Bette Midler (47 page)

She also revealed that she had consciously stayed away from singing Broadway show tunes in her act and on her albums. “It’s something I’ve avoided doing throughout my career, singing show tunes. And I really like show tunes. [They’re] such a peculiar thing in American life because most people were interested in rock & roll or popular music or rhythm & blues music, they don’t want anyone to know that they’re closet show-tune listeners. But I am!” (
155
).

From the very opening scene, when Mama Rose pushes her daughters onstage at Uncle Jocko’s talent show audition, it’s clear that Midler—with her bawdy singing style and quipping sense of humor—was made for this role. The character of Rose is aggressive, abrasive, witty, and sharp. These are all qualities that Midler has going for her.

The performances—from those of the stars to the supporting characters—are all exciting and fresh. Bette was obviously able to include a couple of her own favorite people in the cast: Peter Riegert as Mama Rose’s love interest, Herbie; and former-Harlette Linda Hart as the hard-talking stripper with a trumpet, Miss Mazeppa.

The fact that Bette and Peter were once romantically involved makes their on-camera chemistry so much more believable. They look like two people who could be in love with each other, and their scenes are all the more natural for this. They look and sound good together, serenading each other with such classic Stephen Sondheim lyrics as “You’ll Never Get Away from Me,” “Funny,” and “Together, Wherever We Go.”

The film is based on the memoirs of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, and the real star of the show is her domineering mother, Rose. Rose is determined that her two daughters have the kind of show business career she would have loved to have had. She relentlessly pushes daughter June, who is backed up by less-talented Louise. When teenage June
(Jennifer Beck) runs off with a boyfriend, Rose is determined to turn Louise (Cynthia Gibb) into a huge star. (In reality, “dainty” June grew up to be real-life film star June Havoc.)

The musical was originally written with Ethel Merman in mind, and she was the star of the original Broadway production in 1959. It was later turned into a film starring Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood (1962), which is still very popular. Then it was revived on Broadway, by Angela Lansbury in 1971 and by Tyne Daly in 1989. With music by Jule Stein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, it was one of the most popular musicals ever written and a show that has stood the test of time. It was truly ripe for the Midler touch.

When Rosalind Russell played the role in the first film, she was not a dynamic singer. Although she sang all of Rose’s songs in the film, it wasn’t always her voice that was heard—specifically, the song “Rose’s Turn.” On this vocally demanding number, Russell’s voice was “augmented” with the voice of professional behind-the-scenes singer Lisa Kirk. It had been a long time since an actress could really belt out these songs as they were meant to be sung, and Miss Midler was just the right gal to fill Rose’s high heels.

Bette had, of course, been in
Fiddler on the Roof
and had headlined Broadway with her concert stage act, but she had never
starred
in a “book” musical like this. By mounting this handsome-looking and very faithful production, it was her chance to give her own indelible interpretation to a classic Broadway show, while capturing her performance on film. Bette’s production of
Gypsy
debuted on CBS-TV in America on December 12, 1993. In addition, Atlantic Records released a deluxe soundtrack album to accompany it. In markets outside of the United States,
Gypsy
was released as a theatrical film.

Bette is in her Yenta-esque heyday as the ultimate stage mother. She takes songs like “Some People” and attacks them with determination and spark. The story holds up well and is truly one of Midler’s finest filmed performances.

Although a true survivor, Mama Rose is an unsympathetic character, for the most part. In fact, she is so cheap that she steals blankets from hotels to sew into overcoats, and she pockets the silverware from restaurants when no one is looking. She is determined to make ends meet, no matter what she has to do—from petty thievery to selling her own teenage daughter into burlesque.

According to Gypsy Rose Lee herself, “Mother had been many
things, but she had never been nice. Charming, perhaps, and courageous, resourceful, and ambitious, but not nice. Mother, in a feminine way, was ruthless. She was, in her own words, ‘a jungle mother.’ The jungle was vaudeville of the 1920s, and we were her brood” (
156
).

