Audition INformation

Often called the greatest musical ever written, Gypsy     combines unforgettable songs, sharp humor, and some   of    the strongest characters ever put on a Broadway stage to create a true tour de force.     Set in the world of vaudeville, the show follows a determined stage mother who pushes constantly her two daughters toward stardom, certain that success is always just one step away. As the girls grow up, the dream shifts in unexpected ways, and the spotlight lands where no one planned.

​Bold, funny, and ultimately powerful, Gypsy offers rich roles and big moments for performers who want a show with real weight and opportunity

Auditions are March 2nd through the 3rd, from 5pm to 7:30pm. Actors are asked to come to auditions with   familiarity with the role they would like to audition for. Sides and songs for each character are given below.  Sides will also be provided at the auditions, but actors are asked to prepare the whole song to sing with a track, with no pianist provided by the theatre.  

Gypsy:  Character Descriptions & Music Selections


Louise:   Late teens (often played by an actress who is slightly older). Louise has spent her entire life trying to please her mother and failing to do so. She is a quiet, intelligent young woman who loves her family dearly and is fiercely loyal, but woefully inept at vaudeville performance. She is shy and introverted and has none of her younger sister’s natural ability to put on a show. Nonetheless, despite being seen as inferior in all aspects of her life by almost everybody she encounters, she is determined to succeed at something. When Louise is thrust into a striptease by her mother, she transforms into the legendary stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee, whose ability to carry on a direct conversation with the audience and alluring but understated flirtation which left her with most of her clothes on, beguiled men for an entire generation. Louise’s transformation from awkward flailing teenager who has always been told she was a failure at everything to confident star of the burlesque must be navigated with nuance and depth by an actress of skill and complexity, who is also comfortable stripping in public and has a lithe physique. 
Audition Songs:   "Let Me Entertain You"
 Rose:      Momma Rose is a force. Even though she is trying to get her children into show business, she is the star of every moment of her own life. She is such a presence that she can suck the air out of a room when she enters it. Rose is the Stage Mother of stage mothers. She has a driving ambition that pushes her children into the spotlight and makes them successful, whether they like it or not. A woman of few resources, Rose uses what she has to beguile, charm, domineer, and push her way to success. She is the quintessential survivor -- and never lets anyone, especially her children, forget it. Must have incredible charisma, powerful stage presence, and a strong, brassy belt.
Audition Song:   "Rose’s Turn"   
June:    Mid-teens (often played by an actress who is slightly older), though she still is forced by her mother to perform her childhood vaudeville act. She is a willful young woman who rebels against her mother’s expectations and ultimately refuses to continue perpetuating the “baby doll” persona she has carried since she was a young girl. There is a performance tradition that includes June speaking and singing, even in her teens, with a bright, “babyish” voice. She has grown to be a pretty young woman who is an accomplished performer but hates everything about her success. Most productions have June doing splits, dancing en pointe, twirling batons, and performing gymnastics routines. June, sick of the unfathomable pressure her mother is placing on her, a truly talented girl, elopes with Tulsa, one of the chorus boys in her act, at the end of the first act to begin building her career on her own, leaving Rose frozen and unsure what to do until she redirects her energy to June’s older, awkward, and untalented sister Louise. June is portrayed as a blonde, though often an actress with another color hair can simply wear a wig.                    
Audition Song:   "If Momma Was Married"
Herbie:   40s to 50s. Herbie is a salesman who becomes Baby June’s manager for her vaudeville show act and falls in love with her mother, Rose. He is a devoted lover who has an inhuman, seemingly boundless level of patience for Rose’s antics and demands, and he is also incredibly caring toward her girls; invested not only in the success of their act but in their well-being as individuals. Ultimately, however, he becomes frustrated with Rose’s insatiable ambition that runs roughshod over all the people close to her--himself, included. He tries time and time again to get Rose to marry him, and when they finally agree on a wedding day, Rose shoves her older, less talented daughter Louise into the world of burlesque, leaving Herbie disgusted and that Rose’s insatiable desire for attention and fame will never allow her to live a simple, happy, married life. A true gentleman. A strong actor with baritone range capable of light movement.
Audition Song:   "You’ll Never Get Away from Me"
Baby June:   Age 8-10. Sweet, outgoing Baby June is the perfect child star. She is eager and extroverted and charms everyone she meets. Should have a bright, babyish voice that can carry solo singing and strong dance skills, including a background in ballet and gymnastics.  
Audition Song: "May We Entertain You"
Baby Louise:   Age 10 to 12. Young Louise is a loving and devoted daughter and sister, who struggles with the family’s focus on show business, as she is awkward, gangly, and painfully shy. Louise’s boyish tendencies are capitalized upon by her mother, who shoves her in the chorus of boys who support her younger sister’s vaudeville act. She possesses a hidden strength that is often overshadowed by the sparkling, buoyant presence of her extroverted younger sister. Needs to be a strong actor, who can sing and dance.    
Audition Song: "Little Lamb"  
Tulsa:   Late teens (though often played by an older actor). Tulsa is a born performer, who plays one of the chorus boys in Baby June’s act. He is the perfect chorus boy, who dances and sings beautifully, but has the presence to command the stage by himself. Tulsa dreams of having a vaudeville act of his own, with his special girl. Though he confides in awkward, untalented Louise, and she longs to be his sweetheart (unbeknownst to him), it is June whom he longs to join him in his new act. He is too wrapped up in his own dreams to notice his friend Louise’s feelings, and at the end of the first act, he and June elope and leave Rose, June’s family, and the Dainty June act forever. A charming, boy-next-door type with exceptional dance skills.
Audition Song: "All I Need is the Girl" 

L.A./Yonkers/Newsboys:   Singing and dancing male teenagers who backup Baby June’s vaudeville act. L.A. and Yonkers are featured Newsboys who have larger speaking parts than the other boys.   
​Audition Song: "Baby June and Her Newsboys"
Agnes/ Madame Rose’s Toreadorables: The girls in Madame Rose’s Toreadorables are backup singers and dancers to Louise, the eponymous Madame Rose’s older and untalented daughter whom she forced into a life of vaudeville after the younger and more talented sister, June, eloped with one of the boys from Rose’s original act. Rose forces the Toreadorables to write to their mothers so that they can send money to support the act. Later on, Rose decides that they are all going to be blonde so that Louise stands out as the only brunette in the group, and they become Rose Louise and Her Hollywood Blondes. The Toreadorables follow Rose wherever she brings them, and, before disbanding, they play their final engagement as the show to keep the cops away in a burlesque house in Wichita, Kansas. Agnes is a featured Toreadorable who has a larger speaking part than other girls. 
​Audition Song: "Madame Rose’s Toreadorables"
Tessie Tura/Mazeppa/Electra:   Three glamorous, world-weary burlesque performers who have seen it all. Savvy, confident, and deliciously self-aware, they exude wit, and professionalism — masking their tough realities with humor, sparkle, and perfectly polished stage personas. Together, they are a slick, sardonic sisterhood who know that in show business, survival depends on having a memorable “gimmick.” 
​Audition Song: "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" 
Ensemble:    The remaining actors in the company play a number of different roles. There are several opportunities to be assigned a line or a solo in various numbers and some ensemble members will have the opportunity to be in other scenes. All will assist in singing in the group numbers either on stage or in the wings. All must sing and move well. 
Audition Song: Any from   Gypsy