Show Synopsis:
Rose desperately wants both of her daughters, June and Louise, to be star vaudeville performers, but clearly favors the more talented and extroverted June. She coerces a man named Herbie into being their agent, and the girls grow up performing the same kiddie act over and over. The girls begin to realize how much control their mother has on their life, and after June elopes with a dancer named Tulsa, Rose focuses on making Louise the star of the family. The new act struggles to find venues, and Rose despairs when the only performance they get is at a burlesque club. She agrees to marry Herbie and break up the act so that they can lead more normal lives, but when she pushes Louise into burlesque striptease, Herbie leaves her. Through this stroke of luck, Louise becomes a major burlesque stripstease star and tells Rose she does not need her anymore. Without anyone else to push around in her dreams, Rose realizes that she wanted stardom for herself all along.	

Character:
Rose, a loud and brassy woman in her 40s who has a secret longing to be a huge star; pushes her daughters to succeed on the stage at all costs; sacrifices love, a real home, and a unified family for the sake of stardom for June, and later Louise; finds it difficult to confront her own feelings; tenacious	.

Song Context:
June has run away from her mother and the vaudeville act to elope with Tulsa, and Rose is devastated. However, she realizes that maybe June was a lost cause, and she can focus on making Louise better. She knows it is going to take work, but tells herself, Herbie and Louise that it is possible with hard work and a bigger and better music act. She tries to convince everyone that this is for the best and that things will be better in the future.	

Fun Facts:
1) Ethel Merman originated this role on Broadway, and Sondheim described the qualities that made her a good fit for Rose, despite her lack of experience as a dramatic actress, as "obnoxious indomitability, an unstoppable confidence, [and] a total absence of self-censorship." 
2) This song repeats the same ideas over and over - childhood and show business - because Rose is not capable of referencing or thinking about anything else, being stuck in a lifelong dream of being a star. 
3) Sondheim got the title and lyrics from a 1968 New York Times editorial that said "Everything is not coming up roses in Vietnam."