Great NPR Article on GYPSY

Great article!! I'm just curious- what's your interpretation of "Rose's Turn?" I choreographed Gypsy for a local community theater, and I had a discussion with the director about this song. I feel that during the course of the song when she's doing the "Mama, Mama," she's really longing for her own mother that abandoned her, but he felt that wasn't the case. Thoughts?

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It's the ultimate moment in the role of Rose that defines the performance. N69's explanation is the classic interpretation--but it can be analyzed in a thousand ways. Did your director offer another or just disagree with yours?

Sondheim tells a great story about how Merman performed the moment brilliantly without ever seeming to understand what he wrote or what she was singing.

Finally, she came up to him and said, "Steve--can I ask you a question about those momma's in Rose Turn?"

He was thrilled because, he thought, finally he was going to have a conversation with the great Ethel Merman about the deeper psychological subtext beneath the moment, the number and the role.

"Sure, Ethel, you can always ask me anything!"

"Good," she said, "cause this has really been bugging me. Which the hell is it: 'Mmmm-momma, Mmmm-momma'? Or 'Muh-muh-muh-momma, Muh-muh-momma'?"

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Updated On: 4/15/08 at 07:23 AM

I believe Sondheim clarified this in an interview during the Bernadette revival.

The stuttering "momma"'s have nothing to do with Rose's mother. In fact, he has always been baffled by this. (I don't see why, as her mother is mentioned earlier, and some actresses clearly played the line that way.)

She cannot face the fact that she must "let go". So, the first time she stutters is after she says, "Momma's lettin go". She catches what she just said, and it makes her momentarily unable to keep on with the song. Then, the next and final time is after she says "Momma's gotta go".

And its great because, after reading this interview, and assuming the actresses who have played her recently were also told the actually meaning of the song - Ms. Midler clearly wasn't as she reaches out as she calls for "Momma, momma" - you can see how the actual meaning has been clarified. Most recently, in Lupone rendition, she isn't stuttering at all, but actively trying to push the thought from her mind and get back into the song. And, she is one of the only actresses to sustain the last note on "Mommma's gotta let go", which further helps to clarify her coming to terms with what she is being asked to do.

Pal Joey, you continue to be a marvel when it comes to posting interesting and interactive material. I loved hearing Merman describing how she learned the blocking for "Rose's Turn". I read somewhere that for this production she referred to Jerome Robbbins as "Teacher". She really wanted to nail this role in the acting department, and boy did she! As you know, Pal Joey, I saw Merman in GYPSY 3 times in NYC and twice on tour in Rochester NY where the tour opened and where I went to college.

I prefer Merman's "Rose's Turn" to all the others. She seems to be singing, "Muh Muh Momma" rather than "Mmmmmm Momma". In the full piano vocal score, that section of the song is marked "ad lib" which would seem to give each singer some leeway in the way they approach that part of "Rose's Turn". Bernadette Peters doesn't repeat the "Mommas" as much as Merman and Lansbury do. I think it is more effective with the repetition of the word, emphasizing the breakdown more.

I, too, missed information and a sound byte from Tyne Daly who I saw in GYPSY 5 or 6 times. She didn't have the singing voice that the others have, but she had tremendous stage presence and, as Brantley says, was earthy in the role. She was in a good production, although I didn't care for Jonathan Hadery as Herbie.

I missed last summer's City Centre production, so I am really looking forward to seeing Patti LuPone on May 1st, from 7th row center, orchestra, which is probably the best seat I will ever have had in my 57 years of theatregoing (Barbara Cook in FLAHOOLEY was my first, pre-Broadway in Philadelphia, way up in the balcony).

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