Review: GYPSY at Carrollwood Cultural Center

TAMPA — Though Sunday was the closing show of Gypsy at Carrollwood Cultural Center, the talent on that stage will live on indefinitely.

If you don’t know the 1959 musical (music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents), Gypsy tells the story of Rose (magnificently portrayed by Francesca Guanciale Jay), the obsessive helicopter stage mom and her goal to make her daughters, Louise and June, into vaudeville stars, whether they want to or not.

Your heart breaks for Louise (Jayden Garner / Caitlein Jayne Jamma) and June (Annabelle DePolis / Ryleigh Alsobrooks). Their overbearing mother refused to tell them their actual age, pushing them to repeat the same vaudeville act in venues nationwide, pretending to be much younger children. Unfortunately, the star daughter, Baby/Dainty June, elopes at the end first act, leaving the second-fiddle Louise to pick up the slack as the breadwinner for the family.