Prop: Live dog.
Appearing in: “Gypsy,” Porchlight Music Theatre.
A nationwide search was launched to find the right dog for the role of Chowsie in the Broadway production of “Gypsy.” But casting the part of Mama Rose’s pet for Porchlight Music Theatre’s staging was much more efficient.
Rebecca Finnegan, who portrays Mama Rose, was dogless at the play’s first rehearsal. “The director [L. Walter Stearns] said if we could find a dog, I would have a dog. And if not, we’d have to make some cuts in the script, but Chowsie is like Mama Rose’s little baby that she loves.”
Shawn Quinlan, who plays the role of a farmhand, saved the day when he offered the unique talents of his toy Pomeranian, Fiyero–named after a character in “Wicked.”
“He’ll be a year old on Nov. 22 and he only weighs 5 pounds, but he thinks he’s a big dog like a German shepherd,” says Quinlan.
For Finnegan, who had a pet Pomeranian as a child, it was love at first sight. “When I held him he was so excited it was wiggly, wiggly, wiggly and licky, licky, licky,” she recalls. She bonded so completely she has even been spotted backstage letting Fiyero drink from her water bottle.
Yet when the play opened, Fiyero showed signs of stage fright. “His ears went back the way they do when he’s scared,” Quinlan recalls. “But after a few performances, he was comfortable and now he’s added his own lines and barks when I come on stage, so Rebecca and I ad lib and she hands him over to me.”
When Fiyero’s scenes are finished, someone runs him over to Stearns’ house near the theater, so the puppy can wind down while he waits for Quinlan.
While Fiyero is mentioned in the program’s cast list, he doesn’t have a photo or bio. “This is his first show so I told him he has to start small and work his way up,” says Quinlan.
Fiyero’s future in show business looks rosy. He caught the eye of the choreographer for “Gypsy,” Kevin Bellie, who at one time considered giving him more stage time by dressing him in costumes coordinated to each musical number. Now Bellie is contemplating mounting a production of “Mame,” with Fiyero playing the role of the live fox.
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“Gypsy,” through Nov. 6, Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. $27-$30;773-327-5252.
