Musical theater actress enjoys role as Mama Rose in ‘Gypsy'
Musical theater actress enjoys role as Mama Rose in 'Gypsy'

By Rick Rogers

Published: April 27, 2008

Broadway producer David Merrick reportedly became so intrigued with Gypsy Rose Lee's autobiography that he bought the stage rights after reading just one chapter. Merrick then assembled a brilliant creative team for "Gypsy” that included composer Jule Styne, librettist Stephen Sondheim, author Arthur Laurents and director/choreographer Jerome Robbins.

In what was to be her last great Broadway role, Ethel Merman played Rose Hovick, mother to child stars June and Louise. Rose was the quintessential backstage mother, doing everything she could to see her girls find success on the stage. The three crisscrossed the country looking for that one big break, an achievement that didn't happen until Louise, renamed Gypsy Rose Lee, became burlesque's best-known striptease artist.

The Broadway production of "Gypsy” opened in May 1959 and ran not quite two years. But it quickly became one of theater's hottest rental properties, with hundreds of regional and community theater productions scheduled every year. A new Phoenix Entertainment touring production comes to Civic Center Music Hall on Tuesday for an eight-performance run. The show is being presented locally by Celebrity Attractions.

Taking on the role of Mama Rose is Kathy Halenda, a hard-working musical theater actor with numerous national credits to her name. She has appeared in three tours that have played Oklahoma City: "Grand Hotel” (1993), "Oliver!” (1995) and "42nd Street” (1996).

Mama Rose is one of the great roles in American musical theater. Productions have lured some of the stage's best-known actresses, including Angela Lansbury, Dolores Gray, Rosalind Russell, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and, as star of the current Broadway revival, Patti LuPone.

Playing Mama Rose is exhausting, not just physically but vocally and emotionally as well. Rose rarely has offstage time, and when she does, the performer playing her usually has a quick costume change. There are few opportunities to relax.

"Not only does Rose sing half of the songs in the show, she also yells a lot and stomps around the stage,” Halenda said. "On most tours, I'm a social butterfly, but touring in ‘Gypsy,' I have to be a hermit or a nun. There's no partying for Mama Rose.”

Despite the musical's title, "Gypsy” is really the story of Mama Rose, a tough-talking woman who never took no for an answer. She was a calculating, ambitious woman who lived her life through her children's successes. She could be ruthless and demanding, often alienating everyone around her.

"The toughest part of my job is not to get the audience to love or like her, but to understand, empathize or sympathize with her,” Halenda said. "She dragged her kids single-handedly all over the country and got them jobs. If I can make the audience see that desperate love, then I've done my job. I have a lot of respect for Rose.”

While young actors typically seek and are most often cast in ingenue and juvenile roles, Mama Rose places extraordinary demands on a performer. The role requires maturity, a commanding stage presence and life experience.

"You can't play brokenhearted unless you've had your heart beat around some,” Halenda said. "Life experience forges you into a tough person; you're not born that way. Rose had some real turmoil in her life, and I think you have to show all those colors.

"At the beginning of the show, I think of Rose as a jackhammer — someone hammering away on concrete. She does soften up a little bit, and of course there's a real cathartic moment in ‘Rose's Turn.' It just takes her a very long time to make that journey.”

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