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★ Opening of Restored Theater Big Event(Continued from Page 1)manager of radio station WILE, and Mrs. Coffey; Mrs. Frank Houghton and Mrs. Dorris Snyder representing Living Word Amphitheater; Mr. and Mrs. John Carmoskyrepresenting Cambridge Bam Theatre; Police Chief and Mrs. Charles Moore-head; Dr. and Mrs. Milton Thompson, representing Cambridge ConcertAssociation; Mrs. Daisy Ellis a.id Mrs. Marie Mercer, mother of director Don Mercer; Mrs. Carol Lawrence and Mrs. Sharon Dawson representing the Sweet Adelines; County Commissioner John Mehaffey and Mrs Mahaffey; Judge JohnC. Sheppard of common pleascourt and Mrs. Sheppard; Judge Ed Moorehead of probate court and Mrs. Ed Moorehead; Dr. Gary Walker, superintendent of Cambridge city schools; and Mrs. Walker; Don Jones, superintendent ofGuernsey County schools, and Mrs. Jones.Gypsy”Before the overture to Gypsy” began at 8:20, the Centre was practically filled to its capacity of almost 500.Gypsy” is the story of a driving, overly ambitious stage mother whose obsession is to make her daughters, June and Louise, stars.The story commences in Seattle with the mother. Rose, played by Barbara Jones, conniving to get her daughters into Uncle Jocko’s stage show. Not only is Rose a pushy mother but she openly favors June over Louise who certainly was entitled to develop a complex over such discrimination.The musical opens with Molly Watson as Baby June who rapidly grows into the mature June, Marilyn Reed. Baby Louise, Jill Semke, is soon replaced by an older Louise, Cozette Vergari.Rose puts together an actcalled Baby June and Her Newsboys” in Los Angeles which was fun for the audience with the dancing horse, patriotic banner and screaming newsboys.With mother Rose constantly fighting for billings, the family moves on to Dallas, to Akron, to New York, to Buffalo, and to Omaha. Somewhere along the way Rose meets Herbie, Ray LaMarca and hires him as manager,Herbie is completely overshadowed by the domineering Rose who rushes from city to city trying to push her family to fame. They live in one dingy hotel after another, eating endless meals of chow mein, Rose’s favorite dish. She even turns hotel blankets intocostumes.One apt line describes Rose as a pioneer woman without a frontier.”There are some particularly fun scenes such as the farm sequence with the cow. Naturally Louise is the back half while June is out front starring in a delightfully ruffled costume.The dancing of Joe Grywalski as Tulsa in the theatre alley in Buffalo is to be remembered among the well received scenes of the first act.During the course of the show June elopes with Tulsa, and Rose is left with an awkward Louise who fits nowhere in vaudeville which is rapidly dying anyway.Herbie keeps proposing and Rose keeps putting him off. She has to make a star of someone in the family first.The second act was particularly lively Saturday night after Rose finally decided there was no place in show business for Louise except in burlesque.But Rose envisions her daughter as a ladylike stripper ... not like the brash one with the strategically placed flashing lights which put the audience in hysterics at the performance.Wearing a gorgeous red
Newspaper Details
Cambridge Daily Jeffersonian
Cambridge, Ohio, US
Mon, Sep 12, 1977
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Evelyn B.
NA, NA 14 Feb 2023
Other Publications Near Cambridge, Ohio
Cambridge Herald
Cambridge News
Cambridge Guernsey Jeffersonian
Cambridge Daily Jeffersonian
Cambridge Jeffersonian
