The Broadway musical Gypsy has been revived numerous times, including with Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, and soon Audra McDonald. But how did this classic come to be written?
DeVita's play actually has three different Junes. Bonnie Agan plays June in 2008, as Gypsy is about to be revived again with LuPone. Liz Power plays June in 1959, as the musical is being workshopped in preparation for its Broadway run. Mya Simkins plays June as a child, as she is pressured by her mother (played by Melissa Minyard) to succeed in vaudeville.
From her career as a child star on the vaudeville circuit to her negotiations with Broadway producer David Merrick over the rights to her life story so that Gypsy could go on, June Havoc had an adventurous existence. During the Great Depression, she performed in dance marathons (the subject of Havoc's own play Marathon '33), which is alluded to in Fable. The oldest of the three Junes continually reminds herself that she must always keep moving.
Later, she originated to role of Gladys Bumps in Pal Joey, but Fable spends more time on the failed musical Sadie Thompson, which was supposed to star Ethel Merman, until she quit the show in rehearsals to be replaced by none other than June Havoc. Ironically, Merman then played Havoc's mother when Gypsy opened on Broadway, a turn of events DeVita milks for all it's worth.
As Gypsy fans know, June was later eclipsed by her older sister, Gypsy Rose Lee, played in Fable by Heather Baird. Lee became a renowned burlesque performer, while her kid sister was stuck acting in plays by hack writers like William Shakespeare.
FreeFall's production is magnificently staged by director Eric Davis, with musical direction by Michael Raabe. They were also the team behind FreeFall's previous hit Oz, so if you're in St. Petersburg, don't miss it!
