Angela Lansbury "Gypsy" Recording

[Tenorific2]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 8:54pm

I know Merman is forever "Mama Rose", but I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on Ms. Lansbury's interpretation. I actually don't have a "Gypsy" recording, and part of me wants to get Lansbury's. Midler I'll skip, Daly-- not sure.....

[Glebb]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 8:58pm

The Lansbury version is my favorite.
She's a great actress and she handles the score just fine, in my opinion.

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:01pm

I would skip Midler(sorrry Bette. I love you but ouch.) and the soundtrack. I have both because I'm compulsive about having cast recordings when I like a show but I rarely listen to these two recordings.
Updated On: 5/18/05 at 09:01 PM

[romanov]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:02pm

As great as Merman was, the Angela Lanbury recording is stunning. It is by far the best rendition of Rose's Turn. I saw the Tyne Daly version. Her acting was superior; her vocals were lacking.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:05pm

I like the new one with Peters just because it is the most complete. and I like Bette on the DVD because the adaptation was more true to the material than the first film but I've been wanting to get the Landsbury CD too simply because I adore her...

[TheBoyfromChi]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:06pm

I also prefer Lansbury's recording...and agree about skipping Bette's.

[Tenorific2]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:13pm

After listening to clips of Angela, I ordered it. I can't wait to get it!! Thanks you guys!! You all rock!!!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:23pm

There are really TWO Lansbury recordings of GYPSY. The recording I bought in London when I saw the show has a messy overture and Lansbury seems to heave a sigh of relief after "Rose's Turn". When she brought the show to New York a year later, the overture was re-recorded and "Rose's Turn" was cleaned up.

Whatever the case, be prepared for some British accents where you'd never expect to hear them!

[NCGuy]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:23pm

I realize no one would actually choose a recording of Gypsy based on Baby June, but I love Bonnie Langford on the Angela Lansbury recording - she's hysterical!

[Glebb]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:32pm

She was very good.
I also liked the Baby June in the BP revival.

[PJ]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:48pm

Angela's rendition of "Rose's Turn" is the definitive version, in my opinion. From that one song, you can tell that she acted the hell out of that role. Fantastic. I'd take her over Merman anyday.

[Mythus]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:55pm

I love Angela's "Rose's Turn". You can really tell that she's having a mental breakdown. I didn't get that as much with Bernadette.

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:55pm

I really wish I could see Lorna Luft do it.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:57pm

Say Dollypop, if memory serves me correctly I think on the first British pressing she also goes up to a high note on the last note of "Some People" but on the CD pressing she sings it lower as it is usually sung. Do you recall that? I always loved that sigh however after her "Rose's Turn"...sort of a hoomph!

Demitri
(who dreads having to go up to that dark dingy attic and drag out his old "Gypsy" LP)

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 10:15pm

I'll have to compare the CD with the black vinyl recording.

[Glebb]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 10:17pm

I'll get my 8 track out. :)

[RagtimeRay]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 10:20pm

Ms. Lansbury's Gypsy recording is my favorite. I had the pleasure of seeing her performance twice (in Toronto and on Broadway). It was a virtuoso performance, and she fully deserved her Tony for that role.

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 10:32pm

In order of Favorite GYPSY recording to my least favorite (yes, yes I have them all - Im a GYPSY freak)

1. Bernadette's
2. Angela's
3. Merman's
4. Midler's
5. Daly's

Watching Midler on the screen is FAR better than listening to that CD...Daly's CD makes me cry for all the wrong reasons...Im not a huge Merman fan, but this was her definitive role folks...Landsbury's had been my favorite until...Bernadette Peters version is so complete and realistic and beautiful to listen too that I could listen to it over and over again. Angela's is very good...Bernadettes is EXCELENT! Aurther Laurents says so himself in the Gypsy Binder for the most recent.

[alterego]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 11:26pm

You beat me to it Dimitri2. I was just about to mention the higher ending on Some People, so yes you are correct. I hadn't noticed the sigh after Rose's Turn so I'll now have to drag it out and listen. I have a bit of a problem with that London cast recording in that it has a slight tinny sound to it.
Bernadette Peter's recording is almost unbearable to me because of her nasal vocals.

I think I've overdosed on Gypsy over the years though. Recently the Midler version was on television one afternoon, I left it on as I was doing household chores and found myself doing everyones dialogue as I moved around! I had to turn it off, enough!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/19/05 at 12:45am

Angela was scary-good. The moment in Everything's Coming Up Roses where she turns to Louise and says "You. Can. Do. It." was steely cold in her determination.

But her coup de theatre was at the end of Rose's Turn. The audience applauded and Angela/Rose bowed by simply nodding her head, first right, then left, then center. She kept bowing and we kept applauding.

Then we got uncomfortable. We wanted to stop applauding, but she kept bowing. Then we stopped. But she kept bowing.

We wondered, "Is this some mistake? Should Angela Lansbury be continuing to acknowledge applause--even though we've stopped?"

Then we began to realize it wasn't Angela who was bowing. It was Rose. She was hearing applause in her head and not us. That's when Louise re-entered.

It was brilliant but devastating.

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 5/19/05 at 1:03am

Um, thats the way its written in the script...not saying Angela wasn't good when she did it...I did not see her performance, but as someone who's done the show...thats what the script calls for and always happens when u have a good Mama Rose...Bernadette did the same thing.

[Plum]

Posted: 5/19/05 at 1:08am

Yes, but I don't think it was in the original Broadway production. I'm pretty sure it was added in London, and Lansbury used it to its full effect.

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 5/19/05 at 1:17am

Angela Lansbury is amazing in anything she is in...i love both merman and lansbury in this role...but lansbury is my favorite i think.

[Chip1012]

Posted: 5/19/05 at 1:36am

It was Arthur Laurents' idea to add it in the 1973 production, as well as the turn back Rose does as she leaves the theatre.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/19/05 at 8:09am

Laurents added it in '73 for Lansbury. It was his idea to use the fierceness she had been able to display as an actress in The Manchurian Candidate.

But it was the demented look in Lansbury's eyes that made you realize how pathological Rose's need for attention was. No other actress has ever done it then way Lansbury did, certainly not Peters, not even Betty Buckley (who was powerful but lacking in charm).

<----- Of course, Dolores Gray always insisted that SHE was the best Mama Rose ever, because, as she said, "I understood the PSYCHOLOGY!"