Erik Lee Preminger, the son of two show business legends - burlesque star/writer Gypsy Rose Lee and film director Otto Preminger - has vivid memories of the first time he saw "Gypsy," the acclaimed Broadway musical based on his famous mother's memoirs:
"I was 13 years old and it was being staged without costumes and scenery in the Winter Garden Theatre for an invited audience before they took it on tour. That was very exciting."Then he adds, "But I have never seen it outdoors, so that's very exciting, too."
The local production, directed by Damien Gray of New York, will be staged Mondays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., June 27-Aug. 29, on Sundance's outdoor Eccles Stage, in Provo Canyon.
"I must say that it's been very wonderful working with the people at Sundance," Preminger said during
a telephone interview from his home in San Francisco. "They get the nostalgia of it, which, of course, is very important to me."
The nostalgic aspects of Gypsy Rose Lee and her early years in vaudeville - being forcefully prodded along by an overbearing mother (Mama Rose in the musical) - is something Preminger has virtually memorized.
"I basically grew up on the road in the front seat of the car with my mother as we spent months traveling from night club to night club. I don't have much connection with the musical itself, but it was based on my mother's book and she would try out the various stories on me while we were driving. If I laughed at her punch lines, she'd keep them in the book."
Once, when they were at a cocktail party and she changed one of the punch lines while she was telling a story to a group, Preminger told her that it was the wrong punch line - and she let him know in no uncertain terms that he was not to do that again.
"She had actually started writing her memoirs during the 1940s, and three chapters appeared in The New Yorker. Then the project got stalled, and I often think it was because she had to wait for her mother to die before she finished it - or `Mama Rose' would have sued her."
Looking back, Preminger feels that his grandmother - who was played on stage by Ethel Merman, among others - would have eventually realized that the musical is, in fact, a monument to her immortality. And that's what she had been striving for all along, as she was pushing Gypsy and her younger sister, June Havoc, into show business.
The award-winning Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim musical includes such hits as "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Together, Wherever We Go."
The demanding role of the obsessive Mama Rose will be played by Emmy-winning recording artist Karen Mason, who comes fresh from understudying and playing the role of Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webbers' musical version of "Sunset Boulevard." Provo native Amy Ashworth Barrus will be in the title role.
Other leads include Jeff Austin as Herbie and John-David Keller in a variety of male character roles.
- THE OPENING NIGHT gala for "Gypsy" will feature Erik Lee Preminger as guest of honor. The performance will be preceded by a benefit reception centered on the theme "Gypsy Rose Lee: Some Facts and the Fable," including a display of archival photographs from the famous actress' life and times.
All tickets to this benefit are $100 each, with proceeds supporting the Sundance Theatre's artistic programs. For reservations, call 225-4100.
On Sunday, June 28, at 1 p.m., Preminger will screen his documentary "Gypsy Rose Lee: An Intimate Portrait," followed by a question-and-answer session in the Sundance Screening Room. Admission to this presentation is free, but reservations must be made (call 328-3456).
"My mother began making home movies in the 1930s," Preminger said. Much of the footage for his 53-minute documentary was edited from his late mother's never-completed multimedia presentation, which she had planned to take on the road.
He is also the author of "Gypsy and Me: At Home and On the Road With Gypsy Rose Lee."
- ANOTHER FUND-RAISING event this summer at Sundance will be the one-night performance of "Love Letters" on July 28, starring Carol Burnett and Brian Dennehy. Burnett will be working on a her own play-writing project at the Sundance Lab.
- "GYPSY" PERFORMANCES will be Mondays-Saturday at 8 p.m. on the Eccles Stage. Tickets range from $15 to $18 Mondays-Thursdays, and $17 to $25 on Fridays and Saturdays. Three-fourths of the seating is in the lower price range. For reservations, call 1-801-225-4100.