One of the Best of 2008 in Theater

Patti LuPone stars in a revival of "Gypsy" as Mama Rose, an unstoppably ambitious stage mother in the show-biz musical suggested by the memoirs of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee at the St. James Theatre in New York. McNulty: "A historic tour de force by LuPone, who transforms 'Rose’s Turn,' the show’s tousled-hair finale, into an existential act of defiance. The always excellent Boyd Gaines and a luminous Laura Benanti lend superlative support.