The scene that erupts into the song “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” is perhaps Midler’s most magical screen sequences ever—second only to the film’s last-act tour de force, “Rose’s Turn.” The bawdy, scenery-chewing intensity of both numbers plays well with all of Midler’s theatrical attributes. This bigger-than-life role and these gutsy songs seem custom-made for Bette. The scene in the dressing room right after she tells Herbie to go to Hell is an intense, pivotal point in the movie. The emotions played off Bette’s face are magical. Furthermore, many of Bette’s songs in the film were filmed and recorded “live” as they happened. This is rarely done in film. Usually, the vocal tracks are prerecorded, and the singer lip-synchs. Here, Midler sings them live and imbues them with a spontaneous fire that is riveting to watch and to hear.

Strong acting by a brilliant cast full of supporting characters makes this film a treat throughout. Andrea Martin as Mr. Grandsinger’s prim secretary, Ed Asner as Rose’s stern father, Michael Jeter as a befuddled Mr. Goldstone, Christine Ebersole as acidic Tessie Tura, and Anna Mc-Neeley as bubble-headed Miss Electra, all make the most of their scenes. Cynthia Gibb is especially charming as Louise. Her scenes with the strippers are priceless—she is the only person on the screen who can seem to stand up to Mama Rose. And Linda Hart is a scream as the haughty and vulgar Miss Mazeppa.

The reviews for
Gypsy
, and for Bette, were unanimously glowing. Ken Tucker, in
Entertainment Weekly
, claimed, “Even if you don’t like musicals, you’ll like this one. The primary reason is Bette Midler’s hilarious, heartfelt performance as Mama Rose, a star turn that caps a real comeback of a year for Midler. . . . By the time Midler revs up for her final curtain showstopper, ‘Rose’s Turn,’ she has convinced us that Rose—brassy, vulgar, and selfish—is worthy of respect as a woman who had to live out her dreams through her children because, as she says, she was ‘born too soon and started too late.’ Midler builds ‘Rose’s Turn’ into a spectacular statement of amoral show-business principles” (
157
).

“Entertaining! Bette Midler is manic as the obsessive, ambitious Rose!” claimed
Sight and Sound
(
98
). Mike Duffy, in the
Detroit Free Press
, wrote, “This three-hour Midler tour de force—based on the
famed Broadway musical—shimmers and soars with vintage show business pizzazz. If ever there was a harmonic convergence of star and role, it is here. Bette Midler was born to play Mama Rose.” Rick Kogan, in the
Chicago Tribune
, proclaimed, “Midler’s skill and singing, which succeed in redefining and deepening the character. . . . Midler scores knockouts with virtually every number!” (
98
). Jonathan Taylor, in
Daily Variety
, said, “This new production, headed by Bette Midler in the role she was born to play, succeeds. . . . Midler’s Rose is explosive, riveting and impossible, yet impossible not to love” (
158
), And the list of raves went on and on.

With regard to singing the electrifying show-stopper “Rose’s Turn,” Bette concedes, “That was a real challenge. It’s full of emotion. It’s full of those high Bs!” (
155
).

Gypsy
was a huge ratings success when it originally aired on December 12, 1993. The film has subsequently gone on to become successful video and DVD releases. It remains one of her strongest film performances and is a “must see” in her growing cinematic resume.

The one sad note about Bette’s triumphant turn in
Gypsy
was that director Emile Ardolino died of AIDS a month before the debut telecast.

Gypsy
was such a huge hit for Midler that she won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Madame Rose, in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Made for TV. Made in cooperation with Midler’s All-Girls Productions, the executive producer was Bonnie Bruckheimer, and the soundtrack album was coproduced by Arif Mardin, Michael Rafter, and Curt Sobel.

The
Gypsy
album includes all seventeen songs that were used in the film. Although Bette sings only seven of those songs, it is worth the price of the disc just to hear her belt her way through “Some People,” “Small World,” “Mr. Goldstone,” “You’ll Never Get Away from Me,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Together, Wherever We Go,” and the show-stopping “Rose’s Turn.” The rest of the cast performs excellently here, too, accompanied by a full orchestra, conducted by Michael Rafter.

On December 15, 1993, Radio City Music Hall unveiled it’s new “Sidewalk of Stars,” resembling the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Fourteen stars who have headlined the classic deco theater include Tina Turner, Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra, and Bette Midler.

When the Golden Globe Awards were handed out in Los Angeles on
January 25, 1994, Bette was awarded a trophy for her role as Mama Rose in
Gypsy
. Midler, however, was with her family, vacationing in Hawaii.

