what's old is new

This show has special significance to two mother-daughter pairs and director Linden Little.
In PCT's 1991 production of Gypsy, Linden was 10 and played the role of a newsboy. Sarah Hall (far left) and Jenna Spencer (far right) were 10 years old, and also were in the cast as a newsboy and a mime in Uncle Jocko's vaudeville act, respectively.

In this year's show, Sarah's daughter, Bella, who soon will turn 10, is playing a newsboy like her mom, and Jenna's daughter, Alora, 14, is playing a farm boy.

"It's cool to be in the same show my mom was in," Alora said. Bella, who has grown up listening to the Gypsy soundtrack, agreed. 

And their moms are still involved: Sarah, a stay-at-home mom, is in the cast again, this time playing Miss Crachitt. And Jenna, who is an artist and works at Colton's Steak House, is helping to paint the set.

"It definitely brings back memories," Sarah said. "The dance the newsboys do is still the same — the 'chugs' they do never change, from production to production. It's a different set, a different director, but it's still Gypsy."

Jenna said she and Sarah, who both graduated from Pittsburg High School in 1998 (Little graduated in 1999), have loved the show since they were in it and frequently belt out lyrics to the songs. They loved it so much, in fact, that they used the last spoken scene of the show — a dramatic and emotional climax between Mama Rose and her daughter, Gypsy Rose Lee — as a duet in forensics competition at PHS. 

Don't miss this special production of "Gypsy" July 28-31; tickets are on sale now at www.memorialauditorium.org and at the box office at 503 N. Pine, 620-231-7827.