as Rose at the Bristol ( PA ) Riverside Theatre (BRT) production of Gypsy which opened on December 8, 2011, following two nights of previews . The production, directed by BRT artistic director Keith Baker, ran until January 15, 2012. Gypsy opened in Leicester, UK for

6256-746: The Colgate-Palmolive dishwashing liquid Vel. That same year Merman recorded "Everything's Coming Up Roses" for her album Merman Sings Merman recorded with Stanley Black & the London Festival Orchestra . She again recorded the song for The Ethel Merman Disco Album in 1979. In a cameo in the 1980 film Airplane! , Merman sings a few bars of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" in what became her final film appearance. Other versions of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" include: Vaudeville Vaudeville ( / ˈ v ɔː d ( ə ) v ɪ l , ˈ v oʊ -/ ; French: [vodvil] )

6392-754: The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival and Daly won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. Jule Styne, in a 1989 interview in connection with the California tryout, said: "About six months ago, Bette Midler wanted to buy it ( Gypsy ) for a movie. We wouldn't sell it. Because they'd only destroy it." USA Today reported that "Both Liza Minnelli and Bernadette Peters say they would love to play it, but they weren't even approached for this production." A new Broadway revival began previews on March 31, 2003, and opened on May 1, 2003, at

6528-825: The Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts , Miami Beach, Florida , in May 1989, and Tampa in May, then The Muny , St. Louis , in June 1989, moving to the Los Angeles Music Center and Orange County Performing Arts Center , Costa Mesa, California in July 1989, and then the Kennedy Center in August and September 1989, with several other venues prior to Broadway. The production opened on Broadway on November 16, 1989, at

6664-727: The Marx Brothers , Jimmy Durante , Bill "Bojangles" Robinson , Edgar Bergen , Fanny Brice , Burns and Allen , and Eddie Cantor , used the prominence gained in live variety performance to vault into the new medium of cinema. In doing so, such performers often exhausted in a few moments of screen time the novelty of an act that might have kept them on tour for several years. Other performers who entered in vaudeville's later years, including Jack Benny , Abbott and Costello , Kate Smith , Cary Grant , Bob Hope , Milton Berle , Judy Garland , Rose Marie , Sammy Davis Jr. , Red Skelton , Larry Storch and The Three Stooges , used vaudeville only as

6800-500: 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

6936-633: The St. James Theatre , and then moved to the Marquis Theatre on April 18, 1991, and closed on July 28, 1991, after 476 performances and 23 previews. Laurents returned as director, with Tyne Daly as Rose, Jonathan Hadary as Herbie and Crista Moore as Louise. Linda Lavin (on July 30, 1990) and Jamie Ross replaced Daly and Hadary respectively, with Daly returning to the production at the Marquis Theatre from April 18, 1991 until closing. This production won

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7072-639: The Tivoli Theatre are housed at the State Library of Victoria , Melbourne , Australia , with additional personal papers of vaudevillian performers from the Tivoli Theatre, including extensive costume and set design holdings, held by the Performing Arts Collection , Arts Centre Melbourne . The American Vaudeville Museum, one of the largest collections of vaudeville memorabilia, is located at

7208-599: The concert saloon and variety hall into its mature form throughout the 1870s and 1880s. This more gentle form was known as "Polite Vaudeville". In the years before the American Civil War , entertainment existed on a different scale. Similar variety theatre existed before 1860 in Europe and elsewhere. In the US, as early as the first decades of the 19th century, theatergoers could enjoy a performance consisting of Shakespeare plays, acrobatics, singing, dancing, and comedy. As

7344-452: The "Irwin Sisters". Many years later, their act had taken off and with performances in both vaudeville and burlesque at famous music halls, until Irwin decided to continue her career on her own. She then changed her approach to vaudeville, performing African-American-influenced songs, even later writing her songs. She introduced her signature in vaudeville, "The Bully Song", which was performed in

7480-425: The "big time" (possible remuneration of several thousand dollars per week in large, urban theatres largely patronized by the middle and upper-middle classes). As performers rose in renown and established regional and national followings, they worked their way into the less arduous working conditions and better pay of the big time. The capital of the big time was New York City's Palace Theatre (or just "The Palace" in

7616-580: The 1989 revival, "because, I think that in Arthur's mind, the Tyne Daly Gypsy had been the last successful production." However, the cast "questioned Arthur relentlessly about...the scenes", and he "tossed the old prompt book out and freed" the actors to explore. The Encores! production was a success, and despite Ben Brantley 's somewhat negative review of LuPone's performance in The New York Times ,

