A new musical represents the real life tycoon behind the Mop Miracle. Yes, really.

Betsy Wolfe does not care if the public who catches his performance in “Joy: a new true musical” expect to see a program about a mop, as long as they take the time to reflect on the sweet message of self -employment in his nucleus.

“Joy”, which opened Sunday at the Laura Pel Theater at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg center for the theater in New York, tells the life of Joy Mangano (Wolfe), which jumped to fame in the early 1990s as an inventor of the Mop Miracle.

Mangano, Native Long Island, struggled for consumers with regular appearance on the QVC television network, and in 2000, sold $ 10 million annually in Miracle Mops.

“There are very few musicals, if any, written about modern women whose full trip is entrepreneurship while changing the lives of his family,” said Wolfe, whose credits include “Falsettos” and “waitress” of Broadway, told News in an interview. “Many people refers to theater as an escape from their lives. This show is a beautiful exam where you are, where you have been and where you could go.”

John Marcus

As the musical shows, mangane success was very replaced. Not only is he raising his daughter Christie (Honor Blue Savage) as a single mother, but it is also a source of financial and moral support for her own mother Toots (Jill Abramovitz) and Father Rudy (Adam Groupper), as well as her former frame, Tony (Brandon Espinoza), who is dreaming of the music leprom while she lives in her basement. While his new career progresses, he faces more obstacles, many taxes for male businesses that question his impulse.

The composer Annmarie Milazzo and the book writer Ken Davenport presented an early version of the musical in 2018, at which time Wolfe was invited to participate in a reading. The development of the program was arrested in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and by when the cinemas began a stages reopening 17 months later, Wolfe starred in the musical “& Julieta”, for which he received a nomination for the Tony award.

John Marcus

Soon, the possibility of portraying Mangano signaled once again. To prepare for the paper, Wolfe regularly met with the real life mangary, now 69 years. Meanwhile, the recent changes in Wolfe’s life, which include the reception daughter Poppy, now 5 years old, with her husband Adam Krauthamer, have deepened their understanding of mangane experiences.

“I am grateful that this program has not happened six years ago, because I don’t think I had brought an ounce of sincerity. I can’t even imagine the 2019 version of my joy,” he said. “My performance can be killed in a way that only time and experience allow.”

Regarding Mangano, he added: “I asked him blank:” Why did you make your life more difficult? Your parents separated and supported them. You let your ex -husband live in the basement. “And she said:” I think there is good in all, and it was more important for me to give them opportunities to find that good. “That is such an exceptional quality.”

Bruce Glikas through Getty Images

“Joy” is directed by Lorin Latarro, who choreography to the acclaimed revival of “Once Upon to Mattress” and “Into the Woods”, among other shows. At present, the musical is scheduled to run out of Broadway until August 17. Although the reviews have mixed, it is safe to assume that its creative team awaits a Broadway transfer in the future.

Wolfe, of course, would love to portray mangane in a future iteration of “joy.” The role, he said, has already given him a new vision of his own efforts, especially his work with Broadwayevolved, the musical theater training program for students who co -founded with his partner actor Cynthia Rose.

“I started my business the same year I made my first reading of ‘Alegría’, and I think how difficult it would have been to do that without her and so many others,” he said. “To be able to say that I am an actor who works in a program that makes people want to make a change in their own lives is the cherry ke. That is what feeds me.”

John Marcus