[ot-caption title=”Senior Arielle Rozencwaig performed as Dainty June in Pine Crest’s adaptation of Gypsy this past weekened. (via Ava Goldstone, Freshman)” url=”https://pcpawprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Gypsy-Picture.jpg”]

This past Friday and Saturday, Pine Crest presented its annual musical and won the crowd over with endless amounts of laughter and drama. The year’s chosen performance was Gypsy. Set in the 1920’s, the show explores the life of burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee and her mother as they both traverse the ups and downs of show business and the journey of Gypsy Rose Lee in becoming the “Queen of Burlesque,” as director Mr. Ametrano stated poignantly before the start of the show.

The first act started with Baby June and Louise, the young daughters of Rose, trying their hand at the Vaudeville circuit. Stellar performances by Riley Robertson, 5th grade, and Carly Passer, 8th grade; Baby June and Louise took the audience by surprise, as their voices and acting skills far surpassed their ages in the first song of the evening, “Let Me Entertain You.” The audience also saw their first close up of Rose, played by Senior Destiny Arlotta, who passionately portrayed Rose’s exuberant personality in her performance of “Some People.”

Spectators were then introduced to older versions of Baby June and Lousie, played respectively by Seniors Arielle Rozencwaig and Laura Sky Herman. The audience watched Rose meet her love Herbie, played by junior Matthew Merrigan, as they sang the lovely duet, “Small World.” As the story progressed, everyone was entranced as they observed the family and accompanying boys in their journey as they hoped to get a chance at playing the Orpheum Circuit. The song “Mr. Goldstone” and the farm sequence with Caroline the Cow provided comic relief just as the plot intensified, as June and Louise confessed emotional secrets about their lives.

After a short intermission, the second act came back with intensity and conflict with Rose learning the consequences of her actions when her daughter June eloped and ran away.

But the show threw a quick twist that left the audience hanging; Rose took her anger and betrayal and channeled it into turning her other daughter Louise into a star. Here the show’s humor hit another level when Louise’s vaudeville act accidentally gets booked into a burlesque house.

The audience was then introduced to larger-than-life characters playing boisterous burlesque dancers that featured Tessie Tura, Mazeppa, and Electra, played by seniors Jordanna Brody and Sydney Korsunsky, and sophomore Marisol Beaufrand; their performances in “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” wowed the audience. Everything from the amazing acting and singing skills to the outstanding costumes made that scene in the club one of the most memorable of the night.

The very end of the show gave both the characters and audience closure when Louise (now with the burlesque stage name Gypsy Rose Lee) danced her first burlesque show in the song “Let Me Entertain You,” as a way to stand up to her mother from her childhood experiences.

Overall, the hard work by the actors, stage hands, and pit orchestra made this year’s musical entertaining, compelling, and unforgettable. Both the singing and acting on both nights were fantastic and added to the overall theme of “passionate show business.”