FOR BETTE MIDLER, playing Mama Rose - the nightmarish stage mother in the musical "Gypsy" - was a dream come true.
And the star of a string of hit movies is no less pleased to be playing her in a three-hour made-for-television movie that airs Sunday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. on CBS (Ch. 5)."I've always wanted to play that character. I'd never really thought about where I would play it. I just hoped to play it," Midler said. "I would have played it in stock, if I had had the chance. It's a great part. The score is extraordinary. The writing is just incomparable. We've really had a wonderful time with it."
And, speaking of wonderful, that's exactly what Midler is in the part. She brings Mama Rose - the driven-to-any-extremes mother - to life.
According to those involved, she also brought life to the entire production.
"She was so stimulating and so inspiring because I've never, ever met anybody who has the energy she does," director Emile Ardolino, who passed away recently, said this past summer. "I think she inspired the rest of the crew. It was a very happy set because everybody realized that this was unique material, something you don't find in the usual stream of television fare."
It was also produced rather differently from most made-for-TV movies. The cast went through seven weeks of rehearsals before a foot of film was shot, then performed on backstage lots and several old vaudeville theaters in the Los Angeles area.
As a matter of fact, while "Gypsy" is a television event in America, it will be released theatrically in the rest of the world.
"It was treated like a big-budget film and it had the full complement of actors and the full complement of studio musicians," Midler said. "And nothing was skimped on. Except my salary."
(Midler and other members of the cast and crew worked for a good deal less than their usual salaries to make "Gypsy" possible from an economic standpoint.)
"And one thing that's nice about our show is that a good deal of it is live. It's live singing," she said. "That was a real step forward for us. We were nervous about it. But we just took the ball and ran with it."
What resulted is the definitive on-screen portrayal - a quantum leap beyond the disappointing 1962 version that starred Rosalind Russell. As a matter of fact, author Arthur Laurents, composer Jules Styne and lyricist Stephen Sondheim were so disappointed in that movie that this is the first time they've authorized another filmed version.
"Well, the authors really never felt comfortable about selling the rights. I mean, since the Rosalind Russell version, they weren't interested in selling," said executive producer Neil Meron. "A lot of people have come after them for the rights and they absolutely refused."
(Midler herself doesn't criticize that movie. "I love Rosalind Russell. To me, she could never do anything wrong," she said.)
A bigger shadow was cast by Ethel Merman, who originated the role on Broadway in 1959. But there's no film record of Merman as Mama Rose.
"There's only those fantastic records of her trumpeting out those songs. So I was a little intimidated by the memory of Ethel Merman," Midler said.
This is the classic "Gypsy." It uses both the same script and the same score as the original Broadway show.
It is, of course, based on the memoirs of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Her life as a child, being dragged around the vaudeville circuit by her stage-obsessed mother. The original star was her younger sister, June, but when June left Mama pushed Louise (Gypsy Rose) to the front - and, eventually, onto the burlesque circuit.
The cast includes Peter Riegert, who's a bit out of his league as Rose's boyfriend, Herbie; Cynthia Gibb as Louise/Gypsy Rose Lee; Christine Ebersole as Tessie Tura (one of those three strippers); Jeffrey Broadhurst as Tulsa; and, in roles that amount to little more than cameos, Edward Asner as Rose's father and Michael Jeter as Mr. Goldstone.
The production is full of fabulous Styne/Sondheim numbers, from "Some People" to "Together" to "Rose's Turn."
And to see Midler perform "Everything's Coming Up Roses" is a revelation. It's not the happy, upbeat number most people assume, but the pathetic bravura of a defeated woman insisting everything will turn out fine.
Midler did say it wasn't until the third day of shooting that she truly felt at home in the part of Mama Rose, however.
"It's the opening of the show and she screams, `Sing out, Louise, sing out!' " she said, "And I had to come down the theater aisle and sort of deal with this awful comic who is maltreating my little girls. As it turned, I maltreat everybody except my own two little girls.
"And I don't know, there was something about the speed of it and the idea of how much she believed in her kids, and how ridiculous she was about it that just turned a button on in my head. And after that, I never had another problem."
Her favorite number in the show is the big finale, "Rose's Turn."
"That was a real challenge," Midler said. "It's full of emotions. It's full of high B's."
Depending on the success of "Gypsy," Midler said she'd like to go on and remake other classic musicals.
"I'd like to do `Mame.' I'd like to do `Annie Get Your Gun.' I'd like to do all those kind of broad parts, you know?" she said.
Here's hoping she gets the chance.