GYPSY: Halfway through and more still coming!

One of the audience members was overheard today saying that this production of Gypsy by Theatre Guild of Rockingham County is one of the best musicals she has ever seen around here. And apparently she wasn't alone.

Last night's performance played to an almost solidly sold-out house! And normally there's a much smaller crowd for Sunday. Well, considering that this is a Super Bowl Sunday at that, I'd say it was about three-quarters full... which was impressive business.

It wouldn't surprise me if Gypsy sold out for this coming Friday and Saturday. And who knows: maybe even the final performance next Sunday. 'Twould be sweet!

So if this might be your first time enjoying the tale of the legendary Gypsy Rose Lee and her outrageous mother, or if you've seen the show many times (I met a lady today who saw the original Broadway run with Ethel Merman) you are in for a crazy good time! Gypsy runs for three more performances. Click here for more information.

(And I must say: I am exuberantly relishing the fact that I have the best line of the entire show :-P)

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Opening Night of GYPSY was a riotous good time!

Just got back from Opening Night of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Gypsy and it was a scream! The house had a good crowd and everyone was laughing harder than I've seen in this county in a way long time!

I must admit: I wasn't sure about being in this show at first. But now I'm glad that I'm doing it. This has been some of the most fun that I've had in quite awhile.

Well, can ya blame me?

Cigar (played by Yours Truly) and the talent of the Wichita House of Burlesque!
Left to Right: Tessie Tura (Ashley Pearson), Electra (Beverly Burke), and Mazeppa (Anne-Marie Castillo)

And here's me in my Cigar getup holding the real star of the show: Tebow Wasmund!

Now, I can't post any video from the show itself, 'cuz that would be some bigtime copyright violation (and in spite of my reputation that is something I have never approved of). But during rehearsal on Wednesday night we did make a few fun clips of myself in character as Cigar...

And here's the wildly talented Peggy Wasmund (yes, she's Tebow's owner) doing a completely surprise ad-libbed... performance.

I'm already looking forward to tomorrow night's show! Gypsy plays five more times between now and next Sunday. Click here for Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's website for more information. Hope to see you there and... "let us entertain you!" :-)

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Meet the proprietor of the Wichita House of Burlesque!

He's cheap! He's sleazy! He's loud!

He's... Cigar!

Just got back from another technical rehearsal for Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Gypsy. This was my first in costume as Cigar: the owner of the burlesque joint that Louise and her crazy mother (and Herbie, can't forget poor Herbie) wind up at. And I am having a fantabulously great time in the role! Cigar is one of the most fun characters that I've played yet!

By the way, that entire costume is something that I put together. The fedora is one I've had for a few years now. And that bow-tie: I remembered that bow-tie very well 'cuz for this fourth grade program we did at Community Baptist School many years ago, Dad for whatever reason thought it would be classy if I wore a bow-tie. That thing was positively humungous when I was nine years old! Everyone in the sanctuary - students and teachers alike - were giggling at it. And that made me start giggling when it came time for me to speak my part! Ahhh, where do our fathers come up with such things...

Anyway, for some reason that tie just popped into mind and Dad found it sure 'nuff. And between that and the fedora and the cigar and all... yeah, that looks like a burlesque owner from the 1930s :-)

Gypsy opens this coming Friday night! Come if you can. This threatenspromises to be the most outrageous production in Rockingham County history!

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GYPSY: 10 days until Opening Night!

Y'know, it's incorrect to refer to this ethnic group as "Gypsy". The real term is "Romani". The reason they got tagged with the name "Gypsy" is 'cuz as they spread into Europe from their original home in the Indian subcontinent, the locals thought wrongly that they were Egyptian.

So don't you think that "Roma Rose Lee" has a better ring to it? Or is that just me?

Well anyhoo...

Next Friday night, February 4th, is Opening Night for Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Gypsy! Rehearsals have been going great. Everyone was roaring with laughter last night during the run-through of "You Gotta Get A Gimmick". And I am having an absolute blast playing Cigar. He is completely sleazy and, well I just can't help but have fun with this character: he is the manager of a burlesque house, after all. Expect lots of yelling and waving my stogie around. And expect lots of other stuff that probably couldn't have been done in Rockingham County twenty years ago :-P

Gypsy runs for six shows from February 4th through the 13th. Hit here to go to the Theatre Guild website for ticket information.

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Stumbling toward GYPSY

Tonight we had the first "stumble-through" of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Gypsy. A stumble-through, I learned tonight, is an extreme "rough cut" of the show. Which I assume is like what the preview performances of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark have been about so far... but without all the injuries.

So since getting involved with community theatre three years ago I have been, in chronological order: a biblical patriarch, an undertaker, a pirate, a firefighter, a Siamese court eunuch, a plainclothes detective, a firefighter again (both times for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever)...

...but only tonight did I discover that of the two roles that I'm playing in Gypsy, that the part of Cigar is, for all intents and purposes, the manager of a strip club.

(Somebody tell me HOW is it that we can do a show like this but we CAN'T mount a production of Sweeney Todd...?!?)

And if you come you're gonna get to see Yours Truly not only with quite a lot of lines but also being a total sleazebag. And I get to yell most of my lines too! Yes: REAL SCRIPTED LINES!! Which'll be a change from the ad-libbed stuff I've done as Fireman #1 these past two seasons for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever :-)

Well anyhoo, Gypsy is actually quite a decent - and fun - show! Considered one of the greatest musicals ever, Gypsy is based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee and her life during the Great Depression, with particular emphasis on her outrageously overbearing mother: the ultimate showbiz parent!

We'll be doing three performances of Gypsy from February 4th through the 13th. Click here to visit the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's website for more information. And we're looking forward to entertaining you!

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