7752-487: The American musical." A musical based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee was a project of producer David Merrick and actress Ethel Merman . Merrick had read a chapter of Lee's memoirs in Harper's Magazine and approached Lee to obtain the rights. Jerome Robbins was interested and wanted Leland Hayward as co-producer; Merman also wanted Hayward to produce her next show. Merrick and Hayward approached Arthur Laurents to write

7888-625: The Chinese, Italians, Germans and Jews utilized ethnic caricatures to understand themselves as well as the Irish. The urban diversity within the vaudeville stage and audience also reflected their societal status, with the working class constituting two-thirds of the typical vaudeville audience. The ethnic caricatures that now comprised American humor reflected the positive and negative interactions between ethnic groups in America's cities. The caricatures served as

8024-574: The French expression voix de ville ' voice of the city ' . A second hypothesis is that it comes from the 15th-century songs on satire by poet Olivier Basselin , "Vau de Vire". In his Connections television series, science historian James Burke argues that the term is a corruption of the French Vau de Vire ' Vire River Valley ' , an area known for its bawdy drinking songs and where Basselin lived. The Oxford English Dictionary also endorses

8160-423: The Irish becoming subject to discrimination due to their ethnic physical and cultural characteristics. The ethnic stereotypes of Irish through their greenhorn depiction alluded to their newly arrived status as immigrant Americans, with the stereotype portrayed in avenues of entertainment. Following the Irish immigration wave were several waves in which new immigrants from different backgrounds came in contact with

8296-453: The Irish in America's urban centers. Already settled and being native English speakers, Irish Americans took hold of these advantages and began to assert their positions in the immigrant racial hierarchy based on skin tone and assimilation status, cementing job positions that were previously unavailable to them as recently arrived immigrants. As a result, Irish Americans became prominent in vaudeville entertainment as curators and actors, creating

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8432-709: 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

8568-707: The Teatro Silvia Pinal in Mexico City , produced and directed by Silvia Pinal (legendary Luis Buñuel 's Viridiana muse). Pinal and her daughter, the rock singer Alejandra Guzmán starred. Guzmán was replaced by Irán Castillo . Betty Buckley , Deborah Gibson and Lenny Wolpe starred at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey . Laura Bell Bundy played June. It was rumored to be Broadway bound, but this did not materialize. The production opened at

8704-812: The Theatre Vanemuine in Tartu, directed by Mare Tommingas. The cast included Silvi Vrait as Rose and the production would enjoy a successful run of performances from 2001 through 2003. This production ran in rep at the Shaw Festival , Niagara-on-the-Lake , Ontario starring Nora McLellan as Rose and Julie Martell as Louise. Martell understudied Tammy Blanchard in the 2003 Broadway revival. Also, Kate Hennig, who has appeared on Broadway as Ms. Wilkinson in Billy Elliot , played Ms. Cratchitt as well as understudying and playing Rose at certain scheduled performances. Gypsy

8840-423: The United States and Canada and a large interest in two vaudeville circuits. Another major circuit was that of Alexander Pantages . In his heyday, Pantages owned more than 30 vaudeville theatres and controlled, through management contracts, perhaps 60 more in both the United States and Canada. At its height, vaudeville played across multiple strata of economic class and auditorium size. On the vaudeville circuit, it

8976-466: The United States and Canada, first for about three months in Emil Boreo’s Mirage de Paris followed by nine months in their own Ballet Caprice . After Jack quit the act near the end of 1927, Betty continued to manage the troupe and, with a new dance partner, toured throughout the northeastern United States for the next six months as Betty Felsen and Company. The final performance of Ballet Caprice

9112-451: The act together ("All I Need Is the Girl"). Shortly after this, June is missing, and she explains in a note that she has grown sick of her mother and the endless tour and has eloped with Tulsa, with whom she will do a new act. Rose is hurt, but she optimistically vows that she will make Louise a star, proclaiming that " Everything's Coming Up Roses ". Louise is now a young woman, and Rose has built

9248-434: The book. As he relates, Laurents initially was not interested until he saw that the story was one of parents living their children's lives. Composers Irving Berlin and Cole Porter declined the project. Finally, Robbins asked Stephen Sondheim , who agreed to do it. Sondheim had worked with Robbins and Laurents on the musical West Side Story . However, Merman did not want an unknown composer and wanted Jule Styne to write

