Ethel Merman

[Annie Get Your Rose]

Posted: 6/15/04 at 9:41pm

I was just listening to her version of Rose's Turn on CD and was wondering if when performed live it still sounded unemotional and forced? Not old enough to have seen it, but I am hoping the CD doesnt capture her well or something because most of her songs sound terrible compared to Langsbury and Peters.

[magruder]

Posted: 6/15/04 at 9:56pm

Too young to have seen her too, but I have an audio tape of Merman in live performance, actually at the closing night of Gypsy. And simply put, I think she's incredible. She's hilarious and raucous with the dialogue, and then she turns around and breaks your heart in the dressing room scene, where she sounds like a hurt child. Laurents and Sondheim have faulted her acting in print, but I don't think she takes a misstep, at least in audio form. Though the original Broadway cast recording is a very fine album, "Some People" and "Rose's Turn" are a little more stately than how they sounded, evidently, in performance. Of course, the audience is going berserk throughout, so it could be the adrenaline of a closing night show. But the role was written for her, and it suits her talents to a T. Not sure any Rose has ever been so funny, and so wounded.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 6/15/04 at 10:11pm

I have heard Merman live in the show also, probably the same one Magruder heard, and I've got to say I thought it was "okay". I don't know if I would say it was forced, but it was unemotional and just seemed like she was going through the motions. I'm sure that when she originally performed the role some 40 years ago it was incredible since nobody had ever tackled a role like that before. But since than, I've seen and heard them all and I my favorite person to perform the show live is Tyne Daly. She was just amazing and did a lot more with the role than Merman did in my opinion.

[alterego]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 3:28am

All hail 'the Merm!' Ethel Merman was a true vocalist . She was a singer where others such as Lansbury, Daly and Peters appear (sound) to be struggling with the vocal requirements of the role. The score just doesn't sit comfortably with them as it does her.

[NuggetMonkeys]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 7:45am

magruder, where did you obtain this tape?
-d.b.j-

[magruder]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 7:49am

Well, even the invincible Ethel Merman had to have the keys lowered, and missed a week of performances, I think for the first time in her career after bursting a blood vessel in her neck. It's just that kind of role. Eight big numbers and lots of screaming. I can't think of anyone who has played the role for an extended period onstage that hasn't lost their voice at one time or another.

[magruder]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 7:51am

As for the tape, a friend made a dub of his copy, but I don't know where he obtained his copy.

[alterego]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 9:15am

Yes the role is a killer, I just feel that of the recorded versions the vocal requirements sit best with Merman. All of the others sound to be struggling somewhat.

[Annie Get Your Rose]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 10:15am

Alterego, I disagree with you completely. I think Daly and Langsbury did great jobs and that Peters struggled a lil bit but did well. I dont think Merman sounds that good at all on the recording.

[magruder]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 10:18am

Yes, she does seem to sail through it. And then she has those trademark distinctive little grace notes that she adds, that also help to make the score her own.

I do wish Betty Buckley had been allowed to record the role. Though not an earthy comic, she did things musically that I would love to hear again. She took the most delicate approach with "Small World" I've ever heard, just caressing the words as a sly sales approach to Herbie. Really interesting take on it. And even more than her fiercely sung and acted "Rose's Turn," which she has recorded in concert, her "Everything's Coming Up Roses" was absolutely terrifying.

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 10:19am

Well Lansbury did a wonderful job because the keys were lowered for her.

Not saying it's wrong, just making a point.

[divanut]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 12:51pm

I agree with Magruder; Betty Buckley sang the #$%!!# out of that role! I think among the ladies mentioned so far, she vies with Merman for having the voice most suited to the demands of the score; She really commanded some of the highest parts in a way I think noone else has. She also acted it very movingly and created a terrifying Rose in her big scenes. She wasn't quite funny enough, however, it is also true.

I am alas among all of us who are too young to have seen Merman live, but I have a feeling she was pretty fierce. I've seen video footage of her doing a few of the numbers on earlier TV shows, etc., and she was such a riveting performer, and sang so well, that I would imagine she was tremendous in the actual show (and earned the audience going crazy her closing night!). I don't think audio recordings of her really capture how good she was, in general.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 1:21pm

Carol Channing told me a story about Ethel Merman that is very amusing. She tells it as part of her RAZZLE DAZZLE show that is heading to Broadway--eventually. Of course her version is much better because she does a dead-on impersonation of Merman while relating it.

At one point TGC and Merman were on a plane from NYC to LA, where they were to tape a "Love Boat" episode with Ann Miller. Someone on the plane took ill and was rushed into the cockpit. Merman bounded out of her seat and stormed the cockpit door telling everyone there that she was a nurse. TGC mused what it might be like to take seriously ill and regain conciousness by seeing Merman's face hovering over you like a ministering angel!(Actually Ethel was a 'candystriper' at St. Luke's Hospital, near Lincoln Center!) After a considerable amount of time Merman came out of the cockpit brushing off her hands. She then announced, "He'll be okay...it's just a cast of 'diverticulosis'". Carol was baffled by this. She didn't have a huge medical background, but a few people in her family were doctors and she's picked up a few key phrases. She gently corrected Merman by saying "I think the word is actually 'diverticulitis', to which Merman responded: "This is the plural".

The man apparently recovered.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 1:36pm

Merm had a reputation for walking performances unless the shows were the opening night, closing night, the Actor's Fund benefit or she had been told somebody "big" (or at least big to Ethel). Many was the time she was told that there were biggies who were out front when none existed.

Her performances were never thrown away, but they didn't have that extra something. I saw her do Annie Get Your Gun in Philly during the 1966 tour and I'd have to agree.

She was no intellectual and didn't spend a whole lot of time worrying about whether people liked her or not. She didn't care. She didn't have to.

And her nerves of steel were legendary.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/16/04 at 10:44pm

Jerry Herman relates an amusing anecdote about Merman in his memoir, SHOWTUNE. He tells of the time she showed up at his brownstone to hear the score for TWHM. He opened the door and found her standing there, carrying a purse and looking like anything but a musical comedy star.

[secondactor]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 2:29pm

Wow. I was totally moved by her version, and think her the best of the bunch (no disrespect to the others).

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 6:45pm

It took a little time for me to get into her but I ended up liking Mary Martin in Annie Get Your Gun.