The program quotes Gypsy Rose Lee, œThe first hundred stares are the hardest.
One can say this captures opening-night jitters.
'Gypsy' at Civic Theatre of Allentown seemed to start tentatively, the orchestra seemed to be feeling its way for a couple of bars, Rose was talking too fast, and people were excited.
The jitters soon fled, the orchestra settled into a wonderful accompaniment, and the show got stronger and stronger. A sharp production is always a pleasure to see; the results show in the discipline and sharpness of most Civic shows including this one.
Gypsy is based upon the life Louise Hovick as she grows from a child actress into Gypsy Rose Lee under the domination of her stage-mother Rose. The book was written by Authur Laurents with music by Jule Styne and lyrics from Stephen Sondheim.
The show opens with an audition for child acts to perform on a Seattle vaudeville stage. There is a balloon girl (Mollie Schenkenberger), a boy cello player (Rhys Williams), singers, dancers, and Roses children Baby June (Jessica Sturn) and Louise (August Fegley). This scene shows the audience that the youth in this show are going to be entertaining and a mainstay of this show.
Rose, played by Traci Ceschin, has produced an act for her girls called œBaby June and the Newsboys. June stars with her older sister Louise playing one of the newsboys. The act has one song œLet Me Entertain You that they perform for this audition. Jessica Sturm as Baby June delivers the first showstopper of the evening. She is a cute, dancing, singing bundle of energy charming to this audience.
Rose returns home and tells her father, played by Tony Kohl, that her big plans are being thwarted in the song œSome People. She asks her father for money to take the show on the road and is refused. We lost the impact of Roses fight with her father due to either her rapid speech or the audio mike that made the words indistinct.
The first hundred stares are over and the show hits its stride. Rose is taking the kids back on the road “ next stop LA. She is having trouble booking the act and runs into the ex-agent Herbie played by Wayne Gmitter. Rose wants Herbie to represent the act.
Womanly wiles give her a couple of options. She can seduce him, but that will not work in this play. She can dominate him, but Ceschin plays this scene too nice to pull it off. For the ploy to succeed, Rose needs to be the alpha bitch in the pack who will claw your eyes out, cut you into pieces and feed them to her pups to get her way. Gmitter is doing his best to make it work. He gives us a compelling, testosterone-lite Herbie, but the pressure for him to join Rose is not there.
Rose throws her kids into the mix singing œSmall World. Herbie caves, joins the troupe, and they hustle Mr. Goldstone played by Donald Swan.
Louise gets a lamb for her birthday and sings a charming rendition of œLittle Lamb. Time passes, and Tulsa played by Matt Varvar performs a heart-rending dance/song œAll I Need Is A Girl with Louise imagining she is the girl. Tulsa and June run off to marry and form their own show. Roses plans are dashed.
Rose talks Louise into taking over as the star of the troupe. Louise agrees and the show reaches the first-act climax with Rose singing œEverythings Coming Up Roses. Ceschin is spellbinding in this song. Her power, the beauty of her voice, and the perfect musicianship was a transcendent experience for me. Here is a Rose that can turn her kid into a star. I and every other man would have followed this Rose on the road.
Things go south in the second act with Rose, Louise and Harry taking a gig in a Wichita burlesque house. The house loses a stripper and Louise volunteers to replace her. Three experienced strippers named Mazeppa (Patricia Welle), Electra (Deena Linn) and Tessie Tura (Marie Ann Sutera) bring down the house with their musical advice in an outrageous œYouve Gotta Get A Gimmick. The three strippers represent just one example of all the strong supporting actors in this cast.
Louise goes on stage as Gypsy Rose Lee, and the rest is history. She rebels against Rose, and Rose closes the show with œRoses Turn. Her performance in this song was just as powerful as her closing song in the first act. She and Louise are reunited or at least reach a mutual understanding and walk off the stage.
The audience gave a standing ovation to the cast at the end of the show. Lehigh Valley audiences will stand and clap when a seven year-old loses a tooth, but the standing ovation for this cast was well deserved and earned.
The performances of every young person in the cast, the effective contribution from the supporting actors, and the singing of Traci Ceschin make this a musical that will be hard to be beat in the Lehigh Valley.
The Allentown community makes a strong investment in the Civic Theatre of Allentown, and this show repays that investment.
'Gypsy' continues with shows 10/18,19,20 and 10/25,26,27. Tickets are $31 or $28 with special prices on 10/25.
Andrew Ferrous can be reached at