The most awarded performer in Tony history, with six Tony Awards, two Grammys and an Emmy, Audra McDonald was preparing to lead a Broadway revival of Gypsy. On Good Morning America, she explained how she sees Mama Rose today.
From child extra to Mama Rose
At ten, in her home town of Fresno, California, McDonald appeared in a local production of Gypsy as one of the children, dressed as a Viking. Now she plays Rose, the stage mother. She long saw her as a monster; at 54, she sees “a woman without many options” but full of passion and ambition, who wanted more than society allowed her.
A first for the show
This revival is the first in which three Black women play Rose, Louise and June, with Joy Woods and Jordan Tyson, under the direction of George C. Wolfe. Not a line or a note has been changed, but some words land differently: when Rose says she was born too soon and started too late, it resonates in a particular way from a Black woman, given the struggles Black women have faced for generations.
The role is considered the King Lear of musical theatre. McDonald recalls that Ethel Merman, after singing “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”, would stare at the wall of her dressing room until the second act: “I get that.” Her husband, also a Broadway actor, runs lines with her, as she supported him during his own run on Broadway. The production was due to begin performances at the Majestic Theatre on 21 November.