Audra McDonald Promises the Same Iconic Gypsy, But One That Just Might Hit Different

In the 65 years since she first charmed and horrified theatergoers, Momma Rose has become more of a legacy than a character. Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone are the Broadway institutions that built the lore surrounding Gypsy's infamous stage mother, and now Audra McDonald picks up the weighty torch at the Majestic Theatre as the first Black actress to play the role on a Broadway stage.

"You're gonna see this iconic story of a mother who has ambitions and dreams and a desire to have her daughters have more than what she had," McDonald said to Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek, promising that George C. Wolfe's revival is the same show audiences know and love. Still, she qualified, some familiar lines may land with a different tenor. "Hearing a Black woman say, 'I was born too soon and got started too late'—maybe it'll hit different coming from a Black woman." 

Hear more from their conversation in the video below.