On February 16, 1994, Bette appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom to testify with regard to her production of the film
For the Boys
. Singer and actress Martha Raye had in real life made a lifelong career out of appearing on USO shows for the American troops, much like the film’s fictional character Dixie Leonard. Raye’s suit alleged that her own biography was used as a basis for the film and that she should be paid for damages. Apparently, Raye had personally met with Bette in the mid-1980s to discuss a Midler version of Martha’s life. However, both 20th Century-Fox and All Girls Productions declined to purchase the Martha Raye biography—
Maggie
—for the million dollars the veteran comedienne was asking. There was also the ongoing tabloid scandal concerning Raye and her much younger—and allegedly more manipulative—new husband. According to Bette’s testimony that day in court, “The stories have no resemblance except for one thing—they both were entertainers during wartime” (
131
). Ultimately, the court ruled in Bette’s favor. Sadly, Martha Raye suffered a heart attack and died later that year.

During the spring and summer of 1994, Bette toured across the American countryside again in her
Experience the Divine
tour. She announced to the
Boston Globe
, “We had a fabulous time last year. And when the season rolled around again, we decided to do it again. There were a whole bunch of places we didn’t get to last year, and there were requests to come back to some of the places we did get to, so we strapped on the old harness and here we are again” (
131
).

On May 13, Bette opened the tour in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the ThunderDome. The tour wove its way across the countryside, and finally, on September 3 and 4, she headlined at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. This was the first time she had played Vegas since 1976.

About Bette’s 1994 tour, Susan Wloszczyna, in
USA Today
, wrote, “It’s been a decade since Midler’s last major tour, and the faithful aren’t just hungry, they’re starved. . . . Though the ode to burlesque had it moments, it was little more than a plug for Midler’s
Gypsy
TV special. The old material (especially a gospel-charged ‘Delta Dawn’ and a heart-tugging ‘Hello in There’) clearly outshone the new. . . . Midler hasn’t lost her knack for making expertly choreographed extravaganzas seem like spontaneous combustions. Clinton should just declare her the National Diva!” (
159
).

Referring to the passage of time since her last tour, Bette commented from the stage, “Ten years! Time flies when you’re on Prozac. Well, enough about you, what about me?” (
159
).

Bette told the
New York Times
that in September of 1994, she officially had moved back to New York City. According to her, “I moved back because of the earthquake. And I needed to get back to a town where I could have a conversation about something other than [film box-office] grosses” (
160
).

The earthquakes in Los Angeles in 1993 proved to be “the last straw” for Midler’s fascination with living permanently on the West Coast. Explained Bette, “My daughter’s school was in the valley, just under these homes, and if the earthquake had happened during the day, and the houses had fallen on the school, she would’ve been killed. We couldn’t bear the thought. So we came here” (
17
).

On September 11, 1994, Bette Midler appeared on the 46th Annual Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Since
Gypsy
was nominated as the Outstanding Made-for-TV Movie, she performed the show-stopping song “Rose’s Turn.” The AIDS-themed
And the Band Played On
ending up taking the trophy, but Midler, in her own inimitable fashion, stole the show!

When the Manhattan Transfer recorded its 1994 album
Tonin’
, the group’s members invited several guest celebrities into the studio to do duets with them. Since Arif Mardin was producing the album, Bette was a natural choice to join the vocal quartet. Among the other performers on the album are Laura Nyro on “La-La Means I Love You,” Smokey Robinson on “I Second That Emotion,” James Taylor on “Dream Lover,” Frankie Valli on “Let’s Hang On,” Phil Collins on “Too Busy Thinking about My Baby,” Ben E. King on “Save the Last Dance for Me,” Chaka Kahn on “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” and B. B. King and Ruth Brown on “The Thrill Is Gone.” The song that Bette sings with the Manhattan Transfer is “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle.” Dueting with Transfer singer Janis Siegel and harmonizing with the rest of the quartet, Miss M sounds fabulous on this harmonic and cleverly conceived album.

Bette started the year 1995 in the recording studio, as she commenced work on her sixteenth album for Atlantic Records. It was to be called
Bette of Roses
, and it would prove to be a whole new musical direction for her.