Stephen Sondheim

Award-winning composer Stephen Sondheim will join Ravinia Festival president Welz Kauffman for a pre-concert discussion prior to the Aug. 11 concert staging of the classic Gypsy. The pre-concert discussion, according to a Ravinia spokesperson, will be held in the Ravinia's Martin Theatre and will also be broadcast to the audiences on the lawn. The discussion is scheduled to begin at 6:45 with the evening's presentation of Gypsy and commencing at 8:00pm

Gypsy will run at Ravina from Aug 11 – 13 and stars Tony and Olivier Award winner Patti LuPone as Momma Rose. The hit musical will also feature Jack Willis as Herbie, In My Life’s Jessica Boevers in the title role and Leo Ash Evens as Tulsa.

Free tickets to the discussion at the Martin will be available on a first-come, first-served basis to those attending that evening's performance of Gypsy.

Gypsy features a score by Jule Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) and a book by Arthur Laurents. The musical opened at the Imperial Theatre on May 25th, 1959 and ran for 702 performances, garnering 8 Tony nominations but was overshadowed by The Sound of Music.

The career of Stephen Sondheim, who is considered by many to be the greatest living composer-lyricist of musicals, has spanned almost 50 years since his Broadway debut in 1957 as the lyricist of West Side Story. After also penning the lyrics to Gypsy (with a return to mere lyric-writing for 1965's Do I Hear a Waltz?), Sondheim went on to write the scores for a litany of shows that challenged musical theatre conventions in theme, content and structure. Among his shows are A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins and Passion. His latest musical, Bounce, closed out of town in DC before making it to Broadway but an expanded, limited-run production of 1974's The Frogs bowed two years ago at Lincoln Center.

Gypsy tickets can be reserved by calling (847) 266-5100 or by visiting www.ravinia.org.