9384-1008: The business side of Vaudeville, like Amanda Thorpe, a white woman who founded a black theater in Virginia, and the Griffin Sisters , who managed several theaters in their efforts to create a Black Vaudeville circuit. Black performers and patrons participated in a racially segregated vaudeville circuit. Though many popular acts like Lewis and Walker, Ernest Hogan , Irving Jones , and the Hyers Sisters played to both white and black audiences, early Vaudeville performances for white audiences were limited to one Black act per show, and performers faced discrimination in restaurants and lodging. Entertainers and entrepreneurs like The Whitman Sisters , Pat Chapelle and John Isham created and managed their own touring companies; others took on theater ownership and management and created Black vaudeville circuits, as

9520-500: The chain to its greatest success. Circuits such as those managed by Keith-Albee provided vaudeville's greatest economic innovation and the principal source of its industrial strength. They enabled a chain of allied vaudeville houses that remedied the chaos of the single-theatre booking system by contracting acts for regional and national tours. These could easily be lengthened from a few weeks to two years. Albee also gave national prominence to vaudeville's trumpeting "polite" entertainment,

9656-420: The circuit's central office weekly, follow each act's description. The bill illustrates the typical pattern of opening the show with a "dumb" act to allow patrons to find their seats, placing strong acts in second and penultimate positions, and leaving the weakest act for the end, to clear the house. In this bill, as in many vaudeville shows, acts often associated with "lowbrow" or popular entertainment (acrobats,

9792-416: The countryside offering programs of comedy, music, jugglers , and other novelties along with displays of tonics, salves, and miracle elixirs, while " Wild West " shows provided romantic vistas of the disappearing frontier, complete with trick riding, music and drama. Vaudeville incorporated these various itinerant amusements into a stable, institutionalized form centered in America's growing urban hubs. From

9928-409: The daughter of a musician, she moved to the United States of America in her childhood. At just fourteen years old, she left home to begin her career, lying about her age and sending her mother half of her paycheck. Dressler found great success and was known for her comedic timing and physical comedy, like carrying her male co-stars. She eventually worked on Broadway, where she had a great desire to become

10064-505: The death of vaudeville. After all, when "small time" theatres could offer "big time" performers on screen at a nickel a seat, who could ask audiences to pay higher amounts for less impressive live talent? The newly-formed RKO studios took over the famed Orpheum vaudeville circuit and swiftly turned it into a chain of full-time movie theatres. The half-century tradition of vaudeville was effectively wiped out within less than four years. Inevitably, managers further trimmed costs by eliminating

10200-478: The effect that while Merman's comedic prowess was "nonpareil" as showcased in Gypsy' s first act she lacked the dramatic precision to be fully effective as the play grew darker; thus, Sondheim recalled: "I wrote a song of the type that [Merman] had sung all her life, like [the Anything Goes number] 'Blow, Gabriel, Blow', which only requires a trumpet-voiced affirmation." However Sondheim added that Merman performed

10336-594: The ensemble and understudied Dainty June, a role she would play the following year in summer stock , opposite Betty Hutton 's Rose. It opened in September 1961 at the Shubert Theatre, Detroit and closed in January 1962 at the Hanna, Cleveland , Ohio . In 1973, it was announced that Elaine Stritch would be starring in the first West End production of the show. However, when ticket sales proved to be unsuccessful, producers hired

10472-506: The exception of Bonnie Langford as baby June and Zan Charisse as Louise/Gypsy who played it in the West End with Ms. Lansbury. Maureen Moore (later Bernadette Peters' understudy as Rose in the 2003 revival) played the adult June, and Mary Louise Wilson was Tessie Tura. John Sheridan played Tulsa, for which he won the 1974-75 Theatre World Award. Angela Lansbury won the 1975 Tony Award . A second revival had pre-Broadway engagements starting at

10608-479: The famous and magical Harry Houdini , and child star Baby Rose Marie . In the New-York Tribune ' s article about Vaudeville, it is said that at any given time, Vaudeville was employing over twelve thousand different people throughout its entire industry. Each entertainer would be on the road 42 weeks at a time while working a particular "Circuit" – or an individual theatre chain of a major company. While

10744-399: The final curtain". Bernadette Peters ' take on the character was different: "Rose was a woman who was traumatized by her own mother leaving her at an early age. I think that longing for acceptance is what fuels all her ambition. In the end, when she confronts herself in 'Rose's Turn', she realizes she has failed her daughter just as her own mother failed her...and that destroys Rose. There is

