Favorite "Rose's Turn" On Recording?

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 4:56pm

I'll admit it, I have an obsession with ROSE'S TURN. I love every version on recording. So what's your favorite from a cast recording/soundtrack

Ethel Merman (Original Broadway Production)
Rosalind Russell/Lisa Kirk (Version used in the film)
Lisa Kirk (Featured on the soundtrack, not used in film)
Angela Lansbury (1973 Original London Cast Recording)
Tyne Daly (1989 Revival Recording)
Bette Middler (1993 Film Soundtrack)
Bernadette Peters (2003 Revival Recording)

I don't think I'm missing any, am I?

Well I'd have to say the all time best recorded version is Merman's. NOTHING can beat her big finale to the song. No one can belt the "Everything's coming Roseeeee" like her. It's probally my favorite version. In some weird way, I really love Tyne's version. I also love the Russell/Kirk mix version. Bette belts it almost as good as Merman. I enjoy the emotion Peters brings it. And Lansbury is Lansbury.

So i'd probally say my favorite on recording is Mermans.

Which is your favorite?

[folkyboy]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 4:59pm

you're missing Betty Buckley's version from her London Concert.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:01pm

And Kay Medford!

[theatahguy]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:01pm

Lansbury by a Lanslide

However, the best version of Everything's Coming Up Roses is by Rita Moreno in the movie The Ritz. "I had a dring...." priceless.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:03pm

Okay I'm going to keep it from a Broadway cast recording or movie Soundtrack. You can add solo versions from concert recordings or solo albums if you want.

Now just answer the damn question.
Updated On: 7/12/06 at 05:03 PM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:16pm

Or Silvia Pinal?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:19pm

Merman owns the number. No one else brings te same anger (and hurt) to the performance. The only part I don't think she does well is the stammer when Rose begins to break down.

2nd choice, for me is Peters. Her voice is not quite powerful enough but she makes you believe Rose as a person.

Lansbury I like a lot too but she does seem to strain her voice. Daly's voice was shot by the time she recorded it (she was better in the theatre - or maybe the visual image overrode the vocal deficiencies.)

Lisa Kirk sings it too much. Roz Russell tries to "act" it too much, and it does seem like a second rate post Broadway tour instead of the real thing. Midler is better but she is still Bette Midler and not Rose.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:26pm

I really like Kirk's big finale, which is used in the Russell version. I love how you can obviously tell it's Kirk singing, then you can tell it's Roz doing the "FOR ME, FOR ME etc." And then back to Kirk!

It took me a long time to really appreciate Peter's version until about recently. I finally found the emotion.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:27pm

There is also a South African recording with Libby Morris, who a lot of people think is the definitive Rose on record.

I'll vote for Peters.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:34pm

Bernadette Peters. EASILY.


Am I the only one who finds Ethel Merman to be terribly bland on that entire recording?

[WhoCouldBeBlue]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:35pm

Ok... don't throw me off the board for this, but Merman has always made me want to turn the volume down. Everything always sounded *so* pushed.

Give me Bernadette any day. Finally the right combination of voice and emotion!

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:36pm

I think the tempos are tad slow for my taste on the OBCR. But NOTHING can top Merman's anger in the end of ROSE'S TURN. Nothing.

I think her EVERYTHINGS'S COMING UP ROSES and ROSE'S TURN are unmatched.

Plus no other actress has sang those songs as high as her. Haven't heard that South American Rose though. I doubt she belted the high C's at the end of both songs, like Merman did. As I said before, no other famous Rose have attempted the High C. They usually just go up to a B or B flat. I believe Lansbury sang an A. And well.. Roz/Kirk sang much lower, that's because of Roz obviously.

Updated On: 7/12/06 at 05:36 PM

[Hanna from Hamburg]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:39pm

Well (unfortunately) there's not a recording of it, but Betty Buckley was AMAZING at Papermill Playhouse. The acting of Rose's Turn made me understand things about the character that I never really got before. While I love her rendition on the London Concert CD, to me it's missing some of the emotional reality that came through in the context of the entire show. Too bad that version didn't transfer to Broadway -- I thought it was top-notch.

[Dame Fanadette]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:40pm

Loove Lansbury. Merman sounds blah on the recording I bet much better live. Daly rubs me the wrong way and I thought Bernadette's key was too low for her it seemed. I would say Bernadette's is the best though.

[andyf]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:41pm

I was just about to say, you can't forget Betty on her live CD (and even though it's not on record, her performance at Papermill).


I just that crazy b*tch.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:41pm

Libby Morris is a singer very much in the Ethel Merman/Delores Grey/Karen Morrow mold - she definitely belts the entire score pretty effortlesly and takes, if I am remembering correctly, those high notes.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:44pm

I would love to hear Libby. I would love to match her notes to my piano, to see if she hits the C's. Bette was decieving. I was convinced she was belting the C's at the end of both of those songs. But when I matched it with my piano, she was on a B. Though I think her ending note on EVERYTHING'S COMING UP.. sounds incredible.

[rosekwbp]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:45pm

Bernadette's easily.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:48pm

Isn't Bette Midler doing "Rose's Turn" in a different key though?

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:49pm

"But NOTHING can top Merman's anger in the end of ROSE'S TURN. Nothing."

Um, unless you find it shrill, ear-piercing, screamy and all-around a bit one-dimensional and prefer another interpretation...

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:50pm

Well I don't think any actress did it in Merman's key.

Because.. Bette and Peters end on a B. Tyne a B flat, and I think Lansbury may be an A. I haven't got to mess around with Lansbury's on my piano yet.


And Broadwaygirl, no one sings as shrill as Bernadette in the role. Come on. You are just used to the screaming belters of today. Not many these days can handle Merm's vibrato and belt.


Updated On: 7/12/06 at 05:50 PM

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:55pm

I'm used to the screaming belters? I don't know...to me, nothing is more screamy than Ethel Merman's shrill voice constantly slamming notes over the head at one dynamic level. She has one level and color to her voice: Loud and shrill. And frankly...emotionless.

[friedrichVT]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 5:58pm

Hands down Angela Landsbury. SHe acts through song and has the singing chops to boot. Listen to her Mama's and for Me's....not that u can truly compare but Merman sounds laughable, an actress she wasn't. Allegedly Sondheim was not too taken by Merm's take either...

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 6:04pm

The Lansbury keys keep modulating throughout the song. It's a little jarring, although I like her version a lot.

They eventually dropped the keys for Merman, so what's on record is not what she did for the balance of the run. Also too, I have to argue with those that say Merman's acting was not strong. Although I'm too young to have seen Merman, let's just say that on some existing preservation of her complete performance, Merman rocks the comedy, and is wandering, and wondering and hurt like a young child in the dressing room scene before "Rose's Turn". I was startled and very impressed with her choices.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 6:06pm

I'm not hear to fight over Merman, so I'll leave that alone, Broadwaygirl.

Just some interesting facts for whoever cares. I truly have no life.. I just matched some Kirk/Russell notes on the piano.

Kirk's ending of ROSE'S TURN(used for the Roz version too) ends on a G. Not that far off from the other actresses.

BUT her EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES ends on the D next to middle C! That is almost an octave lower than Merman! Ofcourse Kirk had to sing it low, because they had to make it very believable that it was Roz's very deep voice singing. But damn that D is baritone range! My range.


Updated On: 7/12/06 at 06:06 PM