Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Lovinbroadway2
Stand-by Joined: 11/1/14
#1Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 7:22am
What do you think is the best Gypsy recording?
Updated On: 3/26/15 at 07:22 AM
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#2Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 1:10pmBy far the most entertaining is the London studio cast album starring the unbelievable Kay Medford. After hearing FUNNY GIRL's mama sing Rose, the score will never sound quite the same.
#4Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 1:18pm
All of them, really. Every Rose brought something new and different (btw, 2003 BCR has the best orchestra). And apparently we're getting a new one in a couple of weeks!
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/New-West-End-GYPSY-Cast-Album-Featuring-Imelda-Staunton-Gets-Release-Date-20150325
Updated On: 3/26/15 at 01:18 PM
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#5Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 1:28pmYou need Merman and Lansbury. Every other recording is flawed.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#6Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 1:30pm
^^^^
In what way?
....but the world goes 'round
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#8Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 1:35pm
"In what way?"
Tyne Daly - voice trouble (says she was sick when she recorded it)
Bernadette Peters - whiny and self-indulgent, scratchy voice
Patti LuPone - zero subtlety, plays the Mama Rose Monster
Bette Midler - don't know what happened here but she just doesn't light on fire
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Updated On: 3/26/15 at 01:35 PM
#9Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 1:41pm
I agree with Tyne, hers is the one I like least.
And also Peters is less than her best (I never considered her whiny, but I do hear the scratchy voice).
I like LuPone and Midler though.
I'm with Fanotd however in that I think Merman is still the gold standard.
....but the world goes 'round
#10Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 1:52pm
The best recording is the video of the full Tyne Daly production that's online. Full score, best supporting cast, Daly's voice is in better shape than on the cast recording (which I still love despite that), and the orchestra under Eric Stern is otherworldly.
If you've got 2 1/2 hours to spare, sit and watch. It's riveting.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#11Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 1:54pmThe LuPone Gypsy cast recording has several songs that were cut, though, which I think are worth having. (The "Small World/Mama's Talkin' Soft" counterpoint is a personal favorite.)
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#12Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 2:19pmThey're all of worth, but the LuPone is the only one I actually listen to.
#13Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 2:36pm
Stick to the OBC. Sure there are minor cuts but I find it to be the most enjoyable listen to.
Though in realty I listen to a GYPSY recording in its entirety pretty rarely.
Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
#14Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 2:40pmIt really comes down to what you enjoy the most, I think. And it's easy enough to sample the various recordings to see which you respond to.
#15Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 2:40pmLuPone's recording is the only one I listen to. I especially love the additional songs. "Who Needs Him" is really worth buying the whole album, in my opinion. However, I am very interested in the Imelda Staunton recording. The clips of I've seen of that production look amazing.
#16Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 2:40pmWhat I wouldn't give to hear Ann Sothern sing ROSES'S TURN again. She performed it unlike any other of the Roses I've heard in the past. If anyone knows of its existence please let me know. And to the OP, I was only kidding about Kay Medford's recording. It's beyond bad. For me the Merm's version is the definitive one with Lansbury and Peters next. I would also recommend passing on Midler's which I had had high hopes for.
#17Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 2:45pmI find Daly's voice unpleasant and grating on both the cast recording and video, no sublty and no vibrato. LOVE her acting though.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#18Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 3:38pmDid Kaye Ballard every play Rose? I know Joanne Worley did a production in LA years ago.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#19Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 4:06pm
^^^^^^
There's supposedly an audio bootleg of Ballard as Rose out there. It's the holy grail for my one friend.
Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
Claudia Draper
Featured Actor Joined: 6/14/11
#20Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 4:24pm
We all know that BARBRA's STUDIO recording of the score will be the new standard. Even if we wont get it until she is 75 !! Of course, there are rumors that she recorded the score in the 80's .. i don't believe that but it is BARBRA, after all.. nothings impossible
Updated On: 3/26/15 at 04:24 PM
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#21Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 4:52pm
"There's supposedly an audio bootleg of Ballard as Rose out there."
I just see her as someone who could have played Rose and given a good performance.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#22Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 4:56pmI agree that Tyne Daly's recording is disappointing, but she, and that whole production, was sensational on stage. I never expect to see better. (I saw it early, before her voice started to go, apparently.)
#23Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 4:59pm
They're all flawed.
Tyne's voice is horrible.
Lansbury's orchestra is horrible (that 'bounce'-like drum in Rose's Turn makes it sound like a comedy sketch), and I don't think her Everything's Coming Up Roses is very ferocious (cf. Brantley's description of Bernadette: "what may be the angriest, most disturbing version ever of 'Everything's Coming Up Roses.'", or LuPone's version, where she sounds like she is going to rip your head off).
Not much sense of acting to me in Merman's.
LuPone is a bit self-indulgent (but I love it).
Bernadette sounds like she is trying very hard to sing the songs (but I also love it).
Overall, I'd rank the recordings LuPone>Peters>Lansbury>Merman>Tyne.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#24Best Gypsy Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/26/15 at 5:02pm
"I don't think her Everything's Coming Up Roses is very ferocious"
But didn't Lansbury choose to make Rose more loopy and not the ferocious monster that Merman had portrayed?
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
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