10880-446: The first African-American woman to portray Rose in an Equity Production. Everything%27s Coming Up Roses " Everything's Coming Up Roses " is a song with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim , written initially for the 1959 Broadway musical Gypsy . Introduced in the show's inaugural production by Ethel Merman , "Everything's Coming Up Roses" became one of Merman's signature songs . According to Sammy Cahn ,

11016-413: The greatest American musical by numerous critics and writers, among them Ben Brantley ("what may be the greatest of all American musicals...") and Frank Rich . Rich wrote that " Gypsy is nothing if not Broadway's own brassy, unlikely answer to King Lear ." Theater critic Clive Barnes wrote that " Gypsy is one of the best of musicals..." and described Rose as "one of the few truly complex characters in

11152-491: The instructions given to them by B. F. Keith for fear of losing their careers forever. By the late 1890s, vaudeville had large circuits, houses (small and large) in almost every sizable location, standardized booking, broad pools of skilled acts, and a loyal national following. One of the biggest circuits was Martin Beck's Orpheum Circuit . It incorporated in 1919 and brought together 45 vaudeville theatres in 36 cities throughout

11288-427: The last of the live performances. Vaudeville also suffered due to the rise of broadcast radio following the greater availability of inexpensive receiver sets later in the decade. Even the hardiest in the vaudeville industry realized the form was in decline; the perceptive understood the condition to be terminal. The standardized film distribution and talking pictures of the 1930s confirmed the end of vaudeville. By 1930,

11424-563: The lower-priced cinema in the early 1910s dealt the heaviest blow to vaudeville. This was similar to the advent of free broadcast television 's diminishing the cultural and economic strength of the cinema. Cinema was first regularly commercially presented in the US in vaudeville halls. The first public showing of movies projected on a screen took place at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in 1896. Lured by greater salaries and less arduous working conditions, many performers and personalities, such as Al Jolson , W. C. Fields , Mae West , Buster Keaton ,

11560-556: 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

11696-531: The mid-1860s, impresario Tony Pastor , a former singing circus clown who had become a prominent variety theater performer and manager, capitalized on middle class sensibilities and spending power when he began to feature "polite" variety programs in his New York City theatres. Pastor opened his first "Opera House" on the Bowery in 1865, later moving his variety theater operation to Broadway and, finally, to Fourteenth Street near Union Square . He only began to use

11832-469: The more familiar Angela Lansbury (according to Craig Zadan , "The ...producers were not able to raise the required capital on Stritch's name, and the promise of a new production...became ominously distant"). The West End production opened at the Piccadilly Theatre on May 29, 1973. It was produced by Barry M. Brown and Fritz Holt, in association with Edgar Lansbury (Angela's brother) and directed by

11968-566: The most influential stagings of a musical in American theatrical history. The original production received eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, but failed to win any. The original Broadway cast recording won the Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Album (Broadway or TV) , and "Small World" was nominated for the Grammy for Song of the Year which went to Sondheim & Styne, popularized with

12104-480: The most prominent vaudevillians successfully made the transition to cinema, though others were not as successful. Some performers such as Bert Lahr fashioned careers out of combining live performance with radio and film roles. Many others later appeared in the Catskill resorts that constituted the " Borscht Belt ". Vaudeville was instrumental in the success of the newer media of film, radio, and television. Comedies of

12240-411: The music for what became "Everything's Coming Up Roses", with new lyrics by Sondheim. It took Sondheim a week to come up with the title; the lyricist recalled: "The point was to [coin] a phrase that sounded as if it had been in the language for years but was in fact invented for the show." (The similar phrase, "come up smelling like a rose" has in fact been in general usage since the early 20th century, and

12376-411: The music. Sondheim initially refused to write only the lyrics but was persuaded by Oscar Hammerstein to accept the job. Baby June and Louise, the two daughters of Rose Hovick, play the vaudeville circuit around the United States in the early 1920s. Rose, the archetype of a stage mother , is aggressive and domineering, pushing her children to perform. While June is an extroverted, talented child star,

12512-636: The neighborhood character of vaudeville attendance had always promoted a tendency to tailor fare to specific audiences, mature vaudeville grew to feature houses and circuits specifically aimed at certain demographic groups. Black patrons, often segregated into the rear of the second gallery in white-oriented theatres, had their own smaller circuits, as did speakers of Italian and Yiddish (see below). This foreign addition combined with comedy produced such acts as "minstrel shows of antebellum America" and Yiddish theatre. Many ethnic families joined in on this entertainment business, and for them, this traveling lifestyle

