Stage Mothers

In honor of Mother’s Day, we asked nine current stage stars — all of whom have played mothers this season — to talk about their onstage maternal relationships, as well as their relationships with their own mother and/or children. While Cat on a Hot Tin Roof‘s own Big Mama, Phylicia Rashad, answered the question in a rather succinct fashion — “Stage relationships are scripted, real relationships are not” — the eight other ladies had a bit more to say on the subject.

Faith Prince, who plays Aggie Hurley, the unhappy wife and mother in the musical A Catered Affair, says there is a marked contrast between her onstage life and her offstage life with her 12-year-old son Henry Lunetta. “Aggie wasn’t raised to show her feelings; so, in turn, she cannot express her own love to her child,” she says. “Luckily, I had the added benefit of nourishing, though human, parents and a great deal of personal and group therapy before having Henry. I think I try to express love whenever I can, but there are times when I do overreact or act inappropriately. Sometimes the most freeing thing is to just say, ‘I was wrong.’ While no one has all the answers, having the energy and desire to figure it out is what truly matters — and connects you with love for the rest of your life.”

Real-life mom Julie White, who is currently playing Grace Warren, the conflicted mom of two unhappy teens in Liz Flahive’s From Up Here, says one aspect of the script really hit home for her. “Liz put on the stage a thing I noticed raising my kid: the battle between your peer group’s opinion versus what your mom says,” she says. “Around fifth grade, snot-nosed, potentially mean kids become a more powerful influence in your child’s life. As a parent, you try to give kids such a strong blanket of confidence — with your love and support — that they can wrap themselves up in that blanket when the world gets mean. So I’m happy to report that my own daughter, Alexandra, made it through high school, and into her 21st year, with a pretty good head on her shoulders — and some strong self-esteem. I think she’s awesome!”

Two-time Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello, who’s spent a lot of stage time as Donna Sheridan, the free-spirited mamma of Mamma Mia!, worries she’s losing touch with her 12-year-old daughter Zoe. “She’s at that age where she wants to spend more time with her friends than with mom. Can a wedding be far off?” adds Carmello, who also has a 6-year-old son, Ethan, with husband Gregg Edelman. “As for my real-life mother, she hasn’t disowned me — like Donna’s has in Mamma Mia! — well, at least, not yet.”

Eisa Davis is apparently well cast as the loving “Mother” in the musical Passing Strange. “I ran away from my mother — just like my son in the show runs away from me,” she says. “But the space between us allowed me to grow into my own woman, and my mother and I got to rediscover each other as adults and became friends. I cherish and understand her now in a way that was impossible when I was a college-age grouch.”

Jessica Molaskey, who plays Yvonne in the Roundabout Theater’s revival of Sunday in the Park with George, has played many mothers on stage, but this musical marks her first time doing that sort of role on stage as well as in real life. “When my daughter, Madeleine [whose dad is musician John Pizzarelli], started kindergarten, I stopped doing plays. But she’s almost a fifth-grader now,” she notes. “In fact, Maddie’s become great friends with both of the girls who play my daughter Louise. Not only does she love to visit the theater, she is delighted when someone mistakenly asks for her autograph at the stage door.”

Honolulu-based singer Loretta Ables Sayre had her dream come true when she was signed to play Bloody Mary in Lincoln Center’s hit revival of South Pacific. And she understands her character’s motivations very well. “There’s a parallel between my mom and Bloody Mary. My mom worked two jobs — at a fast-food restaurant, and selling trinkets and necklaces — to help support all five kids and ensure our lives would be better than hers,” she says. “So Bloody Mary has to seize the moment while she can, so her daughter, Liat, won’t have to stay up nights making grass skirts and shrunken heads. She believes that Lieutenant Cable is the answer to Mary’s dreams and knows he’ll take care of her daughter.”

It’s hardly surprising that Tony Award winner Harriet Harris puts things quite bluntly, “I’ve never had an inclination towards motherhood,” she says. “But this season I’ve had the professional opportunities to be a mother in Old Acquaintance, and now a grandmother in Cry-Baby. If I can be reasonably cast as a grandmother, I must have had a very rough summer. But both actresses, Diane Davis and Elizabeth Stanley, are delightful, intelligent, talented, and beautiful — bearing no resemblance to me. They’re all a mother-for-hire might wish them to be. But I must say, playing a grandmother is harder — since it appears to involve singing and dancing.”

Amy Morton, who plays Barbara Fordham in Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County, says art does not imitate life for her in any way. “In the play, my mother, Violet [played by Deanna Dunagan] is a giant toddler. The world revolves around her, her needs come first, and her children pay for her unhappiness. My relationship with her is filled with guilt, frustration, shame, anger, remorse, and rage,” she notes. “My own mother was a loving, gifted, generous, kind, and hilarious person. My relationship with her was wonderful. On the other hand, maybe we’ll talk again for Father’s Day.”