Track Listing

1. Overture
2. Let Me Entertain You - Jacqueline Mayro, Ethel Merman, Karen Moore
3. Some People - Ethel Merman, Stephen Sondheim
4. Small World - Jack Klugman, Ethel Merman
5. Baby June And Her Newsboys
6. Mr. Goldstone, I Love You - Ethel Merman
7. Little Lamb - Sandra Church
8. You'll Never Get Away from Me - Jack Klugman, Ethel Merman
9. Dainty June and Her Farmboys
10. If Momma Was Married - Lane Bradbury, Sandra Church
11. All I Need Is the Girl [#] - Sandra Church, Paul Wallace
12. Everything's Coming Up Roses - Ethel Merman
13. Together (Wherever We Go) - Sandra Church, Jack Klugman, Ethel Merman
14. You Gotta Get a Gimmick [#] - Faith Dane, Chotzi Foley, Maria Karnilova
15. Let Me Entertain You [#] - Sandra Church
16. Rose's Turn [#] - Ethel Merman
17. Some People [#][*] - Ethel Merman
18. Mr. Goldstone/Little Lamb [#][*] - Ethel Merman
19. Momma's Talkin' Soft [#][*] - Laura Leslie
20. Nice She Ain't [#][*] - Bernie Knee

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16410 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 1999-05-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
Considered by many to be the last great musical comedy, Gypsy tells the backstage tale of vaudeville entertainer turned stripper Gypsy Rose Lee and her overbearing mother, Rose. Stephen Sondheim's lyrics--composed in advance of Jule Styne's infectious music--provide a tight structure and natural language to the 1959 score, which produced more than its share of Broadway standards, including "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Small World," "Some People," "If Momma Was Married," "Together Wherever We Go," and the climactic "Rose's Turn." Although the role of Rose has seen subsequent memorable interpretations by Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, and Bette Midler, the show was written for Ethel Merman, and she remains the definitive stage mother.

For this 1999 release, the recording has been remastered with numerous short passages restored and four tracks added. Merman sings alternate lyrics to "Some People" and a medley of "Mr. Goldstone" and "Little Lamb," all with piano accompaniment. Two other tracks are songs cut in tryouts: "Momma's Talking Soft" (gently swung here by Laura Leslie) was a duet for June and Louise that provides some context to the later line "Momma's talking loud," while "Nice She Ain't" is crooned by Bernie Knee, who is infinitely more suave than Jack Klugman ever would have been. Expanded to 63 minutes, this essential cast recording is now even more essential. --David Horiuchi

VideoHound's Soundtracks
The old girl from the world of showbiz, Mama Rose, proves both indestructable and a fine vehicle for singing female stars. Originally created by Ethel Merman, for whom it was written, the part has been variously handled by Rosalind Russell in the film version (not available on CD), Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, and more recently Bette Midler, among many others. The quintessential backstage musical, and for many the best ever written, Gypsy related the real-life story of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee and her sister June Haver, and how each was shaped into a star of the first magnitude by their monster of a stage mother. With a fine, solid book by Arthur Laurents, and a splendid score by Jule Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), the show has endured through repeated revivals, losing none of its freshness and its strength, even though by now its plot and tunes have become remarkably familiar. The three recordings listed here are all superb in their own right, the personality of the actress playing Mama Rose being the main focus. Merman, the belter and originator of the part, is still the best, though the recording itself, an early transfer to CD from the original analog tapes, leaves a bit to be desired sonically. Tyne Daly, in the 1990 Broadway revival, added her own touch to the role, but without significantly altering it, in a performance that has its moments of excellence. As for Bette Midler, in the 1993 television treatment, she camps the part a bit, but she is also remarkably true to the spirit of the original in a performance that has been justifiably lauded. -- © 1998 Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

This Is The "Gypsy" Recording To Have: An Essential
Love her or hate her, for all practical intents and purposes Ethel Merman (1908-1984) was the voice of the Broadway musical for more than thirty years: a larger-than-life, flamboyant woman with a larger-than-life voice that could rip a door off its hinges. Her roles are legendary, ranging from Kate in the Gerswhin's GIRL CRAZY to Reno Sweeny in Cole Porter's ANYTHING GOES to Annie Oakley in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. Near the end of her Broadway career she capped all previous triumphs with what most regard as her signature role: Mama Rose in the Sondheim and Styne GYPSY.

Although generally based on the life of celebrated stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, the play focused less on Gypsy and her sister actress June Havock than upon Mama Rose, the bombastic and endlessly determined stage mother from hell who propelled both daughters to stardom largely against their own inclination. By turns hilarious and monstrous, comic and tragic, Mama Rose was perhaps the only role that made full use of Merman's dramatic talents--and it didn't stint her on music either. GYPSY is one helluva show, and this remastered release of the original 1959 cast recording caputures it at full throttle.

There may be other contenders, but to my mind GYPSY has the single finest overture ever written for a Broadway play, an explosion of brass that sends chills up the spine. And when Merman explodes with her first number, "Some People," she puts chills on the chills! Although backed by a superior cast that includes Jack Klugman, it's Merman's show all the way, peaking with the frightening "Everything's Coming Up Roses"--perhaps the single finest example of denial ever found in a musical--and finishing up with the devastating "Rose's Turn." It is an amazingly powerful performance, more than deserving of all the accolades it received.

Over the years the dark GYPSY has received numerous stage revivals and two film versions, with stars that included Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daily, Bernadette Peters, Rosalind Russell, and Bette Midler--but whatever their individual merits, this is the GYPSY to have: all else seems ashes and dust beside it. The bonus of additional songs cut before the play's opening simply make it that much more desirable, but in the end it is Merman, pure, unfiltered, planted at center stage and still able to blow the doors off the joint. An essential.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

The best album of GYPSY just got better!
Anyone considering a career in musical theatre should study this show: It brought together several top people whose collaboration brought out the very best in one another. This is Jule Styne's very best score. Sondheim's lyrics perfectely explain the story and charactres (you can easily follow the plot just by listening to the songs, athough a detailed synopsis is included); Arthur Lauents' swift-moving book provided the framework that holds the score together, and as a "star vehicle" they got the biggest star Broadway would ever know: Ethel Merman. But it wasn't just a Merman show: Sandra Church as the reluctant Gypsy and Jack Klugman as Rose's long suffering boyfriend provide admirable support. Less than a week after the triumphant opening, the cast recorded this album and it remains one by which others are judged. The early stereo sound is wonderful. The performances are exciting and each number tops the one it follows. The extra bits that have been edited back in (after 30 years on the cutting room floor) only add to the excitement. This was the apex of musical comdey. The era is gone. Merman, Styne, Klugman are no more... but the record is here to stay.

An excellent recording of a true musical theatre classic.
"Some People." "Everything's Coming Up Roses." "Together." Ethel Merman got some of her most indentifiable songs from Gypsy, and this recording demonstrates why. But her powerful voice is only one reason to buy this cast recording--the music is excellent, and the rest of the cast extremely entertaining as well. Though the extra material included in this version isn't quite as essential as has been the case in other recordings in this series, this remastered version preserves this classic the way it was meant to be heard. Don't miss it!