The Rose Tattoo
First edition cover (New Directions)
Written by	Tennessee Williams
Characters	Serafina Delle Rose Alvaro Mangiacavallo Man The Strega Father De Leo Doctor Teresa Flora Salesman Miss Yorke Rosa Delle Rose Peppina Salvatore
Date premiered	3 February 1951
Place premiered	Martin Beck Theatre
Original language	English
Genre	Drama
Setting	Gulf Coast village between New Orleans and Mobile

The Rose Tattoo is a three-act play written byTennessee Williams in 1949 and 1950; after its Chicago premiere on December 29, 1950, he made further revisions to the play for itsBroadway premiere on February 2, 1951, and its publication byNew Directions the following month.^[1] Afilm adaptation was released in 1955.The Rose Tattoo tells the story of anItalian-Americanwidow inMississippi who has withdrawn from the world after her husband's death and expects her daughter to do the same.

The setting is a place in proximity toBiloxi. Jacob Adler stated that the story is disconnected from theculture of the Southern United States as the plot "has almost no Southern connections".^[2]

People originating inSicily in real life became involved in the fruit industry in the area aroundNew Orleans in the late 1800s,^[3] and according to Robert Rea, the playwright had a friend named Marion Black Vaccaro and that the playwright "likely" was aware of how theVaccaro brothers created their fruit business via said friend.^[4]

The original Broadway play starredMaureen Stapleton,Phyllis Love, andEli Wallach. Other original cast members of the 1951 Broadway play includedMartin Balsam andVivian Nathan.^[5] The original production ofThe Rose Tattoo premiered February 3, 1951, at the Martin Beck Theatre (now known as theAl Hirschfeld Theatre) and concluded October 27, 1951, with a total of 306 performances. It wasproduced byCheryl Crawford, written by Tennessee Williams;incidental music by David Diamond,staged byDaniel Mann,scenic design byBoris Aronson,costumes designed by Rose Bogadnoff,lighting designed by Charles Elson,general manager John Yorke,stage manager Ralph De Launey,conductor andharpist Nettie Druzinsky, musicians: Michael Danzi, Jack Linx and Frank Kutak, production associate Bea Lawrence, and press representative Wolfe Kauffman.^[6] The play was recreated for a July 5, 1953, hour-longradio adaptation on the programBest Plays.^[7] Recordings of the radio drama exist inarchives and private collections.

The play was revived in 1966, again starring Maureen Stapleton, withMaria Tucci replacing Phyllis Love in the role of Rose Delle Rose. Tucci was nominated for theTony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance.^[8] The revival ran from November 9 to December 31 at the Billy Rose Theatre (now known as theNederlander Theatre) with 62 performances under the direction ofMilton Katselas. Scenic design was by David R. "Tex" Ballou, costume design by Frank Thompson, lighting designed by Peggy Clark, stage manager Ray Laine, and press representatives Arthur Cantor and Artie Solomon.^[9]

The second revival, starringAnthony LaPaglia andMercedes Ruehl, took place in 1995 from March 23 to April 30, running for 73 performances at theCircle in the Square Theatre with casting by Stuart Howard and Amy Schecter under the direction of Robert Falls. Scenic design was by Santo Loquasto, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, sound design by John Kilgore, hair and make-up design by Claus Lulla, wig design by John Aitchison, general manager Don Roe, management consultant Gordon G. Forbes, stage manager Peggy Peterson, assistant stage manager Wm. Hare, and dialect coach K. C. Ligon.^[10]

New Directions Publishing reissued the play in 2010 with a new introduction by playwrightJohn Patrick Shanley.

A third Broadway revival starringMarisa Tomei and directed by Trip Cullman premiered at theAmerican Airlines Theatre in previews on September 19, 2019, and officially on October 15.^[11][12][13]

For many years critics have looked for possible sources in Italian literature, suggesting such authors asGiovanni Verga orLuigi Pirandello. In 2016 an Italian critic for the first time found the undeniable inspiration for this play inEduardo De Filippo's 1946 playFilumena Marturano.^[14] In the play, which was staged in Rome while the playwright was living in the city in the 1940s, the main character speaks one-to-one with the Madonna of the Roses in the same way that Serafina Delle Rose does inThe Rose Tattoo.

On May 12, 1957, thePike Theatre inDublin, Ireland, stagedThe Rose Tattoo withAnna Manahan as the lead and the Irish scenic artistReginald Gray as the set designer. After a short run, the theatre was invaded by theIrish police and directorAlan Simpson was arrested for producing "a lewd entertainment" formiming dropping acondom onto the floor. Williams' script calls for a condom to fall out of a pocket during the show but the Pike staging mimed the act, knowing it would cause conflict. An intellectual revolt against the closing ofThe Rose Tattoo came from not only Ireland but from the continent, led by playwrightsSamuel Beckett,Seán O'Casey andBrendan Behan. Simpson was later released. The presiding judge, Justice O'Flynn, ruled: "I can only infer that by arresting the accused, the object would be achieved of closing down the play." One of the results of this case was that any charges brought against theatre would have to be proven before the show could be forced to close.^[15]

A film adaptation starringAnna Magnani was released in 1955. Magnani won anAcademy Award for her performance.

• History of Italians in Mississippi

• Rea, Robert (Spring 2014)."Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo: Sicilian Migration and the Mississippi Gulf Coast".The Southern Literary Journal.46 (2).University of North Carolina Press:140–154.doi:10.1353/slj.2014.0009.JSTOR 24389063 – viaGale Academic Onefile. -See also atProject MUSE

• ​The Rose Tattoo​ at theInternet Broadway Database
• The Rose Tattoo (film) atIMDb
• 1953Best Plays radio adaptation of original play atInternet Archive
• Ralph Delauney papers related to Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo fromSpecial Collections, University of Delaware Library

• 1951 plays
• Broadway plays
• American plays adapted into films
• Plays by Tennessee Williams
• Plays set in Mississippi
• Tony Award–winning plays
• New Directions Publishing books

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata