With its cast of all ages, ‘Gypsy’ is right at home in Carson’s theater program.

The musical “Gypsy” is a classic story about the triumphs and tribulations of breaking into show business.

But in Carson, where the show is being performed tonight and Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills, the city has been giving breaks to people bitten by the show biz bug for years.

In a city-sponsored performing arts program, Carson’s parks put on 12 shows each year with local children and teen-agers in the cast. During the summer, youngsters in elementary and high schools put on two citywide musicals. And the really big show every summer is the Broadway musical.

It’s dubbed the adult show, but in the case of “Gypsy,” that’s a bit misleading because of the host of youngsters who sing and dance in their roles as young vaudevillians.

“The core is the community,” said Joe Wolfson, Carson community services manager and fine arts director. “These are community people performing for the community.”

Until now, the summer shows haven’t had a real name. But with this year’s “Gypsy,” the venture has acquired a title: Carson Civic Light Opera.

It also marks a new association between the city and the university, which is providing directors, a technical staff, sets and costumes for the annual adult production. The group also has rent-free use of the impressive 475-seat University Theater.

“Civic Light Opera is a combination of adult, youth and children’s theater,” said Vivian McClure, the group’s executive director. “Working with Cal State, we’re hoping to add more to our season . . . maybe a couple of musicals a year and three dramatic productions.”

Wolfson said many youngsters have grown up with theater in Carson, starting in shows at the parks and graduating to the Broadway musicals. “A lot of the kids are students at Cal State, and it made sense for the two of our worlds to join hands,” he said.

McClure said Civic Light Opera is now able to put more of its budget--$80,000 this year--into productions because it no longer has to pay such overhead as theater rentals.

Unlike neighboring Long Beach, which peppers its Civic Light Opera casts with stars, Carson’s remains a community venture with few paid hands. “We’re not going out for Equity actors,” said Wolfson, referring to the professional actors union.

Mike Duran, an elementary schoolteacher and veteran of several summer musicals, remembers them as “a lot of fun,” with casts dominated by college students, “a lot of them with ambitions to get into show business.” Duran himself was a theater arts major and is still associated with civic light opera as a director of youth musicals.

Professionals, though, do sometimes audition for shows. In “Gypsy,” the pivotal role of Mama Rose--everybody’s notion of an overbearing stage mother--is played by Equity actress Carol Woodbury. Cara Dennis, a Carson resident who sings and dances as Baby June, does commercials.

With a professional music director and orchestra and seven weeks of rehearsal, McClure said, her group has worked to give “Gypsy” a polish that will make people take note of Carson productions. “We want people to leave the theater thinking we can be taken seriously and that we are putting together good productions that are worth the money to come to see,” she said.

In the past, the group has done some imaginative things. It staged “Barnum” in a circus tent complete with a live band. “The Pirates of Penzance” opened with a film of the pirates leaving a buccaneer sailing ship at Ports O’ Call in San Pedro, making their way to the theater and coming up the steps. The live pirates then burst into the theater.

As “Gypsy” winds up two weekends of performances, Civic Light Opera is rehearsing its two summer children’s musicals. “Animal Krackers,” with a cast of 18 9-year-olds, will be given Aug. 17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Carson Elementary School. A company of teen-agers will perform “Little Luncheonette of Horrors,” a spoof of “Little Shop of Horrors,” on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. at Carnegie Junior High School.

Through its various productions, McClure said, Civic Light Opera takes care of theater for every age group in Carson. “I feel we offer a real well-rounded community program,” she said. “We get kids moving up the scale, one production to another.”

Brian Dwyer, a 15-year-old performer in “Luncheonette,” got into Carson theater as a fifth-grader when he was bored during the summer. He said part of the thrill of acting is “having a live audience there, and always living on the edge that somebody could forget something.”

After three shows, Dwyer says, “I love it. I don’t want to give it up.”