Cast

Synopsis

A ‘back-stage musical’ with a difference. Take a group of actors and actresses, arrange for them to have a re-union party on a stage of their former triumphs, surround them with the ghostly, glamorous figures of their young selves and give them Sondheim’s clever music,
and you have ‘Follies’. The words of one show-stopping song ‘I’m still here’ are an assertion that will find echoes in all who are in any way involved in the making of theatre.

Directors Notes

From the dying embers of our loss of the rights to perform “FOLLIES” arose the golden opportunity of reviving the great “Mother” of all musicals, Mother being the operative word where Gypsy is concerned.

However, Stephen Sondheim has lost out, as he is only a third partner in the creation of Gypsy, having written only the words for the songs- at the time he was only just starting out and could not be trusted with the “lot”

The show was written for Ethel Merman who, unlike Sondheim, was not a ‘legend in waiting’. She was born to play Mama Rose they said and I guess some people in Bingley will have other ideas. “I couldn’t possibly comment” but your wish is about to be granted.

Gypsy first opened May 1959 and ran on Broadway 702 performances and 120 in a revival of 1974 with Angela Lansbury as Rose, and Bonnie Langford as baby June. In the West End it ran 300 performances with Dolores Gray taking over from the homeward bound Lansbury half way through the run

After hundreds of Amateur productions elsewhere Gypsy now sits proudly on our stage. My sincere thanks to a talented cast who have come through some difficult and trying rehearsals, and a special mention for Anne Bisby’s support in creating some slick routines.