Eileen Chaffer

Concept

 

Gypsy is a vivacious musical based on the real-life story of Gypsy Rose Lee.  Opening on Louise’s humble beginnings in the background of a family vaudeville act, we watch as she eventually finds her confidence in the spotlight of a burlesque club.

 

Louise’s career is managed and driven by her mother Rose, who pushed her and her sister, June, to reach the stardom she was never able to achieve.  Her efforts are initially put into making the “prettier” and “more talented” daughter June into a vaudeville star, but with vaudeville withering away, it is less than successful.  When June flees the tyrannical lifestyle of her mother’s grasp, Louise is thrust into the limelight of the dying vaudeville circuit.  Louise eventually finds her voice on the stage of a burlesque club and becomes the renowned Gypsy Rose Lee, “Queen of Burlesque.”

 

I began this process by researching the real-life people and events on which Gypsy is based and comparing them to the characters and plot of the musical.  I established the crossover between reality and fiction by combining basic contextual research with specific images of historical figures to find the look of the show.

 

I found inspiration in the colors of old vaudeville posters.  These show the magical spectacle that was vaudeville and explain why Rose was so obsessed with making her children stars within it.  To make the distinction between the events on and off stage, I kept more of the rich saturate colors for on-stage acts, while the muted colors are used for the behind-the-scenes moments.  The show in its entirety is full of color, pattern, and texture which maintains its whimsical musical nature.