12648-538: The new era adopted many of the dramatic and musical tropes of classic vaudeville acts. Film comedies of the 1920s through the 1940s used talent from the vaudeville stage and followed a vaudeville aesthetic of variety entertainment, both in Hollywood and in Asia, including China. The rich repertoire of the vaudeville tradition was mined for prominent prime-time radio variety shows such as The Rudy Vallée Show . The structure of

12784-482: The older girl, Louise, is shy. Their act has one song, " May We Entertain You ", with June always as the centerpiece and Louise in the background. Rose has big dreams for the girls but encounters setbacks when her father refuses to lend her money for those dreams ("Some People"). When Rose meets a former agent, Herbie, she persuades him to become their manager using her seductive and feminine wiles ("Small World"). Through Herbie's efforts, "Baby June and Her Newsboys" becomes

12920-481: The performance. Patti LuPone performed in Gypsy before Broadway, stating she starred as Louise in a high-school production of the show when she was 13 years old. LuPone had voiced interest in heading the 2003 Broadway revival, but Arthur Laurents reportedly banned her from any future work with his involvement because she previously walked out on a production of Jolson Sings Again , written by Laurents, in 1995. LuPone and Laurents subsequently reconciled. Following

13056-661: The production was transferred to Teatro Alfa, São Paulo . The very first production of the musical Gypsy in Joseph Kajetan Tyl's Theatre in Pilsen was short-lived, no more than 18 performances. From September 9 to 18, Lyric Stage in Irving, Texas produced the musical. The production featured a 39 piece orchestra and full original orchestrations that had not been heard since 1961 when the original production closed. It also featured an acoustic guitar part, which had been removed prior to

13192-404: The promotion of black-face minstrelsy on the stage, purposefully used to place African Americans beneath the Irish in the racial and social urban hierarchy. Although the Irish had a strong Celtic presence in vaudeville and in the promotion of ethnic stereotypes, the ethnic groups that they were characterizing also utilized the same humor. As the Irish donned their ethnic costumes, groups such as

13328-532: The recent, worldwide phenomenon of TV shows such as America's Got Talent . In professional wrestling , there was a noted tag team, based in WWE , called The Vaudevillains . In 2018, noted film director Christopher Annino, maker of a new silent feature film, Silent Times , founded Vaudeville Con, a gathering to celebrate the history of vaudeville. The first meeting was held in Pawcatuck, Connecticut . The records of

13464-453: The show transferred to Broadway, where it opened at the St. James Theatre on March 27, 2008. Brantley gave the production a rave review, praising LuPone, Laurents and the rest of the cast, and describing the characterizations in the production: "You see, everyone's starved for attention in Gypsy . That craving, after all, is the motor that keeps showbiz puttering along. And Mr. Laurents makes sure that we sense that hunger in everyone.... I

13600-584: The show was presented at New York City Center with LuPone once again. Directed by Arthur Laurents , the production also featured Laura Benanti as Louise, Boyd Gaines as Herbie and Leigh Ann Larkin as June. Nancy Opel , Marilyn Caskey, and Alison Fraser played the strippers Mazeppa, Electra, and Tessie Tura ( Lenora Nemetz assumed the role of Mazeppa / Miss Cratchitt for the Broadway transfer.) LuPone recounted in her memoirs that, when Laurents began directing this production, he based his direction initially on

13736-470: The show was running too long. "Mama's Talkin' Soft" was later recorded by Petula Clark and released as a single in the UK in 1959. Other cut songs include "Mother's Day", a song for Baby June's act, "Smile, Girls", which involves Rose trying to teach the untalented girls to smile in order to make the act look good, "Who Needs Him?", which Rose sings to herself after Herbie leaves her, and "Three Wishes for Christmas",

13872-539: The show's author, Arthur Laurents , with choreography reproduced by Robert Tucker. The supporting cast featured Zan Charisse, Barrie Ingham , Debbie Bowen and Bonnie Langford . Lansbury left the London production in December 1973 to tour the show in the US and was succeeded by Dolores Gray . The production closed on March 2, 1974, after 300 performances. Prior to opening on Broadway, the Lansbury West End production had

14008-451: The silent nature of the "flickering shadow sweethearts" would preclude their usurpation of the paramount place in the public's affection. With the introduction of talking pictures in 1926, the burgeoning film studios removed what had remained the chief difference in favor of live theatrical performance: spoken dialogue. Historian John Kenrick wrote: Top vaudeville stars filmed their acts for one-time pay-offs, inadvertently helping to speed

