Gypsy -- The 1973 London Cast Recording

James Troutman

Date: 2003/11/11
Last revised: 2003/11/29

This London cast recording is one of my personal favorites. I saw the production with Angela Lansbury when she did it in New York the following year. Zan Charisse is my favorite Louise, and I have fond memories of Lansbury's Rose. She brought a vulnerability to the role without sacrificing any of Rose's intense determination.

Notes on individual numbers

• 1 Overture 5:20
  This clocks in as the slowest Overture on record, but you probably wouldn't notice if I hadn't told you. The conductor takes the middle section ("You'll Never Get Away From Me" and "Small World") more broadly than others do, but he accelerates more in the strip music.
• 2 Some People 3:33
  
• 3 Small World 2:55
  The London production greatly expanded Herbie's singing, which was intentionally kept to a minimum in the original production because of Jack Klugman's limited singing voice. Thus, the latter part of "Small World" became a duet with Rose and Herbie. Later productions have preserved the additional Herbie vocals.
• 4 Let Me Entertain You (Montage) 4:32
  Each recording handles the vaudeville songs in a slightly different way. Here the Baby June and Dainty June numbers are conflated into a single track with a voice-over announcing "Five years later" to indicate the passage of time. To round off the number, Dainty June sings a reprise of "Let Me Entertain You" that doesn't actually appear in the show.
• 5 Mr. Goldstone 2:36
  
• 6 Little Lamb 2:28
  Only this London cast recording includes the complete orchestral introduction to "Little Lamb," which provides a transition from the raucous Goldstone scene to Louise's intimate lullaby.
• 7 You'll Never Get Away from Me 3:02
  
• 8 If Momma Was Married 2:54
  
• 9 All I Need Is the Girl 4:44
  
• 10 Everything's Coming up Roses 3:06
  
• 11 Together 3:36
  Sondheim added some new lyrics to this song for the London production, but some of the original stanzas are dropped. Then again, the original 1959 recording didn't include all the stanzas. Of all the recordings of "Together", no two include the same set of lyrics.
• 12 You Gotta Get a Gimmick 3:27
  A complete recording of this number, lacking only the non-vocal bits where Mazeppa plays her trumpet, Electra twinkles her lights, and Tessie does a strip ballet.
• 13 Let Me Entertain You (Gypsy's Strip) 5:33
  For the London version Laurents added Gypsy's patter to the strip, which totally transforms this number. Now we can see Louise's transformation into the self-assured Gypsy. This remains my favorite performance of the strip both because of the actual patter (Laurents varied it in each later production) and Zan Charisse's performance.
• 14 Rose's Turn 4:05
  Lansbury's performance still gives me goose bumps after all these years. Admittedly, some of my reaction is due to my vivid recollection of seeing her perform Rose. At the end of this number, she seemed to be in a trance, totally oblivious of her surroundings, as she repeatedly, eerily, kept bowing. At first the audience thought she was acknowledging their applause, but at some point we realized that Lansbury was fully inhabiting the role; Rose really had lost touch with reality, as she was acknowledging non-existent applause in a big empty theatre.

Gypsy -- The 1973 London Cast Recording

A Comparison of Gypsy Recordings

Related Gypsy Products

• 
  Remastered Original 1959 Broadway Cast CD with Ethel Merman (includes four Bonus Tracks)
• 
  Original 1973 London Cast CD with Angela Lansbury
• 
  1989 Broadway Cast CD with Tyne Daly
• 
  1993 Television Movie Soundtrack CD with Bette Midler
• 
  2003 Broadway Cast CD with Bernadette Peters
•   
  1962 Motion Picture DVD with Rosalind Russell (singing voice dubbed by Lisa Kirk)
  1962 Motion Picture Soundtrack CD with extra bonus tracks of Rosalind Russel singing
• 
  Gypsy Vocal Score
• 
  Gypsy: A Musical -- The complete libretto (or book) of the musical
  It's worth reading the Arthur Laurents libretto for Gypsy if only to savor his witty stage directions. E.g., at the end of the opening scene:
  

  ([Rose] is singing along with her girls when she sees the Balloon Girl, who has edged out from the wings. Still singing gaily, Rose removes her hatpin. The Balloon Girl backs into the wings as Rose marches after her, the hatpin extended like Joan of Arc's sword. Her dancing daughters watch, grin, and finish to a blare of music.)

• 
  Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee
  The musical is loosely based upon Gypsy's own memoirs.
• 
  The Making of Gypsy by Keith Garebian
  
• 
  Original Story by: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood by Arthur Laurents
  Often gossipy, always engaging, this memoir contains loads of information not only about Gypsy but about all the other projects and people with whom Laurents has been involved.