Name: Gypsy - The 2008 Broadway Cast Recording by Gypsy - The 2008 Broadway Cast Recording
Brand: Gypsy - The 2008 Broadway Cast Recording
SKU: 610583244021
Price: 9.9 USD
Availability: OnlineOnly
Rating: 3 (182 reviews)

ALBUM

Although the Broadway musical Gypsy was the crowning achievement of Ethel Merman's stage career, Warner Bros. Pictures, contracted to make the film adaptation, did not cast her, a travesty generally credited to Freddie Brisson, manager/husband of Rosalind Russell (and derisively known in the business as "The Lizard of Roz"). Russell had worked in musicals (notably Wonderful Town), but she had a limited vocal range that did not extend to singing songs written for Merman. Of course, that didn't matter in Hollywood, where the singing voices that came out of any number of movie stars didn't belong to them. No surprise, then, that the second lead was given to another nonsinger, Natalie Wood. The principals were replaced, respectively, by nightclub singer Lisa Kirk and Marni Nixon, a professional ghost singer with many previous movie credits (or noncredits, as it were); she had just dubbed Wood in West Side Story. Onscreen, the substitutions, with Russell's and Wood's speaking voices giving way to Kirk's and Nixon's singing voices, could be odd. On the soundtrack album, which has less of the introductory dialogue, this is less of a problem, although the focus on the auditory makes it more obvious, for example, that Russell herself was allowed to sing "Mr. Goldstone, I Love You," while the transition from Russell to Kirk in "Some People" is strange. Kirk does her best to reduce that strangeness, but in doing so she undersings her songs, which is not what you look for in belters like "Everything's Coming Up Roses." (Just to add to the confusion, the weak-voiced Wood, not Nixon, is heard on the soundtrack album; Kirk sings "Together Wherever We Go" alone, instead of the film's trio performance; and "Rose's Turn," a mixture of Kirk and Russell onscreen, also is sung exclusively by Kirk.) As a result, the soundtrack to Gypsy is an unsatisfactory mishmash. ~ William Ruhlmann

1. Overture

by The Orchestra

Primary Artist: The Orchestra
Orchestra; Main Performer
Composer: The Orchestra
Orchestra; Composer

2. May We Entertain You

by Baby June Baby Louise

Primary Artist: Baby June Baby Louise; Main Performer
Composer: Baby June Baby Louise; Composer

3. Some People

by Rose

Primary Artist: Rose; Main Performer

4. Seattle to Los Angeles

by Rose

Primary Artist: Rose; Main Performer

5. Small World

by Rose And Herbie

Primary Artist: Rose And Herbie; Main Performer

6. Baby June and Her Newsboys/Let Me Entertain You

by Baby June, Baby Louise And Newsboys

Primary Artist: Baby June
Baby June, Baby Louise And Newsboys; Main Performer
Baby Louise And Newsboys: Baby June; Other

7. Have an Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone

by Rose, Herbie, June, Mr. Goldstone And Boys

Primary Artist: Rose
Rose, Herbie, June, Mr. Goldstone And Boys; Main Performer
Herbie: Rose; Other
June: Rose; Other
Mr. Goldstone And Boys: Rose; Other