Gypsy, a musical by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents. New York City Center Encores! Starring Patti LuPone, Boyd Gaines and Laura Benanti. This special limited run of "Gypsy" is a marvelous summer treat from Encores! The cast is as good as could possibly be assembled today. At last Patti LuPone gets to do Rose, a role she was born to play and she doesn't disappoint. She slides into the role as if it was written for her. She plays it with ruthless charm: she's a lovable rascal and no monster Mom. As Gypsy, lovely, immensely talented Laura Benanti is certainly the finest exponent of the role since Sandra Church, the original, and is easily the most exalted (no other Gypsy sported two Tony nominations in their resume). Benanti is so good that it really is a tug of war at the end between Gypsy's hard painfully-won stardom and her mother's frustrated hopes and ambitions. Boyd Gaines, recently so magnificent in "Journey's End," is a superb Herbie, the best I've seen. The strength of the cast is amazing. Tony Yazbeck is dazzling as Tulsa and Alison Fraser (Tessie Tura), Nancy Opel (Mazeppa), and Marilyn Caskey (Electra) are luxury casting indeed. Even the mature Dainty June, Leigh Ann Larkin rocks. So did Baby June -what a great little hoofer Sami Gayle is! The audience loved the performance and so did we. But I do wish Encores! had seized this opportunity of a limited run to rethink the staging and choreography. The last major revival of "Gypsy" was in 2003. Did we need to see the same thing again? Even though Jerome Robbins' choreography is justly revered, surely there are other possibilities. That opening number "Let Me Entertain You" seemed a tad stale to me even though the little June was so fabulous. This is a minor quibble though. In the end it is Patti LuPone, Laura Benanti, and the overall excellence of the cast that makes this production so special. Was this "Gypsy" worth the commute on a hot summer day? You bet! Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test grade A.