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Audra McDonald on Broadway in Gypsy

Not Her Best Role

By: - Jan 21, 2025

o her legions of fans, Audra McDonald can do no wrong. She is a magnificent talent; her six Tony awards prove it. She has won Tonys for leading and featured roles in both plays and musicals.

But as Mama Rose in the revival of Gypsy now at the Majestic Theater, we see a crack in the armor. Her Mama Rose is very good, but it isn’t a defining performance of either the role or by McDonald.

Looking at the performers who have done the role, you see a long list of Broadway superstars from the original Ethel Merman for whom the show was written, to Angela Lansbury Tyne Daily, Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters and others I have probably forgotten; plus, of course, Rosalyn Russell in the film and Bette Midler on television. What all have in common is that they are best known as “belters.”

For anyone who is not familiar with the show, it is ostensibly the life story of the famous stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee, but in reality, it is the story of Mama Rose, the mother of both Gypsy and her sister, actress June Havoc. Mama Rose is determined that her girls will be stars. She is willing to do everything or anything to achieve that goal as she pushes them in vaudeville. Of course, the underlying psychology that McDonald makes very clear in her performance is that it is Mama Rose herself who wanted to be a star. She is the stereotypical stage mother who has sublimated her needs and projected them onto her children.

Any production of Gypsy depends on the actress playing Mama Rose; Merman, particularly at the stage of her career when this was written, was notorious for not necessarily giving any other performer very much stage time, so in the show by Julie Styne and Steven Sondheim almost all of the major songs focus on Mama Rose.

McDonald does many things extremely well; certainly, the psychology is very clear for this character, perhaps too clear too early. Her 11 o’clock number “Rose’s Turn” is nuanced and heartbreaking.

I never thought I would have qualms about McDonald’s singing, but her classically trained voice doesn’t really work  in this production. It appears she hasn’t decided whether her Mama Rose is a belter or a more classical soprano. Technically, many of the songs find her trying to combine operatic voice with belting, or as a voice teacher would say, the transition from her chest voice to her head voice isn’t as smooth or as appropriate as it should be.

McDonald and director George C. Wolfe have made the underlying psychology of Mama Rose extremely clear from the very beginning.

The very first scene between McDonald’s and her father reveals another problem. It is said that an actor should not start at such an emotional level that they have nowhere to go; an actor needs to allow room for the character’s emotions to expand. It didn’t feel as though this Mama Rose had anywhere to grow; if McDonald’s was climbing a mountain, her character started 90% up the side.

Danny Burstein plays Herbie, the former agent who quits his job as a candy distributor, falls in love with Rose, and promotes bookings for the act. The role requires the actor to find small moments to make an impact. Burstein achieves that brilliantly. The scene where Rose convinces him to help her is a delight. His final scene, when he walks out, is touching and emotional. You only wish that the show provided a solo or two for the character and for Burnstein.

Joy Woods is very good, particularly in the final scenes as Gypsy. “You Gotta Have a Gimmick,” the number of with the three strippers terrific. The choreography by Camille A. Brown was a mishmash of styles, particularly in Tulsa’s “All I Need Is the Girl.” Some of her choreography for the children’s act is borderline inappropriate.

Audiences will enjoy this show, and McDonald’s fans may be willing to overlook or even not acknowledge some of her flaws.

Others will recognize that while this is a very good production, it is not the gold standard, and that McDonald perhaps made a missed step by selecting this role.