Recording of Merman's FINAL Rose's Turn in GYPSY

There used to be a music store called Music Masters on West 43rd Street that sold audio cassette tapes of actual performances of Broadway musicals. These "pirated" tapes were quite expensive and, of course, illegal. I actually don't know how they got away with it. The store would provide a list of shows that were available.

Being a GYPSY fanatic and having seen all of the Broadway productions, I jumped at the chance to buy the audio tape of the final performance of the Merman GYPSY in 1961, a production that I had seen 5 times. The salesman told me that it had been recorded " through the house system at the Imperial Theatre " . Well, the sound quality is pretty bad--it certainly wasn't recorded through any "house system"; rather it sounds as if it is through a portable tape recorder positioned in the orchestra pit. You hear the orchestra prominently, the actors as from a distance, and you can occasionally hear audience members talking and laughing at the jokes in the show. Nevertheless, the excitement of this final performance comes through, and Merman receives great applause, especially after her emotionally driven "Rose's Turn". After the bows at the conclusion of the show, the cast sings "Auld Lang Syne". It is quite a performance with a very appreciative audience.

I, myself, illegally taped one of the performances of the Tyne Daly GYPSY after it had moved from the St. James to the Marquis Theatre. I found Daly to be very convincing as Rose, even though her singing is only OK. After Merman, I most prefer Daly to all the other Roses (including a lackluster Linda Lavin who went on for Tyne Daly for awhile). Incidentally, I saw Angela Lansbury as Rose both in London and in NYC--curiously her "Rose's Turn" was far more subdued in London than her rendition on Broadway when, IMO, she over-played her "mad scene" approach, encouraged by director Arthur Laurents. And, for what it is worth, I preferred Laurents's original staging of the ending where Rose and Louise walk into the wings arm in arm, having had a sort of reconciliation, over the LuPone GYPSY ending in which Louise spitefully laughs AT Rose, as Rose's sign blinks off, signifying her ultimately losing her control of Louise, and of giving up her own lust for the spotlight.

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Updated On: 7/16/11 at 08:02 AM

Also, there are copies of better quality out there.

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Yessiree... the newly remastered print is a huge improvement. Everyone I know with this recording have replaced their old one with this new one.

Simply... delicious!

Thank you for sharing this. I hadn't heard it and didn't know it existed.

Don't get me wrong: I'm a huge Merman fan and her tour of "Call Me Madam" was the first professional production of a show from Broadway I ever saw (at age 12).

But in this "Rose's Turn", she speaks the dialogue before the number like she's intoning the Latin Mass.

And then she starts to sing... And once she's singing, she's also acting.

Too bad they didn't write operas for her. (Just kidding.)

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To the poster above who says Lansbury was too broad in her "Turn" in New York: I worked on the Florida production she did right after the show closed on Broadway.

By the time she got to us, at least, her "Rose's Turn" was perfect. And the only hint of madness was a slight change in facial expression during the silent bow. Still one of the eeriest moments I've seen on stage.

Likewise

Ditto the above three!

There are thousands of others.

There is the original Broadway production of APPLAUSE (one with the original Broadway cast and another when Anne Baxter replaced Bacall).

Katharine Hepburn in COCO.

Original 1968 Broadway production of PROMISES, PROMISES.

Original Goodspeed Opera House (pre-Broadway) ANNIE (one with Andrea McArdle and the other with the originally cast Kristen Vigard) and also the original Broadway cast.

And, as mentioned above, thousands of others.

Yup. Seriously.

Promise Promises? Seriously? A full recording of the original.... seriously?????

And its fascinating having the chance to hear Jerry Orbach and Marian Mercer play the Chuck/Marge Act 2 bar scene. Such a different interpretation from Sean Hayes and Katie Finneran.

You have to consider that was 1968 so sexual mores were quite different from today so its weird hearing the pacing and tone to that hilarious scene. I personally don't like Orbach and Mercer's interpretation. Its quite bland and played quite straight which makes you question WHY the audience is almost falling out of their seats from laughing so hard. Seriously.

Okay, so one of you wonderful Broadwayworlders just let me into let's say, the antechamber of the Well of Secrets and I have spent the afternoon listening to excerpts from these amazing recordings.

"Promise Promises" is a revelation. It's opening night and the "Turkey Lurky" number literally brings down the house; it's amazing how reedy Jill O'hara's voice is on "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" and the conversation scene between Orbach and Ken Howard is interesting because Orbach sounds like a teenager. It's hard to reconcile that with Lenny Briscoe from "Law and Order."

Of much more interest is the AMAZING clips from "On the Twentieth Century." Wow. I saw that show and I know it was great but listening to the Octet again reminds me HOW amazing that was live.

And the stuff from "Camelot" is also breathtaking. I saw the first performance in Toronto when I was six, but listening to it all these years later, I am amazed at the audible stagecraft that is so, so, so missing from the polished marble OCR. The live version really allows you to understand how great that cast was (and Burton is wonderful.)

I hope this stuff comes into the open, even if just for a few days, so we can all record it and keep these treasures close to our hearts.

(And, frankly, I hate the fact that legal restrictions have kept these amazing recordings in the closet, literally, for so long.)

Thanks again.

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If someone wouldn't mind PM'ing me this recording I certainly wouldn't complain.

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