Role(s) – Yonkers, City Announcers, Press Agent
Company/School – NVCC
Date(s) – 2002/04
Director – Ed Wierzbicki
Writer – Stephen Sondheim
Photo(s) – See below
Review(s) – N/A
NVCC to Present Gypsy
(Waterbury, CT) – Naugatuck Valley Community College’s Theatre Arts Department and the Stage Society will present the landmark musical Gypsy April 12 and 13 at 8 p.m. and April 14 at 2 p.m., at the Mainstage theatre, 750 Chase Parkway.
Cherished for generations, Gypsy was the second Broadway smash for Stephen Sondheim and his West Side Story collaborator Arthur Laurents, and yet another success for composer Jule Styne. The tale of Vaudeville’s decline of a domineering stage mother’s inadvertent creation of a burlesque stripper, Gypsy introduced such standards as “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Let me Entertain You.”
Drawing from the talents of more than 30 NVCC Fine Arts students and additional young singers, dancers and actors from the community, Gypsy is a full-scale project that combines the college’s classroom training program in musical theatre, theatre practicum course work and the Mainstage performance series.
Featured performers include Adele Russell of Roxbury as Mama Rose, Douglas Sobon of Naugatuck as Herbie and Jillian Wildman of Waterbury as Louise/Gypsy Rose Lee. The performance also features Mary Rosengrant and Alexis Chapman of Litchfield, Sandra Valente of Waterbury, Kevin Batista of Middlebury, Kaitlin Thomas of New Milford, Taylor Crofton of Southington and Samantha Chiappalone of Wolcott.
Theatre arts instructor Ed Wierzbicki, the production’s director, teams up with music director Antonio Biello, choreographer Nikki Sanders, set designer Bill Cone, lighting designer Jonathon Curns and costume designer Linda Valdes.
General admission is $12, $10 for seniors and $7 for students. For tickets or more information please call the box office at 203-575-8193. Tickets also may be purchased prior to each performance. The box office opens at 6:30 p.m.
Production experience
My first musical! Looking back I really didn’t know what I was doing. At the first rehearsal Ed was none to happy with the cast because very few people knew how the songs went. Duh. It might make sense to listen to the CD before going to a rehearsal. Yup, learned that lesson very quickly.
I have to laugh at myself because I felt silly but hot damn I sang as best and as loud as I could while dancing around on stage with the boys. This human can move but knows that set dance pieces take more time than any lines could.
Having never done a musical before I didn’t understand why the extra two (2) weeks or so of rehearsal time. I soon understood. With dance choreography for two sets of people – the young and the old, constant practice of the songs, and general blocking’ness it went literally to the last minute. If I remember correctly our first run of the show, without interruption, was our opening show. In. Tense.
