First it was reported that Barbra Streisand was going to play Mama Rose in the new feature film version of the great musical Gypsy. The last week, playwright-director Arthur Laurents, one of the rights holders to the work, told the Hartford Courant that the film version was not going to happen.
Now Entertainment Weekly reports: Looks like Rose will rise after all: Universal has confirmed to EW that the studio is in talks to acquire a Gypsy adaptation starring Barbra Streisand, despite reports that the project had been squashed. Apparently, both lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer Laurents are still on board.
The play and movie is based on the memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee, a burlesque dancer, and the relationship with her mother, Rose, who has since become the prototype of a “stage mom” in pop culture.
The role has, of course, been one of the great showcases for a number of actresses on Broadway starting with Ethel Merman who originated it. Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone won Tony Awards for their respective revivals of the show while Bernadette Peters was nominated for one.
Streisand won the Academy Award for her film debut in 1968′s Funny Girl and went on to headline the big-screen musicals Hello Dolly, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Funny Lady, A Star is Born and Yentl. She has not starred in a film since 1996′s The Mirror Has Two Faces but has taken supporting parts in 2004′s Meet the Fockers and this year’s sequel Little Fockers.
How great would it be to have the great Streisand taking on such a meaty role and also belting out such numbers as Some People, Everything’s Coming Up Roses and Rose’s Turn.
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