Ethel Merman
Gypsy: A Musical Fable: The Original Broadway Cast, 50th Anniversary Edition
Masterworks Broadway

One cannot underestimate the talents of the legendary Tony Award-winning actress, singer and media figure Ethel Merman, The Grand Dame of the Broadway Stage. Possessing a distinctively clear, concise, and powerful belting voice with precise pitch, she was the unrivaled American musical theater performer of her generation, Broadway’s golden era. The First Lady of the Broadway Stage has worked with several performing arts luminaries such as George & Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne and has received praise from popular music artists such as Perry Como and tunesmiths such as George Gershwin. She introduced popular tunes that have become part of the American songbook such as “I Got Rhythm,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (her signature), “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Some People,” and “Anything Goes.” In an over 50-year career, Ethel Merman remains one of the greatest and most colorful American vocalists and artists of the 20th century, and her influence is widely felt to this day on Broadway.

Merman’s performance of a lifetime, her creative peak, was her mesmerizing role as mother Rose in the seminally revered and archetypal Broadway musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable (1959). Heralded as the greatest American musical by countless critics, Merman’s stage performance was a force of nature, displaying her robust vocals that needn’t rely on amplification or gimmicks. Its success spawned a film version in 1962 and a series of Gypsy revivals on Broadway throughout the decades.

Masterworks Broadway has given the original 1959 classic Gypsy Broadway cast recording a 2009, 50th-anniversary reissue, rounded out with new bonus tracks, new production photos, and a Stereo “360 Sound.” The original Gypsy cast recording was produced by the legendary and influential figure Goddard Lieberson (he introduced the seminal long-playing record to Columbia Records and also produced several classic original cast recordings including Rodgers & Hammerstein’s evergreen Oklahoma!). But this time, the re-release is taken under the wings of Didier Deutschand and Thomas Z. Shepard. Inside the CD jacket is a booklet of liner notes that describe Styne’s and Sondheim’s musical and lyrical vision of Gypsy and, reprinted from the original LP, the story behind the musical itself.

Act I features the bulk of Merman’s performances, comprised mostly of bouncy, lighthearted fare (“Some People”) set alongside rare balladry (“Small World”). Unlike previous editions, those familiar with the recording will take heed of alterations in “Let Me Entertain You” and “Rose’s Turn” in Act II. The producers Deutschand and Shepard have restored some bars in “Let Me Entertain You”, and the triumphant and boisterous “Rose’s Turn,” which remains Merman’s crowning achievement on this record, has a corrected trumpet note and a moving reading in two bars (“All your life and what does it get you”).

The bonus tracks begin with track 17, starting off with an alternate take of “Some People.” The next tune pairs “Mr. Goldstone” with “Little Lamb” (Merman originally did not sing “Little Lamb” in the musical). The last three numbers on the record have never appeared on the original cast recording nor any reissue since. “Who Needs Him?” is a publisher’s demo from 1959, followed by a 1990 interview with composer Styne. Gypsy ends with a burlesque number performed by Gypsy Rose Lee in which she recalls her childhood and professional career, also recorded in 1959.

The 50th Anniversary reissue of Gypsy: A Musical Fable is well worth the purchase for its comprehensive liner notes, production photos and engaging bonus tracks. With her booming, vibrant voice and larger-than-life persona, Ethel Merman’s performance here remains a guide and testament to the ultimate Broadway female performer.

by Jeff Boyce