One song audiences will hear when the backstage musical Applause returns to Broadway in April is "She's No Longer A Gypsy." The tune, of course, has nothing to do with kerchiefs, goats or even Cher. A "gypsy" in Broadway terminology is a chorus member or dancer. The name stems from the itinerant life chorus-members lead as they go from show to show, always with the thought in the back of their minds that coming down the wrong way on an ankle could end their career.

But sometimes gypsies get to take the spotlight, as they will Dec. 2 and 3 when the eighth annual "Gypsy Of The Year" competition takes place at the Virginia Theatre. Billed as an "all-singing, all-dancing, all-dishing extravaganza," the competition is expected to draw performers from Victor/Victoria, Bring In `Da Noise, Sunset Boulevard, Rent and Forum.

The 4 PM event takes place during the annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Week, and all proceeds will go to that organization. The $125 VIP and $250 Benefactor tickets go on sale Nov. 1, available through the BC/EFA office at (212) 840-0770. The $35 general admission tickets won't go on sale until Nov. 25, and even then you have to get them at BC/EFA (in the Equity Building on West 46th St. in New York) or, if there are any left, at the theatre box office on the afternoons of the show. (Advance tickets are not on sale at the Virginia Theatre; they're only available through BC/EFA.) The Virginia Theatre is on 52nd St., west of Broadway.

Oh, and for early planners, BC/EFA's spring Broadway Easter Bonnet Competition will happen April 7-8, 1997.

You can also visit BC/EFA's website at http://www.bcefa.org. -- By David Lefkowitz