A new Broadway revival of Gypsy, starring Audra McDonald as Mama Rose, has been announced.
The production of Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' classic musical will open in December with previews starting in November.
The show finds a home at the newly renovated Majestic Theatre, as its first tenant since The Phantom of the Opera closed after a 35-year run.
McDonald will star as the ultimate stage mum in the upcoming revival, as first revealed by the New York Post.
Considered one of the greatest musicals, Gypsy tells the story of an ambitious mother's efforts to launch her two daughters into show business.
Ethel Merman originated the role of Rose in 1959, and it has since been taken on by theatre legends such as Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone.
This casting sets up a Broadway battle for the Tony next year between McDonald and Nicole Scherzinger, who begins playing Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard weeks earlier.
The former Pussycat Doll won the Olivier Award for best actress in a musical in London for playing the part.
McDonald has received six Tony Awards for her roles to date, in Carousel (1994), Master Class (1996), Ragtime (1998), A Raisin in the Sun (2004), Porgy and Bess (2012), and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (2014).
The soprano has also starred in numerous TV series including Private Practice and The Good Wife.
