WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2004
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
15
'Gypsy' becomes a huge hit in Lawrence
Z. G. Straus/Kansan
Cast members of the Lawrence Community Theater production of Gypsy make the final adjustments to their costumes before warm-up. Ticket sales have increased throughout the production.
By Miranda Lening mllenning@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
The Lawrence Community Theater's production of the 1959 musical Gypsy will conclude this weekend with its final four shows, Thursday through Sunday.
This weekend will mark the third consecutive week the musical has been at the Lawrence Community Theater. More and more people come with the later performances.
"Lawrence is such a small town that word of mouth has really been important for this play and all of the plays that we put on here," said director Mary Doveton. "Generally our attendance grows in the later weeks of the production."
All four shows sold out last week. Tomorrow's show has already sold out, and only a few tickets remain for the final three shows, said Doveton.
The production is a brazen comedy about a mother who is determined to make her two daughters stars and their attempt to live her dream in the burlesque world. It is based from actual memoirs of the burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee about her mother.
Doveton said the show had made a lot of improvements from opening night on
June 4. Initially, there were a lot of concerns regarding space restraints, scene changes and cast size.
There are several scene changes because of the genre the play was written in, and none of the scene changes take place in the same location on the script, said Doveton.
There are three stage managers and only one is in charge of moving furniture. Usually the actors who are not in the upcoming scene help move the furniture and props onto the set. At first this was a little tricky, but Doveton said things were moving much more swiftly.
"In the first couple of shows, the scene
changes were a little tricky, but the audience was patient. Now everything has gotten much slicker. They have really gotten familiar with where everything is," said Doveton.
That might be helpful considering that backstage is crammed with furniture, costumes and props; there is little room for the cast. The theater had to put up a tent outside the building for the cast to sit while waiting for their scenes. Doveton said it turned out to be a good thing however, because they hooked up televisions and VCRs for the children to watch movies and stay entertained between scenes.
The actors rehearsed for seven weeks prior to opening night. During that time, dozens of volunteers worked to build the sets, perfect the lighting and design and sew the costumes. Doveton said these people were just as important to the production as the actors.
"Although the group behind the scenes is not on stage every night, the show could not have happened with out them. Most of them are volunteers, and have devoted countless hours that have made these great shows possible," said Doveton.
- Edited by Abby Tillery