14144-422: The similar idiom "roses, roses all the way" derives from a Robert Browning poem The Patriot ) Director of the show Jerome Robbins responded to Sondheim's lyrics: "Everything's coming up Rose's what ?" prompting Sondheim's assurance that "if anybody else has that confusion – anybody connected with the production, in the audience, any of your relatives – I will change the title." "Everything's Coming Up Roses"

14280-464: The slang of vaudevillians), built by Martin Beck in 1913 and operated by Keith. Featuring a bill stocked with inventive novelty acts, national celebrities, and acknowledged masters of vaudeville performance (such as comedian and trick roper Will Rogers ), the Palace provided what many vaudevillians considered the apotheosis of remarkable careers. A standard show bill would begin with a sketch, follow with

14416-406: The song becomes brasher and brassier, and Louise removes more articles of clothing. Ultimately, she becomes a major burlesque star (" Let Me Entertain You "). At Louise's dressing room, Rose argues with her daughter, now known as the sophisticated "Gypsy Rose Lee". Embittered, Rose reveals that the true motivation for all her actions has been to live vicariously through her daughters so she can chase

14552-399: The song had its genesis in the 1947 musical High Button Shoes , for which he was the lyricist. Cahn wrote lyrics to Jule Styne's music for a song titled "Betwixt and Between", to be sung by a female character who cannot decide between two men. The director of High Button Shoes decided the song did not fit well into the show and removed it. When composing Gypsy , Styne decided to re-use

14688-438: The song with an "intensity [which] came as a surprise." The emergence of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" as a Broadway anthem began with the song's melody being used to open and close the 14th Tony Awards ceremony on April 24, 1960. (Ironically Gypsy won none of its eight Tony nominations.) In 1974, Ethel Merman appeared in a television advertisement singing new lyrics to the tune of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" to promote

14824-448: The songs that were popularized onstage by white singers, and paved the way for African-American musical theater . In addition to vaudeville's prominence as a form of American entertainment, it reflected the newly evolving urban inner-city culture and interaction of its operators and audience. Making up a large portion of immigration to the United States in the mid-19th century, Irish Americans interacted with established Americans, with

14960-454: The stardom she wanted for herself, not for her children. She realizes that she has driven away June, Herbie, and now possibly Louise. She displays the talent that could have been under different circumstances, as the name "Rose" flashes in neon lights (" Rose's Turn "). After her admission to Louise, mother and daughter tentatively move toward reconciliation in the end. During the pre-Broadway tryout tour, several songs were cut, including

15096-410: The strippers on the bill advise her on what it takes to be a successful stripper, a "gimmick," something that "makes your strip special" (" You Gotta Get a Gimmick "). On the last day of the booking, the star stripper in the burlesque show is arrested for solicitation . Desperate, Rose cannot resist the urge to give Louise another nudge toward stardom, and she volunteers Louise to do the striptease as

15232-410: The term "vaudeville" in place of "variety" in early 1876. Hoping to draw a potential audience from female and family-based shopping traffic uptown , Pastor barred the sale of liquor in his theatres, eliminated bawdy material from his shows, and offered gifts of coal and hams to attendees. Pastor's experiment proved successful, and other managers soon followed suit. The manager's comments, sent back to

15368-627: The theatres built by impresario Alexander Pantages . Pantages often used architect B. Marcus Priteca (1881–1971), who in turn regularly worked with muralist Anthony Heinsbergen . Priteca devised an exotic, neo-classical style that his employer called "Pantages Greek". Though classic vaudeville reached a zenith of capitalization and sophistication in urban areas dominated by national chains and commodious theatres, small-time vaudeville included countless more intimate and locally controlled houses. Small-time houses were often converted saloons, rough-hewn theatres, or multi-purpose halls, together catering to

15504-690: The time. She worked largely in comedy and gained acclaim and success due to her willingness to step into other's roles who had fallen ill, and were otherwise unable to perform. In her acts, she often emphasized her plus-size figure, calling herself the "perfect forty-six". Friganza was also a poet and writer. She used many of her performances as ways to raise money to support the poor or disenfranchised and went on record publicly numerous times to support these social causes. Friganza also spent much of her life fighting for women's equality and pushing for self-acceptance for women, both publicly and within themselves, as well as their rights in comparison to men. Betty Felsen

