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

Ethel Merman singing "Rose's Turn" from "Gypsy" live the closing Broadway performance. Note that the tempo is much slower than the cast recording. (Some 'haze' appeared on the sound in the upload, reason unknown). Goddard Lieberson would goose the cast recordings to get the energy lost from not seeing what was physically happening on stage. Merman did a lot of dance/grind action live, some of it you can see on that tiny clip on Rick McKay's "Golden Age" DVD doc. When I interviewed Marie Wallace for a Sondheim Review article she recreated how Merman worked it up and down the side curtain for the line "You like it?". The slower tempo allows Merman much more variety, she acts it more here, she just blazes through the recording. And that recording being what most people know, the poor actresses who have followed Ethel in the part have had to match that faster tempo, which must be killer to execute live. This was very heavily remastered and cleaned from a live audience tape. The impression of the complete score live is substantially darker than the cast recording.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Samarastube]

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

thanks for sharing!

[mshellnj]

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

[chocolatesouljah]

@ChrisRandomSinger She does sound better here.

[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!"

[AsiaMs]

This is EPIC!!! EPIC!!!

[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.

[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!