Completely Off-Topic

Today’s post is completely off-topic and totally self-centered.  I usually write about Walt Disney World, as that is where my brain always is (whether my body is or not) but today I’m focused on my upcoming performance in Gypsy. We open tonight at the Bellevue Society for the Arts in Bellevue, OH.

If you’ve never seen Gypsy, it is a Broadway musical based on the life of the Burlesque Queen, Gypsy Rose Lee with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy 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.

The musical contains many songs that became popular standards, including "Rose’s Turn," "Everything's Coming up Roses", "You'll Never Get Away from Me," and "Let Me Entertain You." It is frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of the mid-20th century's conventional musical theatre art form, often called the "book musical".

I’m playing Mazeppa, one of the three strippers who introduce Gypsy to the world of burlesque.  I don’t sing extremely well, I really don’t dance, and I absolutely do not play the trumpet, but I’m doing all three in my big number “You Gotta Get a Gimmick”.  Here’s a little YouTube clip that was recorded at rehearsal a couple of weeks ago.  I really hope you get a good chuckle out of it, at least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhDSCxohyQg  

Anything to get me one step closer to my dream of being a Streetmosphere character at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!