Oh, Mother! Broadway's Best and Worst Moms
With that day looming once again, it's time to round up Broadway's best Moms…and the ones we mercifully did not grow up with!
Ahhh, Mother's Day. A day that triggers any number of emotions in any number of people, be it respect, reverence, remorse, revenge, reluctance, retribution—and those are just some of the "r" words. Greeting cards deal with the happier end of the spectrum, but thankfully, Broadway never fails to represent the good, the bad and all points in between.
This year, our springtime Mom roundup comes in two top-five categories: the Dreams and the Nightmares. Hence some high-profile mothers weren't included on account of their unclassifiable nature. For example, Aggie from A Catered Affair might seem like a terror, prodding her neglected daughter into participating in an extravagant wedding she doesn't want and almost bankrupting the family in the process. But Aggie redeems herself at the end; she's not a monster, just human. And what to make of Melchior's mom? She may be the nicest adult in Spring Awakening, but isn't that a bit like saying Hannibal Lecter was the nicest serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs?
Clearly there was no exact science to our decision-making process, and the Broadway mothers we consider angels may be demons in your book, or vice versa. You be the judge!
THE DREAMS
1. Edna Turnblad in Hairspray
Who would've guessed that John Waters and Divine—the lord of trailer-trash cinema and his portly transvestite muse—would inspire one of most lovable moms to ever hit the Broadway stage? Mrs. Edna Turnblad created by the divine Harvey Fierstein and now played by George Wendt exhibits just the right amount of Donna Reed-style conventionalism toward daughter Tracy, but is also confident and loose-minded enough to roll with the changing times. Best of all, there's a whole lot of woman under those XXL dresses. You just know that if anyone disrespected her, Tracy included, Edna wouldn't think twice before kicking that person to the curb. Or sitting on him. Get Tickets to Hairspray
2. Camila in In the Heights
When it comes to numbers that feature moms who grab the reins and whip their families into action, it doesn't get any better than Camila's show-stopping motivational anthem "Enough." In this Latin equivalent of "Spoonful of Sugar," Camila, played with aplomb by Priscilla Lopez, charges through whistle-while-you-work-style lyrics set to hot beats you can break-dance to. In fact, it works so well, it's easy to forget that Camila is basically delivering the same old motherly riot act you groused about as a tyke. If all mothers sounded this hip and fabulous while nagging their offspring, we'd have all have graduated with honors.
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3. Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia!
OK, so a woman who can't figure out who the father of her daughter is might seem suspicious. But c'mon, you can't deny that Donna is the TV-ready mom you used to daydream about, the kind of sexy, super-tanned redhead as portrayed by the wonderful Carolee Carmello who looks stylish in a peasant blouse, even at her, um, mom-like age. And who wouldn't want a mother whose idea of career fulfillment is opening her own resort in the Greek isles? Donna's skill at knocking back tequila is also notable. Most importantly, if you know how the story ends, you admire Donna's willingness to support her daughter on her own terms. Take that, Aggie from A Catered Affair!
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Exquisitely played by Eisa Davis, Mother yup, that's the character's name embodies everything you love and hate about "home," like having to go to church and being lectured on responsibility. No surprise that she unintentionally pushes her son named Youth away; the more she tries to get through, the further he flees. From a teenager's perspective, this Mother spells b-u-m-m-e-r. But as you get older and cross to Mom's side of the street, you come to realize that she was right. Looking back, you don't wish Mother had been a cooler mother; you wish you'd been a more understanding child.
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5. Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins
Not quite like the flag-waving suffragette in the movie version, Broadway's Mrs. Banks never fails to charm—thanks in no small part to Rebecca Luker's warm, appealing stage presence. Mrs. Banks loves her children just as much as she loves her husband, even if his inability to be a proper father to little Jane and Michael is getting on her nerves. After several polite requests to spend more time with the family, she ditches the kind housewife routine and lets Ol' Man Banks have it. Usually it's that parasol-toting Mary Poppins who gets the credit for turning the Banks household around. But Mrs. B did some grunt work, too.
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THE NIGHTMARES
1. Violet Weston in August: Osage County
No sense in mincing words: Violet is the ruling queen of Nightmare Moms. This woman pops pills the way a halitophobe pops Altoids. She huffs cigarette smoke like oxygen. And her razor-sharp tongue never hesitates before cutting her children to shreds. It says everything about Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning script that even as Violet outdoes her own cruel standards, we still understand and even sympathize with her. How would you feel if you were born into nothing and made something, then watched your kids grow up with everything and accomplish nothing? What could've been a camp extravaganza of Mommie Dearest proportions feels like a sharp punch to the gut in Deanna Dunagan's straight-as-nails performance. All that sympathy won't stop chills from running down your spine.
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2. Momma Rose in Gypsy
Her name alone is synonymous with "stage mother," and not in a good way. Frank Rich called her "a monster." Walter Kerr agreed, but insisted that Rose "must be liked and understood." And the fabulous Patti LuPone, who's currently playing the part on Broadway, declared, "[Rose] may do monstrous things, but that does not make her a monster." Without a doubt, Momma Rose is the personification of high-caliber drama, ranking as one of the most coveted roles for a stage actress. But the character's ceaseless drive and inability to allow her daughters to shine in their own limelight hardly qualifies as escapist fun. This is one Broadway experience in which kids can be overheard comforting their parents with a hushed, "There-there now, it's just a Broadway musical. It's not real. See?"
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3. Bloody Mary in South Pacific
"You like? You buy!" Bloody Mary only wants what's best for her beautiful daughter Liat, so offering the teen to dreamy American Lt. Joe Cable can be viewed as a show of strength and courage, particularly in Loretta Ables Sayre's appealingly down-to-earth performance. But frankly, the way Bloody Mary pitches her daughter's sex appeal sounds a little too similar to how she hocks those shrunken heads. Call us old-fashioned, but having "Part-Time Madam" and "Underaged Sex Broker" on one's resume never landed anyone on the cover of Good Housekeeping.
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4. Carmen Bernstein in Curtains
We've got a double-whammy here, since Carmen double-times as an overbearing, nasty, relentless theatrical producer and a monster mom. But everything about Mrs. Bernstein is so cartoonish and overblown that it's hard to imagine anyone actually watching this bulldozing dame in action and going, "Hey, that's just like my mom!" If you do, your co-workers should help pay off those therapy bills. The best that can be said about this mean-hearted force of nature other than Debra Monk's stellar performance is that even if your family was overshadowed by the most insensitive, oppressive matron in history, a night with Carmen Bernstein will make you think, "At least she wasn't like that."
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5. Pepper in Cry-Baby
The only mother in either list who's technically not even a mother yet, the very pregnant Pepper has nonetheless earned this slot. Why? Oy, let us count the ways: She smokes. She goes to jail. She dirty dances all night at risqué shindigs, wears her promiscuousness on her sleeve and French kisses any boy in sight. Pepper, played with slutty glee by Carly Jibson, spends most of her pregnancy in a JD detention hall and even gets a polio vaccine! If that last one doesn't sound bad, go ask your OB-GYN. That's more than enough to make any sane expectant mom worry that her pride and joy will be born with gills or a third eye—or have radioactive superpowers.
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