Author's Note
After seeing the current Broadway revival of Gypsy starring the completely fantastic trio of Patti LuPone, Laura Benanti and Boyd Gaines, I had this pathetic need to write a oneshot about Louise (played magnificently by Benanti), who turns into the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. And what do you know, here it is. I don't own these characters. I don't know who owns them, considering they were real people. But I am basing this off a musical by Stephen Sondheim aka God, Jule Styne and Arthur Laurents that is based on a memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee. So I guess, all of this belongs to them. :) Read, review, and enjoy. - Signed, a musical nerd.
Happy Birthday, Gypsy
Gypsy Rose Lee sat at her vanity, applying makeup for that night's strip.
It was her birthday, although the audience didn't come to sing happy birthday for her. They – meaning men, occasionally bringing their wives – came to see her… strip.
She remembered back to her last birthday before this whirlwind happened. The success, the fame, the… loneliness.
Gypsy... Louise, then, when she was wholesome, naïve, and innocent. Louise had to scream out – or maybe, sing out – for attention on her birthday… every day.
And even when she did, she was barely heard.
She was thrown into her sister's act as a boy. Louise knew she had no talent. Louise knew everyone involved hated the act and planned to leave, even the boy she loved.
But she couldn't bring herself to do it. She loved her mother. Yes, her mother. The one who demanded only the best, favored her younger sister, and never, ever gave up. Louise was proud to be her daughter, until she woke up and realized something.
That hell she was living was her mother's dream.
Now, she didn't have to scream out for attention. It was there without asking. She was a pretty girl, and people – including herself – were actually realizing it.
When she was onstage, she got to escape to a group of people who wanted her.
"Who want to see you naked!" Her mother bellowed whenever she would say this. She had discussed her career many times with her driven mother, Rose.
Even when she was successful, onstage and famous – that's what she got. She was still that other girl who managed to be loved and ignored, the talentless outsider with braids.
Despite all the troubles, despite everything. She missed her mother.
She missed the love of someone who had always loved her, even if she wasn't her idea of the perfect child. Not just because of the fame or beauty.
Gypsy was constantly crowded by people. Yet she was the loneliest person.
Her mascara began to run, blending in with her tears.
She knew her mother was right. But here she was wanted. And that was a good gift… right?