TV REVIEW : New Queen of the Rose Parade : Bette Midler Makes Landmark ‘Gypsy’ Role Her Own Showcase

“Gypsy’s” Mama Rose is getting to be a little like Hamlet. It’s a great role that over the years has allowed a number of legendary ladies to bring their own personalities and interpretations to that ultimate stage mother, whose daughters grew up to be Gypsy Rose Lee, the classiest stripper of them all, and the distinguished actress June Havoc.

Ethel Merman, who created the role of Rose unforgettably in the 1959 Broadway musical, brought her brass and sass and clarion voice to the role. Although most of us who saw her probably thought that it was inconceivable that anyone else could play her, time has proved us wrong--that the role is not just a vehicle for a particular star and is perhaps bigger than the actress playing her.

Rosalind Russell brought to Rose an innate class, Angela Lansbury made her seem a relative of Mame, and Tyne Daly, who was probably closest to the real Rose, showed us a woman teetering on madness in the climactic “Rose’s Turn.”

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While there may be no definitive Mama Rose, it is nonetheless crystal clear that Bette Midler was born to play her. Her Rose brings “Gypsy” to life as vividly as a flashing neon sign in a splendid three-hour version premiering Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS (Channels 2 and 8).

Midler’s is the complete Rose: She can be loud, vulgar, hilarious and larger-than-life, like Merman, but she’s also as fine an actress as any woman who has ever played the part. Midler can be simultaneously voluptuous and maternal, and monster though her character can be, she makes it believable that the loyal manager Herbie (Peter Riegert) would stick around as long as he does.

Midler is the right age, has the right look, the right voice--the right everything for Rose. She has the authority, the economy of gesture and movement, the timing, the passion and spontaneity of the true star. Midler’s Rose may be shrill and pushy beyond all reason, but Midler knows when to shut up and be quiet--and how to break your heart.

With music by Jule Styne, book by Arthur Laurents and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, “Gypsy,” suggested by Lee’s memoirs, is part of American folklore. Divorced and residing in Seattle, Rose is a frustrated would-be actress who lives her life through her two daughters, especially June, the star of the terrible kiddie acts she has concocted. She never pays any attention to her other daughter until, in desperation, with the death of vaudeville, the quiet, obedient Louise becomes the surprisingly successful and soon legendary Gypsy Rose Lee.

This “Gypsy” is savvy through and through. Its late director, Emile Ardolino, and his colleagues stage the musical for the small screen--although it looks sensational on a big one--and they shrewdly emphasize its theatricality without making us feel like we’re watching a filmed play. Ralf Bode’s shadowy, fluid camerawork, Jackson DeGovia’s wonderfully seedy sets and Bob Mackie’s witty, period-sensitive costumes contribute richly to the film’s success.

Midler has been surrounded with a cast worthy of her. Riegert paradoxically plays weakness with strength and also dignity. Cynthia Gibb is lovely and believable as the young Gypsy who learns to stand up to her mother; Jennifer Beck expresses with force “Dainty” June’s understandable loathing of her work and her mother. Jeffrey Broadhurst is the talented and sexy song-and-dance man whom Louise adores from afar.

Rounding out the key supporting roles are Edward Asner, Michael Jeter, Andrea Martin and Keene Curtis; Christine Ebersole, Anna McNeely and Linda Hart are the gloriously gaudy strippers who teach Gypsy that “You Gotta Have a Gimmick.”

When we receive our final glimpse of Midler’s Mama Rose--frozen in a longing, parting glance from the wings out to the audience--we realize that, awful as she could be, she did make her babies into stars, just like she said she would.