The mom in Mamma Mia! certainly would get a Mother's Day card from her daughter, but she's a rarity. Well-adjusted families make for forgettable drama. Even musical matrons, from Dolly to Mame to Mrs. Lovett, appear to be childless.

        Among the moms on stage we've loved and loathed:

        Gertrude and Volumnia — Shakespeare didn't spend much time on mothers, but he wrote a couple of doozies. Volumnia might have inspired the birth of psychoanalysis, constantly giving warrior son Corialanus bad advice and whipping him into imprudent action with the lash of her insults. Gertrude was mom toHamlet, Prince of Denmark, who didn't do her duty by her husband or her son but fell under the spell of her husband's murderous brother.

        Amanda Wingfield — Tennessee Williams gave the stage its most unforgettable Smother Mother in The Glass Menagerie. Her desperate attempts to find a financial foothold in post-Depression St. Louis and secure a Gentleman Caller for her shy daughter resulted in a masterpiece.

        Mary Tyrone — Tennessee Williams wasn't the only great American playwright to transfer his family issues to the stage, so let's tip the hat to Eugene O'Neill's tragic, drug-addicted, Mary Tyrone, lost in the past in Long Day's Journey into Night.

        Mama Rose — This penultimate stage mother drives the action in Gypsy, belting out numbers like “Everything's Coming Up Roses” while she drives her daughters into show business and out of her life.

        Fantine — The embodiment of motherly sacrifice, she sold her belongings, then her hair, then herself to support her illegitimate daughter Cosette. There's not a dry eye in the house for her big death scene in Les Miz.

        Medea — Her sons can't send her a card, she murdered them.

        Marta Hansen — Who? As WWII came to a close, she was the American stage's most famous mom. She was the heart of John Van Druten's I Remember Mama and lived on in film and the early days of network TV.

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DAUGHERTY: Everyday
KENDRICK: Alive and well
No clowning around when couple marries
DEMALINE: The arts
Famous stage moms receive little love
Flatley takes on new 'Lord' role
Herrmann's works reflect precisionist era
KIESEWETTER: Television
'Mamma Mia's mama likes ABBA life
'Monologues back in town
Entertaining no sweat for Musiq
MARTIN: Foodstuff
Pickles play pertinent part on plate
Serve it this week: Mint
Get to it