15640-542: The title is referencing the possessive "Rose's" as in Rose's way or "Rose" as in Rose becoming a star herself, through her daughter. Ethel Merman biographer Brian Kellow notes that while objectively "Everything's Coming Up Roses" seems "a big, brassy paean to the power of positive thinking ... done in the old, electric Merman style", within the context of the show "the song becomes a chilling illustration of blind ambition mixed with megalomania ". Kellow quotes Stephen Sondheim to

15776-592: The vast majority of formerly live theatres had been wired for sound, and none of the major studios were producing silent pictures. For a time, the most luxurious theatres continued to offer live entertainment, but most theatres were forced by the Great Depression to economize. Some in the industry blamed cinema's drain of talent from the vaudeville circuits for the medium's demise. Others argued that vaudeville had allowed its performances to become too familiar to its famously loyal, now seemingly fickle audiences. There

15912-478: The vaudeville stage, Irish Americans became interpreters of immigrant cultural images in American popular culture. New arrivals found their ethnic group status defined within the immigrant population and in their new country as a whole by the Irish on stage. Unfortunately, the same interactions between ethnic groups within the close living conditions of cities also created racial tensions which were reflected in vaudeville. Conflict between Irish and African Americans saw

16048-585: The winter of 1923 Betty began a partnership with Jack Broderick. From then until the end of 927 Broderick & Felsen performed on the B.F. Keith and Pantages vaudeville circuits throughout the U.S. and Canada. Their act evolved from a simple dance act to one with over twenty dancers, an orchestra, and elaborate costumes and sets. From 1925 to 1926 they played for 20 straight weeks at the huge Colony Theater on Broadway in New York City. In 1926 and 1927, they starred in two spectacular musical productions, touring across

16184-486: The years progressed, people seeking diversified amusement found an increasing number of ways to be entertained. Vaudeville was characterized by traveling companies touring through cities and towns. A handful of circuses regularly toured the country; dime museums appealed to the curious; amusement parks, riverboats, and town halls often featured "cleaner" presentations of variety entertainment; compared to saloons, music halls, and burlesque houses, which catered to those with

16320-585: Was a comedienne who got her start in Vaudeville and the Chitlin circuits in the 1920s, and ended up with mainstream success in the 20th century. Other 20th century women performers who started in Vaudeville included blues singers Ma Rainey , Ida Cox and Bessie Smith . Women-led touring companies like Black Patti's Troubadours , the Whitman Sisters and the Hyers Sisters were popular acts. Other women worked

16456-616: Was accepted to be a member of the Chicago Opera’s Pavley-Oukrainsky Ballet corps de ballet. From December 1920 until the fall of 1922 Betty was a ballerina soloist and performed with them throughout North America. Under the name Buddye Felsen, Betty landed a starring dancing role in a new show at Fred Mann’s Million Dollar Rainbo Room in the Rainbo Gardens . The show, Rainbo Trail , directed by Frank Westphal , opened on 15 December 1922, and ran until 1 March 1923. In

16592-630: Was also filmed and broadcast on BBC Four over the 2015 Christmas/New Year period and was first broadcast on PBS ' Great Performances in the United States in 2016. On May 29, 2024, it was announced that Audra McDonald would play Rose for a new planned revival. George C. Wolfe will direct with Camille A. Brown choreographing. Joining McDonald will be Danny Burstein as Herbie, Joy Woods as Louise, Jordan Tyson as June, Kevin Csolak as Tulsa, Lesli Margherita as Tessie Tura, Lili Thomas as Mazeppa and Mylinda Hull as Electra. Previews began November 21 with

16728-635: Was an American ballerina, vaudeville star, and teacher. She was born on 9 June 1905, in Chicago, IL Betty began taking lessons at a local Chicago ballet school when she was eight years old, and often performed solo dances in shows presented by that school. Just before her tenth birthday in 1916, her parents enrolled her as a ballet student with the Pavley-Oukrainsky Ballet School within the Chicago Opera Association. Then, in 1919 Betty

16864-433: Was expanding. These expectations for women in the 19th century played a big role in the compelling aspects of vaudeville. Through vaudeville, many women were allowed to join their male counterparts on the stage and found success in their acts. Leila Marie Koerber, later Marie Dressler , was a Canadian actress who specialized in vaudeville comedy, and eventually won an Academy Award for Best Actress later in her career. Being

