Bill Sanders has had a long relationship with "Gypsy."

"I saw it ['Gypsy'] when I was 15 at Valley Forge Music Fair with Angela Lansbury," says Saunders, Civic Theater of Allentown Artistic Director who directs "Gypsy" for his first time as it kicks off Civic's 2012-'13 season at the 527 N. 19th St., Allentown, theater with performances 8 p.m. Oct. 12, 13, 19, 20; 7 p.m. Oct. 18; and 2 p.m. Oct. 21.

At 18, Sanders played the role of Tulsa and choreographed "Gypsy" at Genesius Theatre, Reading.

The Civic show, with a 14-member orchestra and music direction by Justin Brehm, includes Traci Ceschin as Rose, the ultimate stage mother, and Meredith Lipson as her daughter, June, and Morgan Reilly as her daughter, Louise.

"We call it the biggest three-character musical ever written," Sanders says.

The multiple Tony-award-winning 1959 musical has a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jules Stein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The show's songs have become standards, including "Together Wherever We Go," "Some People" and "Let Me Entertain You."

"I seriously think it's one of the greatest musicals ever written," says Sanders. "It has a beautiful score with music that's varied.

"We made this discovery in rehearsal that they are the pop songs of that era, like 'Small World,' 'You'll Never Get Away from Me' and 'Everything's Coming Up Roses.' They had pop airplay.

"But the great thing about them is that they're great book songs, in that they advance the plot and reveal the characters, which is really extraordinary. Usually, songs are either-or, especially from that era.

"One thing that's really amazing about the book is that through research, we find that it really happened. It's all true, every little bit of it. It was based on her [Gypsy Rose Lee's 1957 memoir]. But even the recent book, 'American Rose,' by Karen Abbott, shows that every event that seems extraordinary was really true.

"One of my favorite things is that [theater critic] Frank Rich called it ['Gypsy'] the musical 'King Lear," that the emotions are that big and it's so extraordinary that it's for a woman," Sanders says.