GYPSY - Audra does it again.

Once again the great American musical, “Gypsy”, returns to Broadway in full revival. Since its premiere in 1957 with the one and only Ethel Merman, the musical has seen many divas in New York and London fill the role of Rose, the indefatigable, “monster” of a backstage mother - Angela Lansbury, Patti Lupone, Tyne Daly, Imelda Stanton, Bette Midler (television version), and many others. Until now, there has never been a Black Rose. Or put another way, 6-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, who happens to be Black, has never played Rose.

Either way, McDonald’s Rose brings an emotional dimension heretofore unexpressed to the role of one of the most famous female characters ever created for the musical stage.

The story, written by Arthur Laurents and based on the life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee is well known. Set in Depression America, a Mid-western, fiercely ambitious mother with two marginally talented young girls embarks with them, with a thin musical routine on the vaudeville circuit with dreams of stardom in the likes of Ziegfeld show in New York. Rose fixes her dream on one daughter, June; Louise, the quieter of the two, is the sidekick, the ugly-duckling, the afterthought. Rose enlists a youthful band of performers; the troupe struggles for years, on the road, boarding house to boarding house. Rose conveniently matches up with salesman Herbie who manages the act. As the troupe reaches young adulthood, June leaves the act. An emotionally exhausted Herbie eventually leaves. Rose turns to the neglected Louise to preserve her dream, In desperation, Lousie takes a gig in burlesque; the famous Gypsy Rose Lee, and all her fame and fortune results. Rose loses control of her dream.

Two-time Tony winner. George C, Wolf, a Black American, directs. Rose’s vaudevillian daughters and the kids in the troupe are Black, but the current revival isn’t a “Black” version of “Gypsy” Still, with McDonald as Rose and family as Black, there is an undeniable subtext. Wolfe doesn’t change Laurent’'s book at all, the themes of ambition and success have different dimensions in the American Black experience.

Wolfe directs an expert traditional production; Santo Laquasto set and costume design complement Woolfe’s firm grasp of the original work, The score by Jules Styne and lyrics by a young Stephen Sondheim is one of the most famous in the musical theatre canon. (Sondheim, who had written lyrics for “West Side Story” a few years before wanted to do both score and lyrics but Merman didn’t want to risk her career on someone who had so few score credits). Beautifully re-orchestrated, the melodic charms of numbers like Rose and Herbie’s duet “You Couldn't Get Away from Me”, June and Louise’s “Mama Got Married Today” are fresh as ever. And the strippers trio of “You Gotta Have a Gimmick” endures here as one of the most conceptually and lyrically inspired comic numbers in musical theatre history.

The showstoppers belong to McDonald. From the opening “Some People”, McDonald establishes Rose’s fierce drive, twinged with anger. But with McDonald there’s a hint of foreboding in the number that percolates through the play. By the finale of Act I, McDonald’s “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” isn’t an expression of optimism but a selfish affirmation of unrealistic hope. In McDonald’s version it packs an emotional wallop I hadn't heard before. (McDonald’s distinctive soprano - unusual for a Rose - works perfectly.),

With the finale, “Rose’s Turn” McDonald reveals uniquely the cultural subtext of this revival. In one of his most memorable reviews, former New York Times drama critic, Frank Rich, wrote of the 1989 revival with Tyne Daly - “If 'Gypsy'' is the musical most beloved by theater fanatics, that may be because it forces those on both sides of the footlights to remember exactly why they turned to the theater as a home away from home.” Rose’s Turn elicits all the what-ifs and could-have-beens of a lifetime; Rose is the Everyman for dreams unrealized. McDonald’s interpretation isn't angry regret; it's laced with a vengeance that is both ennobling and pathetic.

“Rose’s Turn” always chokes me up; McDonald’s interpretation moved me more. In the theatre row in back of me, I heard heavy sobbing. After the curtain calls - five at the performance I attended - I turned, as I often do, to recognize other patrons who have responded emotionally. The woman, about 75, with a handsome, kindly but wise, face - happened to be Black. She nodded, silently accepting my acknowledgement of shared emotion. But in that moment, I realized that McDonald’s performance meant more to her than I could ever feel. McDonald’s performance - by nature of herself - was a vessel for the quiet grievances of generations of millions of Black women. McDonald's Rose is a marvelous gift to the history of this great American musical.