In a very emotional environment, Silvia Pinal celebrated the 100th performances of her hit revival of Gypsy in which she shares the stage with her real-life daughter, rock-pop star Alejandra Guzmán, who played Louise until Oct. 18.

It's a tradition in Mexico to celebrate each 100 performances of a show by inviting special guests to unveil a commemorative engraved plate that is later hanged at the foyer of the theatre. With this tradition, foyers of Mexico City's theatres are like museums with plates honoring all successful productions that have played at each theatre.

Before introducing that night's special guests, Pinal said: "it's such a marvelous evening... You [the audience] will leave this theatre full of magic vibrations, full of light, happiness and hope.... This is a musical different from the others I've made before, different from the one I made with Alejandra ten years ago (Mame) in which we didn't played mother and daughter, our roles were not as strong and human as these, in which mother and daughter say such hard and true things one to each other."

Alejandra expressed how grateful she is to her mother for giving her this opportunity, "which made me grow as an artist, as a human being, and that let me get closer to you, mother."

Then, Pinal invited the celebrities to unveil the plate. Marga Lopez (Nunsense, Moon Over Buffalo, No, No Nanette), who starred as Rose in the original Mexican production of Gypsy 22 years ago, was joined at the stage by Claudia Islas, who played Louise in the original production, and Gonzalo Vega, currently starring in the long running French comedy La Señora Presidenta. Marga Lopez said that this revival brings up a lot of memories from the original production, and added that "this is a show for a great actress, and Silvia is doing now what I tried to do 22 years ago. It's one of the greatest scripts written around a mother's role, but I cannot forget the role of the daughter, which is also very important in this musical. In this case, Silvia chose her own daughter. How beautiful must be for a mother to see that her daughter is as good as her, and Alejandra Guzmán achieved it." Lopez, one of Mexico's most beloved actresses, received a very warm ovation from the audience.

Guzman will be replaced in the role of Louise by Iran Castillo (Grease!) beginning Oct. 22.

Gypsy runs at the Teatro Silvia Pinal on Thurs. and Fri. at 8 PM; Sat. at 6 PM & 8:45 PM; and Sun 4:30 PM & 7 PM. For information and tickets call Ticketmaster Mexico at 011-52-5-325-9000.

--By Claudio Carrera
Mexico Correspondent