Animals take center stage in 'Gypsy' revival

NEW YORK — Coco, a wee fluffball of a dog, paces the floor as she waits for her cue at Broadway's Shubert Theatre.

And when the moment comes, the tiny poodle is all business as she rides the arm of star Bernadette Peters onstage to open the hit musical revival of "Gypsy."

Peters portrays an aggressive stage mother whose older daughter ultimately becomes the famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.

Coco, named after French designer Coco Chanel, gets billing as Chowsie, top dog among the family pets. Weighing little over two pounds, the silver-gray toy phantom poodle is one-half of the live animal team that performs eight times a week at the Shubert.

Coco and her theatrical colleague, a pure white lamb, dwell two levels below stage in a dressing room constructed just for them and their understudies.

Lily is the latest in a growing line of lambs that have included Violet, Daisy, Tulip and most recently, Buttercup. The lamb's big scene comes midway through Act 1, when Tammy Blanchard, who portrays the young woman who grows up to become Gypsy, holds Lily in her arms while singing "Little Lamb."

"We fall in love with them," said Blanchard, who regrets that the fast-growing lambs soon need replacement by their younger understudies.

"The lambs are good for three weeks," says animal trainer Bill Berloni. "But when they reach 18 pounds, they become unwieldy." Berloni and his company, Theatrical Animals, supply the lambs and dogs.

After an Internet search, Berloni discovered the 5-month-old poodle who became Coco at a backyard breeding facility outside Atlanta. Her training required "socializing her not to be afraid of people" and "not to be freaked out by the applause."

To prepare Coco for the role, "we had a lot of people hold her and hug her," said Berloni. "We took her to many public places, so she got used to activity."

Replacement lambs have come from a farm in upstate New York that milks sheep to make organic cheese. Since the farm needs a constant supply of sheep, the show lambs, all females, are recycled following their brief runs on Broadway back to the farm and new careers.

"We get the lambs at 5 days old. They spend two or three days in my kitchen getting used to diapers and bottles," said Berloni. "The challenge is that for 3 1/2 minutes they have to sit quietly in an actress' arms."