THEATER REVIEW:Star breaks arm but says show must go on

Two of the most familiar phrases in the world of theater are “break a leg” and “the show must go on.” Substitute “arm” for “leg” and you’ve got an amazing story of local showmanship.

Tim Nelson, director of the musical theater program at Huntington Beach High School’s Academy of the Performing Arts, was staging a production of “Gypsy” in Westminster with many current and former APA students a few weeks ago. Playing the leading role of Mama Rose was Kathy Beaver, a professional actress from New York recruited by Nelson for the engagement.

On opening night, as Beaver belted out the show’s finale, “Rose’s Turn,” she stepped too close to the edge of the stage and fell into the orchestra pit, breaking her arm and lacerating her lip.

Trouper that she is, however, Beaver was back on stage the next night, with a fat lip (which required seven stitches) and her fractured arm in a cast.

“I can’t even imagine not going back on stage,” Beaver said later. “Some of these kids were on stage for the first time, and I felt bad enough that they missed their curtain call. I wasn’t going to let it happen again.”

Nelson, who directs professionally back East during his break from local school duties, had worked with Beaver in New York productions and was eager to obtain her talent for “Gypsy.”

Beaver, who’s also a concert violinist, had to cancel a professional violin engagement in New York so that she could receive treatment on her broken arm in Orange County and thus not jeopardize her return for the show’s final weekend.

Dale Jones, a veteran local actor who played Herbie in “Gypsy,” called Beaver “an inspiration.”

“She is the consummate professional,” Jones declared. “When the curtain goes up, you do your job, and she isn’t going to miss it.”

Nelson, who previously had staged “Gypsy” as an APA project at Huntington Beach High School, also was lavish in his praise for Beaver’s courage and determination.

“We could have altered the show dramatically, but we left it to Kathy to decide what she could and couldn’t do in terms of pain,” Nelson said. “Although it was excruciating for her at times, the audience never noticed, and I don’t think Kathy changed a step of the choreography.

“We all were holding our breath the first night, but the second night it was as if Mama Rose had a broken arm in the original Broadway show,” he declared.