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2021 Yuletide Promo Post
Welcome to the Fandom Promo post, everyone!
Here's where you get those eyes on your fandoms for sign ups!
Share what makes your Yuletide fandoms the shiniest and why you love them. A big part of Yuletide is how small our fandoms can be, and this is a good way to make sure other people know what gems there are out there!
Suggested form to use:
<b>FANDOM NAME</b>:
<b>WHAT MAKES IT GREAT</b>:
<b>WHERE CAN I FIND IT (optional)</b>:
(Bonus optional: What are you thinking of requesting for this?)
EDIT:
Useful tips (Not required, but helps people if they want to engage with your fandom!):
- Mention what form of media the canon is. Is it a comic miniseries? Is it a twenty season tv show? Is it a book? Is it a twitter feed?
- Is it standalone or part of a series?
- It's best to make each fandom its own entry with its own title in the subject line! That makes it easier for people to find/see what you're promoting! Don't worry about 'spam', that is the entire point of this entry and you're using it exactly as intended.
For reference, last year's promo post!
Gypsy - Laurents/Sondheim
WHAT IS IT: Broadway musical, loosely based on the memoirs of burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee (hence the name; there are no Romani people in the show and the use of "gypsy" not referring to Gypsy Rose Lee only comes up once). Premiering on Broadway in 1959, the show has subsequently had multiple revivals, tours, and regional productions and consistently tops critical rankings as one of Broadway's greatest musicals.
WHAT'S IT ABOUT: Stage mother Madam Rose has a dream - that her daughter will become a vaudeville star. She builds an act centering around her talented and vivacious daughter June (while her quieter daughter Louise gets pushed into the background) and schemes her children's way into the vaudeville circuit with the help of stage agent Herbie. Unfortunately, as the years pass vaudeville begins to decline while June and Louise chafe against their roles in the act, which requires them to present themselves as little girls even as they become teenagers.
After June escapes by running away with a boy from the act, Rose brings in Louise as the new star, but Louise can't do the same kinds of performances that June could. In desperation, Rose finally pushes Louise into taking the place of an absent stripper in a burlesque show, telling her to "make them beg for more, and then don't give it to them". Louise's performance is a success, and in time she becomes famous as burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. In a final confrontation between mother and daughter, Rose finally admits her selfish reasons for pushing her daughters into show business, and (depending on the production) they reconcile.
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: I love how wonderfully complex the women are, especially Rose. It's fun watching her smash her way through all obstacles through a mix of manipulation and just plain grandstanding, but her talent for deception also includes deceiving herself, to the detriment of her relationship with June and Louise. With June and Louise, I love them growing up and figuring out how to break free and find their own dreams, even if it's not what Rose had in mind for them. I love the complex mix of love and self-centered ambition that Rose has for her daughters, and the mix of love and frustration and hunger for approval that the girls feel for Rose. These women all do deeply care about each other, but man, sometimes they have a very dysfunctional way of showing it.
Also, the music! Most of the songs have become ubiquitous standards for auditions and performances, but "Some People" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn" really are awesome belting songs, and all of the music works so perfectly with the staging and the story. It's worth it to see it all together if you're into musicals.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT: Searching "gypsy full musical" in Youtube will give you various full-length non-professionally-recorded production videos of varying sound and image quality. A proshot recording of the 2015 West End revival (with Imelda Staunton as Rose, Laura Pulver as Louise, and Peter Davison as Herbie) is also available for rental or purchase on Amazon Prime.
A full libretto can be found here.
The musical also had two movie versions, a 1962 film with Rosalind Russell as Rose and Natalie Wood as Louise and a TV movie with Bette Midler as Rose. Both stick closely to the stage musical.
Re: Gypsy - Laurents/Sondheim