Best Cast Recording of Gypsy?

[Tony7]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 8:36pm

I'm currently struggling with the dilemma of which cast album of Gypsy to buy on iTunes... Any opinions?

[EthelMae]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 8:38pm

Ethel Merman in Gypsy then Angela Lansbury in Gypsy-IMHO.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 8:55pm

I have all of them but I listen to the "Gypsy (The 2008 Broadway Cast Recording)" the most. w/Patti LuPone

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 9:13pm

Bernadette, perhaps. But really, any from the 2000's and up is spectacular. But so are most of the major revivals. I prefer Bernadette though.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 9:26pm

You should definitely start with the original recording with Ethel Merman. It's (in my opinion) the best cast recording of all time.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 9:30pm

Ethel and Patti have the best vocals. Tyne will literally harm your ears.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 9:36pm

2008 Broadway cast recording is the way to go IMO.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 10:12pm

Absolutely Ethel Merman. Best GYPSY and, IMO, her best album.

(Bernadette Peters? What are people smoking and where can I get some?)

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/26/15 at 10:22pm

"Absolutely Ethel Merman. Best GYPSY and, IMO, her best album. (Bernadette Peters? What are people smoking and where can I get some?)"

Agreed re: Bernadette. Love her in basically everything she's ever done, but she isn't right for Rose. My top 3 are Ethel, Patti and Lansbury. For watching, the Bette Midler TV-movie is much better than the awful film from the 60's starring Roz Russell, and I can't think of anyone else in 1993 that would have been better for it than Bette, so there's that...although Barbra would have been the perfect age for it at the time. If only.

Updated On: 8/26/15 at 10:22 PM

[denali.fire]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 12:50pm

Ethel is the classic. Tyne is my favorite.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 1:36pm

Angela except use Benanti's songs.

I also really enjoyed Imelda Staunton's performance in the theatre, but the tempos on the cast recording really seem to drag. Also almost every other actor in the production seemed to have terrible American accents. 

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 5:34pm

All the major recordings have their highlights (save for Daly's version which I never listen to willingly), but the perfect recording from top to bottom is the 2008 record, which I now believe is as good of a record of the score as we'll see in our lifetime. LuPone gives a stunning, impeccably acted turn as Rose, and sings the score with a perfect combination of power and nuance; just listen to her "Everything's Coming Up Roses," it's not just brassy, it's eerie, calculating and exciting. Now you will find brilliant takes on Rose in the Peters, Merman and Lansbury recording, what makes the '08 album stand out is that Laurents surrounded LuPone with an astonishing group of actors whose takes on the roles are definitive. Benanti's Louise/Gypsy is incomparable; it truly is a masterful take on the role, and with her numbers she shows not just how Louise turns into Gypsy but how Gypsy turns into Rose. Leigh Ann Larkin, Boyd Gaines, Tony Yazbeck, Alison Fraser...I could go on and on about this album but I don't wanna keep you from running to listen to it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 5:45pm

 

Why, all of them, of course!

 

[Fantod]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 5:55pm

Can't beat the merm

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 8/27/15 at 7:13pm

I have them all, and the OBC is incredible for the sheer energy and Merman (and is a must for any collection), but the best all around is the 2008 Recording with LuPone, Benanti, and Gaines, especially the expanded version with all the transitions, bits of dialogue, and even the Entr'acte (which was cut from the production). Unfortunately, the expanded version doesn't seem to be available on iTunes at the moment...

[lovebwy]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 12:22am

I don't think you can beat the Merm.

OF the latter day ones, I'll take Patti, thank you!

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 12:29am

It always amuses me how Tyne Daly was the best Rose I've ever seen and it's the worst cast recording. 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 1:03am

Both the cast and orchestra on the OBC are stellar, definitely my favorite version.

 

But really if you didn't see any of the people in performance I think it probably comes down to which star you like the voice of best. I

 

f you can get the double disc 2008 version used it's wonderfully complete, if that is important to you.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 4:37am

The original--because it's brilliant.  I'd buy Patti's as a second recording--is more complete...  The regular edition also has great recordings of essentially all the cut songs.  As others have mentioned there was a two disc edition with added music from the show that was an exclusive for Barnes and Noble (something they briefly did--South Pacific has an expanded edition from B&N too.)  I found a new, cheap copy of this from Amazon marketplace just a year or two ago, but it took me a while to make sure I was ordering the right one.  (it's frustrating that they didn't just release this as the regular one.)

[carolineorchange21]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 12:31pm

This thread made me want to critique the various recordings based on the Overture - as one does when home sick on a Friday - so was searching and came across this clip of the John Wilson Orchestra knocking it the hell out of the park at the 2011 BBC Proms: https://youtu.be/Ww7kJiy2UqA

Slightly OT, but it IS a humongous and divine orchestra playing the greatest Overture in the history of musical theater. Enjoy!

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 3:34pm

Agreed, Candide and Gypsy have probably the greatest two overtures in Broadway history.

 

Jordan, was she really the best? What a shame she was sick (as they say she was during the recording process).

Updated On: 8/28/15 at 03:34 PM

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 7:10pm

The new London cast album with Imelda Staunton is great!!

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 7:17pm

Tyne sticks with the sick story but if you watch YouTube clips, she sounded just as bad live. BUT her ferocious acting more than makes up for the awful singing.

 

Ethel, Patti, and Imelda have my favorite Coming Up Roses on recording. Imelda sounds great in Lansbury's key and has a unique take on the song.

 

It's great having Lansbury on record, but the orchestra is lackluster on the album.

 

Bernadette's recording could have been nearly perfect, but they oddly kept her singing in keys out of her range, leaving her sounding very strained. Her final note of Coming Up Roses is a disaster, unfortunate because the slower tempo seemed to work nicely for her, but the key was just too high.

Updated On: 8/28/15 at 07:17 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 8:32pm

Yeah--Lansbury is *great*  But the orchestra and rest of it...isn't, so I can't rank the album as highly as others.

[binau]

Posted: 8/30/15 at 1:33am

Yeah that "bounce" in Lansbury's Rose's Turn cracks me up every time. But for me I also wish Lansbury made some different acting choices at times. For example, maybe it's because they keep taking it further/exaggerating it in recent revivals or recordings, but her "Everything's Coming Up Roses" isn't quite as ferocious as Patti's or Bernadette's in my opinion (Patti's probably being the most ferocious I've heard). I know Lansbury could have done it if she wanted to - she was more ferocious singing "Me and My Town" 10 years earlier in ANYONE CAN WHISTLE. And her "Rose's Turn" is pretty intense.

 

What I love about all these GYPSY recordings though is that the lead vocalists are so unique/individual/special. The performances are so different that (with the exception of Tyne's recording, unfortunately - wish I could have seen her) all of the recordings are compulsory listening! This discussion has been had before, but there seems to be much more personality in the voices of stars-gone-by than the new 'divas' (if there is even such a thing today).

As for the 'best'. I'd also vote LuPone's recording. The orchestra sounds great, LuPone is a monster vocalist and the supporting cast are excellent. I'm also partial to Bernadette's vocals (of course). However, it would have been great if she could have played the role as little as 5 years earlier, you can hear the deterioration in her voice from this performance in 1998 to the cast recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSbfSXHLAxs 

Her Carnegie hall performance in 1995 is even more impressive. By 2003 her vibrato seems to have become slower and her belt a little strained. LuPone makes the score sound so easy to sing, while Bernadette is being stretched to her limits. I don't really mind though. She still is a powerful vocalist and was able to sing the score.

 

Updated On: 8/30/15 at 01:33 AM