Another impressive 'Gypsy'

But none of this is guaranteed if the staging and performers don’t match the script in quality.

No fear of this at Hillbarn Theatre where direction and choreography by Bill Starr, the 18 sets by Lee Basham, a 15-piece live orchestra, directed by Greg Sudmeier and the complex lighting by Don Coluzzi create a platform for some pretty darn impressive acting.

As almost all know by now, Rose Havoc was modern theatrical history’s quintessential "Stage Mama,” driving to make one of her daughters, super cute June, a big star in the vaudeville palaces in the 1920s and 1930s, while almost completely ignoring her "ugly duckling” daughter Louise. Even three failed marriages didn’t slow her down.

This is also the most important role in the musical and Annmarie Martin is simply spectacular from the outset of dragging her children from stage to stage, theater to theater, finally even pressing Louise into burlesque, where she became Gypsy Rose Lee, the most famed stripper of all time, to the heartbreaking last song when she admits she has been doing it all for herself to give life to her own frustrated personal ambitions.

Millie Boyce is also remarkable in how she carries her character from a subdued Louise, subservient to her mother’s demanding will, until she blossoms out in full sexuality when she is release on the burlesque stage with full footlights as Gypsy Rose Lee.

Also impressive is Dan Kapler as Herbie, a failed show biz character who falls in love with Rose and joins the family as a booking agent.

Nicolette Norgaard is the very young Louise and Rachel Share-Sapolsky and Lindsey Meyer are Baby June and elder Dainty June who escapes her mother’s clutches into a marriage with a dancer in the show, at age 13.

Cheryl Ringman, Annie Larson and Patti Appel, just about steal the show as the fading strippers who give the emerging Gypsy a lesson in how to succeed, in "You Gotta Get A Gimmick.”

In all, including a dog, there are 23 other actors crossing the stage, some of the cutest preteen and good-looking teens, all having great fun as newsboys and back up performers for June and elders fill in as stage crew and managers. 

I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen "Gypsy” but with each new director and cast it’s another new and great experience.

IF YOU GO:

‘Gypsy’

BOOK BY: Arthur Laurents

MUSIC BY: Jule Styne

LYRICS BY: Stephen Sondheim

From a memoir by: Gypsy Rose Lee

PRESENTED BY: Hillbarn Theatre

WHERE: 1285 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City

WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday; Sunday at 2 p.m. through May 30

TICKETS: $17 to $34.

CONTACT: 349-6411 or hillbarntheatre.org