Marin Summer Theater to present Gypsy

Marin Summer Theater opens its 2013 season
with a production of GYPSY on July 4, 5, 6, 7, 12 and 13 at the Emily Gates
Student Center at San Marin High School. 
Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.marinsummertheater.org and at the San Marin High School business office.  Tickets may also be purchased at the door
before each performance until sold out.

GYPSY, one of the greatest musicals ever
written, is the story of the ultimate stage mother and her daughters. It is a musical based on the
real-life story of burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee, who in 1940 was voted the
most popular woman in America, outpolling even Eleanor Roosevelt.  The rhinestone splendors of vaudeville are
brought to life with Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim's zesty songs as Madam
Rose drags her daughters June and Louise from one second-rate theatre to
another.  The GYPSY score includes the
popular standards "Everything's Coming up Roses", "Together
(Wherever We Go)", "Small World", "Some People",
"Let Me Entertain You", "All I Need Is the Girl", and
"Rose's Turn".

The MST production of GYPSY includes over fifty
MST company members; college, university, high school and middle school
students from all over the Bay Area.  The
show includes a sixteen piece live orchestra under the direction of Emily
Gates.  The average age of the 2013 MST
company is seventeen-years-old and the majority of the cast, crew and orchestra
attend schools in Novato, San Rafael, Larkspur and San Francisco.

Novato resident and recent Marin School of
the Arts at Novato High School graduate Lily Hahn plays Louise Hovick, who
later took the stage name Gypsy Rose Lee. In GYPSY Hahn plays two very
different personas: Louise, who is a shy tomboy; and Gypsy, the outgoing and
confident sex-symbol that Louise becomes.  
Lily Hahn recently was awarded a National Youth Theater Arts award for
her performance as Vivienne Kensington in the 2012 MST production of Legally
Blonde.

“Working on GYPSY has meant learning
about the mentality of both a child performer and a domineering stage mother.
People are increasingly aware of the negative effects of stage parents on child
stars,” Hahn said.  “It's
easy to sympathize with the children so much that a stage mother's underlying
issues can be completely forgotten. Gypsy exposes the points of view of both
the little girl coerced into stardom and the mother desperate to give her
daughter the life she could never have”

Bouket Fingerhut, an MST veteran, Marin
native and Academy of Art University student, plays the role of Rose Hovick,
better known as Momma Rose. The part of Momma Rose is legendary and it is
considered one of the greatest and most challenging parts for women in American
theater.  The part has been played by
some the best stage actresses in the last 50 years including Ethel Merman,
Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daley, Bernadette Peters, and most recently Patti Lapone.

“Rose is constantly pushing me to be a
strong individual, who never gives up and keeps pushing forward. Rose was a
remarkable woman and having the chance to play this role is a dream come true,” Fingerhut said.

“GYPSY
is an amazing show”, said GYPSY director
Patrick Nims.  “We
have wanted to present it for a number of years because the story, the music,
and the dancing are so fantastic.  It is
especially gratifying to have a show that features so many strong women.  GYPSY set the standard and re-defined the
direction of the modern American musical. 
It is the perfect blend of silly and serious.”

GYPSY is the first MST production to includ actors
under the age of thirteen. This has given the older members of the company a
chance to work with a younger age group and allowing students at a younger age
the chance to perform on stage.

The MST 2013 season also includes the play ALMOST,
MAINE, and the musical LES MISÉRABLES.  Both
will be performed in July as well.  ALMOST,
MAINE will be presented at the Novato High School Performing Arts Center and LES
MISÉRABLES will be presented at San Marin High School.

In addition to these three demanding shows,
MST has expanded its performance schedule by presenting GYPSY and LES
MISÉRABLES for two weekends each. The need for more performances became
apparent during the 2012 season. 
"The shows were so well received in 2012 that we could have run
each of them for a month and still had an audience. We've decided to add
performances to both musicals in 2013 so we can build our audience and more
people can see them.  It will be very
demanding, but our kids can do it,” said Nims, who also serves as MST’s
Artistic Director.

Marin Summer Theater has received eleven nominations and four
awards for its 2012 season from National Youth in Arts (NYA) in the eighth
annual Youth Arts Awards. MST earned nominations for all three of its 2012 productions
of SPRING AWAKENING,THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and LEGALLY BLONDE, THE MUSICAL.
Of the eleven nominations, four went on to win awards. Due to the rules of NYA,
only performers under nineteen-years-old are considered, with occasional
exceptions made for outstanding Guest Artists over eighteen-years-old. Students
under nineteen made up approximately sixty percent of the 2012 MST Company.

Marin Summer
Theater (MST) is a 501(c)3 theater company comprised of students of performing
arts under the age of 24 and includes actors, singers, dancers, musicians,
directors, designers, technicians, and crew. MST prepares and presents three
fully-staged productions in a six-week summer season. MST's mission is twofold:
To enrich the community by presenting exciting, professional quality live
theater; to provide a venue for theater arts students to apply and expand their
skills regardless of financial means.

 2013 will
be MST’s fifth season.  Ticket prices
range from $7.50 for preview performances to $25.00 for reserved seating at
regular performances.  Tickets, schedules
and More information about MST can be found at www.marinsummertheater.org.