Ethel Merman "Rose's Turn" Live Broadway Closing "Gypsy" Sondheim Styne Remastered

[mshellnj]

NO ONE HAS EVER SOUNDED LIKE HER AND NO ONE EVER WILL! SHE SANG LIKE A TENOR - An AMAZING ARTIST!!!

[AsiaMs]

This is EPIC!!! EPIC!!!

[superduffman22]

sondheim is just brilliant; just the fact that the song"s title has two different meanings

[Rysanekfan]

To hear this performance satisfies a long held curiosity of mine...what did Merman sound like live? As I suspected..Terrific! ...and with a Mermanism on the "r"...Great though the Broadway album of Gypsy is, this recording reveals the depth of Merman's art and also makes it clear that the "theatre" was her true element. Her's was a big voice and big voices need space to live. Plus, the performance is so moving from the soft tones she uses during : "Momma's talkin' loud" to final "for me" Wow!

[aasjb4ever]

OH MY GAWDE. Amazing, thanks so much for sharing!

[MattBarlow]

Interesting. The final "for me"'s are almost lucid in their sudden resignation, totally different from Merman on the OBCR or any other performance I've heard. Now if only she hadn't done that little Merman-ism on "you're battin' zerOO"....

[Wordman67]

So fascinating! Thanks for posting!

[olbrych82]

the dailog that been posted is crystal clear i heard all of this performance before and the way i heard the ending seem to get lost a little still great .

[draparks]

listen to that Band! What great orchestral color. Merman is ON!!

[theemaestro576]

This is my favorite thing ever, I think. Gah. So amazing.

[javimu111]

Tempos for actual Soundtrack recordings are different from Tempos for the actual Show. Perios. AND: several persons who saw this production AND this final performance told me: she was not miked (no one was back then. You had to SING!) and everyone in that audience had the hair on their backs stand and the entire audience sat in the FRONT their seats listening to her. There were several moments in the show w/ standing ovations DURING the show! They say it was unforgettable. Legendary.

[chocolatesouljah]

@javimu111 Merman may haver been miked for "Gypsy." Mikes on Broadway were used as early as "Dubarry Was A Lady" in 1939 a show starring Ethel Merman! Due to the larger than usual orchestra. Strategically placed foot mikes but mikes just the same. Not knocking Merman.  This clip made me more mournful than ever that she didn't get to do the movie version of "Gypsy." Could have garnered an Oscar. I am not sure if "Gypsy" was miked but possibly and she certainly was for "Hello Dolly!"

[upstatepiano]

Not too mention the fact that she is not miked; the recording was obviously made in the house, and you can her over the orchestra. It's called use your ears people!!

[90210chas]

I saw Ethel Merman in Gypsy as a 7 year old kid. How did you get your hands on this? WOW! I've heard there is a video tape of her performance; but it's not avail to public. OH HOW I WOULD LOVE 2 see Merman in Gypsy again via that video. But, meanwhile, what u put here is PURE GOLD. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU :)

[boinx1234]

@90210chas

No videotape exists, but this is taken from a complete audio recording of the final performance.

[olbrych82]

@boinx1234 Do you know of a website where this is avallable there was one a while back .?

[jonthesYT]

Sometimes things were speeded up to fit the grooves, particularly on 78s (the cut in "This Nearly Was Mine" the most egregious). But I don't think that was the case with "Gypsy". Lots of the score wasn't recorded at all. I think it was Lieberson's artistic producing choice.

[flagler88]

@jonthesYT The Original West Side recording also has the tempo sped up I think to fit as much as possible on the LP, and they still couldn't get most of it on there. Would love to hear this whole show with Merman, this Angela Lansbury's Mame and Barbara's Funny Girl which also has small clips on youtube.

[rbrtptrck]

On of the masterpieces of musical comedy, no doubt about it. In an irregular piece like this, i always wonder whether the words or the music came first.

[boynamedalexxx]

@rbrtptrck I always wonder why someone might refer to "Gypsy" as a musical comedy. Is there comedy in it? Yes, but the entire show's ultimate purpose is very serious. I mean, "Rose's Turn" and the scene that follows are very dark...the show's intent was more dramatic than comical. That's what Laurents wanted.

[rbrtptrck]

@boynamedalexxx Well, Gypsy is full of jokes. Even Rose's Turn has a number of laugh lines in it. But the designation "Musical Comedy" is more about a musical and emotional range--separate from "operetta," "light opera," and "grand opera." "A Little Night Music" and "South Pacific" lean more toward operetta, But all these definitions have been stretched by now to where it would be difficult to know what to call many of this century's musicals.

[hushpuppy212]

weren't tempos usually increased for original cast recordings in order to fit everything onto one LP?

[ChrisRandomSinger]

Does anyone else think she sounds better here than on the CD? She seems to be giving it a little more emotion this time around. I certainly admire the woman, but I think just about everyone will agree that her voice was sort of a one-note steamroller. It was cool and all, but not exactly pleasing to the ear. Plus, she wasn't always the best actress. I would have loved to see her live, though. She's certainly one of a kind. BTW, the orchestra sounds AMAZING!!!

[allanfisch]

@ChrisRandomSinger absolutely, because she has the energy of the theater going for her, also this was the last performance? This is magic, like manna from heaven..Thanks for sharing. How I would have loved to have seen this.

[chocolatesouljah]

@ChrisRandomSinger  She does sound better here.

[jonthesYT]

Someone actually gave this a thumb's down. Why would you even look at this if you weren't already interested in her or the material. Odd.

[new2pass]

@jonthesYT How anyone could hear this and not get the talent and genius of this performance is beyond me

[pudgeuncle]

@jonthesYT Your post is illogical. It is perfectly appropriate for someone to post a negative AFTER hearing/seeing a clip. You Tube is NOT a fan club and people are entitled to various opinions.

[jonthesYT]

@pudgeuncle Seems pointless to me to 'dislike' something like this. If this was a pay service then would make some sense, a dissatisfied customer, but in these matters Facebook has it right. At least appreciate the effort I made in restoring the sound and posting it to refrain; as it is anonymous anyway, I have no idea who objected or why and it would be illogical to expect me to care very much. Oh well, I'll just ignore it in the future. Hopefully we both have better things to do.

[Israelitheater]

This is amazing!!

[jonthesYT]

I've done the whole thing, but getting anything released is very difficult. One, is there enough public interest to sell enough copies and then the legal problems (you have to pay every living member of the orchestra, etc.). I've done hundreds of things by now, whether any of them will ever see the light of day (or getting paid for any of it) is a very open question.

[olbrych82]

this whole performance was recorded to bad they don't release all of it remastered.

[Samarastube]

...do people know this is available? this is a big deal.

thanks for sharing!