St. Petersburg Little Theatre opens its 83rd season with Gypsy, a musical loosely based on the memoirs of famous strip tease artist Gypsy Rose Lee and the result of an inspired collaboration between Arthur Laurents, Jules Styne and Stephen Sondheim. It's the Great Depression. Mama Rose is a domineering stage mother, her daughters June and Louise the objects of her attention and the featured performers in the family's touring vaudeville show. June is the star of the show while her shy older sister provides support, usually as one of the "boys." Things take a turn when June tires of being both stifled and driven by her mother and runs away with one of her co-stars, which forces Rose to set her sights on her other daughter. (Cue "Everything's Coming up Roses" and Louise's Act II transformation into the famed burlesque star.) Shel Bryant directs the SPLT production. Aug. 31-Sept. 16, 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., St. Petersburg Little Theatre, 4025 31st St. S., St. Petersburg, $20 adults/$10 students, 727-866-1973, splt.info.
