When everything came up corpses for Gypsy’s mama

People can’t seem to get enough of Rose Hovick, the dependably ruthless mother of Gypsy Rose Lee (Louise Hovick) in the Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim/Arthur Laurents musical Gypsy. Ever since Ethel Merman’s original portrayal of the character in 1959, musical-theatre actresses have scrambled to give Rose a turn—the latest, of course, being Barbra Streisand, who is [...]