17000-500: Was no abrupt end to vaudeville, though the form was clearly sagging by the late 1920s. Joseph Kennedy Sr. in a hostile buyout, acquired the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Theatres Corporation (KAO), which had more than 700 vaudeville theatres across the United States which had begun showing movies. The shift of New York City's Palace Theatre, vaudeville's center, to an exclusively cinema presentation on 16 November 1932,

17136-578: Was nominated for eight Laurence Olivier Awards at the 2016 ceremony , winning four, including Best Actress in a Musical (Staunton) and Best Musical Revival, the most awards won by a single production in that year. It also won Best Musical Production and Best Performance in a Musical (for Staunton) at the UK Theatre Awards in 2015. Staunton also won Best Musical Performance at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2015. The production

17272-565: Was nominated for four Tony Awards , including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actress in a Musical; it won none. 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

17408-493: Was now used for comic relief on the vaudeville stage, where stereotypes of different ethnic groups were perpetuated. The crude stereotypes that emerged were easily identifiable not only by their distinct ethnic cultural attributes, but how those attributes differed from the mainstream established American culture and identity. Coupled with their historical presence on the English stage for comic relief, and as operators and actors of

17544-413: Was on 4 June 1928, at Broadway’s Palace Theater in New York City. Another famous comedienne, one who brought in thousands of audience members with her signature improvisational skills, was May Irwin . She worked from about 1875 to 1914. Originally born Ada Campbell, she began her life on the stage at thirteen years old following the death of her father. She and her older sister created a singing act called

17680-436: Was originally scheduled to close in March 2009 on LuPone's final performance, but closed on January 11, 2009, due to decreases in ticket sales. Like the 2003 production, this revival also closed at a loss. The production played for 332 performances and 27 previews. On the eve before the final performance, LuPone made news when she stopped the show during the song "Rose's Turn" to scold a patron for taking illegal photographs during

17816-559: Was presented by Phoenix Entertainment with Kathy Halenda starring as Rose and Missy Dowse as Louise. The production was directed by Sam Viverto and assisted by Aja Kane. Principal casting also included Ruby Lewis as June, Rachel Abrams as Mazeppa, Claire Norden as Baby June, Loriann Freda as Tessie Tura, Nick Hamel as Herbie, and Maria Egler as Electra. The tour ended in May 2008. The first Brazilian production opened at Teatro Villa-Lobos, Rio de Janeiro , starring Totia Meireles as Rose, Renata Ricci as June, and Eduardo Falcão as Herbie. Later

17952-440: Was rivaled only by churches and public schools among the nation's premiere public gathering places. Another slightly different aspect of Vaudeville was an increasing interest in the female figure. The previously mentioned ominous idea of "the blue envelopes" led to the phrase "blue" material, which described the provocative subject matter present in many Vaudeville acts of the time. Many managers even saw this scandalous material as

18088-557: Was said that if an act would succeed in Peoria, Illinois , it would work anywhere. The question "Will it play in Peoria?" has now become a metaphor for whether something appeals to the American mainstream public. The three most common levels were the "small time" (lower-paying contracts for more frequent performances in rougher, often converted theatres), the "medium time" (moderate wages for two performances each day in purpose-built theatres), and

18224-460: Was simply a continuation of the circumstances that brought them to America. Through these acts, they were able to assimilate themselves into their new home while also bringing bits of their own culture into this new world. White-oriented regional circuits, such as New England 's "Peanut Circuit", also provided essential training grounds for new artists while allowing established acts to experiment with and polish new material. At its height, vaudeville

18360-511: Was so caught up in the emotional wrestling matches between the characters (and within themselves), that I didn't really think about the songs as songs.... There is no separation at all between song and character, which is what happens in those uncommon moments when musicals reach upward to achieve their ideal reasons to be." This production won numerous awards including the Tony Awards and Drama Desk Awards for LuPone, Gaines and Benanti. The show

18496-961: Was the case for Sherman H. Dudley and the Griffin Sisters Later, in the 1920s, many bookings were managed by the Theatre Owners Booking Association . African-Americans challenged the prevailing Blackface stereotypes played by white performers by bringing their own authenticity and style to the stage, composing music, comedy and dance routines and laying the groundwork for distinctly American cultural phenomena like blues , jazz , ragtime and tap dance . Notable Black entertainers in Vaudeville included comedians Bert Williams , and George Walker , dancer/choreographer Ada Overton Walker , and many others. Black songwriters and composers like Bob Cole , Ernest Hogan , Irving Jones , Rosamond Johnson , George Johnson , Tom Lemonier , Gussie L. Davis , and Chris Smith , wrote many of

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