| Lansbury's vocals in Gypsy. | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 08:05 am EST 12/27/24 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 08:00 am EST 12/27/24 | |
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| Angela Lansbury was my first Rose, via my first stage Gypsy, London, June 1973. I was 21, had seen on snippets of the movie as a kid and though I knew the score from covers, had mistakenly presumed the movie was mostly about Natalie Wood as that ex-stripper who had a chat show. To say that I was mesmerized is an understatement. When the Lansbury production opened in NYC, though we had no internet, the vocal performance was much discussed. Was it underpowered in the shadow of Merman's signature take? Some friends believed so. I went back to the album over the holiday and listened to most of it, "Some People" and "Rose's Turn" a couple of times. Today, the vocal energy and musicality in Lansbury's fine singing stands out. The score seems to sit on her voice so comfortably, it's a thrilling sound. Did she sing it in original keys? After reading so much about the mixture of head and chest and I presume the passaggio in the McDonald performance, I listened carefully to how confidently Lansbury landed her songs. I also appreciated the tempi; it seems the fastest of the post Merman Roses to my ear. I still recall how stunning the "Turn" was in the theater (and I later saw it two more times in the US, once at the Kennedy Center en route to B'way). It's still the least self-indulgent "Turn" I've seen/heard, a great singing actor trusting the material, the faster pace theatrically exciting. At that point, the world really only knew Merman's and the Russell/Kirk synergy (the artifice in it blend too obvious to my ear). In London, if memory serves, Lansbury didn't wear a body mic. The stage had shotgun microphones across the front that could be rolled over when a runway jutted forward. Today, so many people identify Lansbury's vocal skill from her Mame and Lovett, two contrasting uses of the same wonderful instrument. But her vocal performance as Rose strikes me as underappreciated. Can anyone who knows the score, knows the keys and how it's been historically negotiated, comment? That effortlessness seems noteworthy now. Just listen to "Some People." |
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| Previous: | Unfortunately, no. We will not be seeing it anytime soon. nm - ctmoonmaid 11:15 am EST 12/27/24 |
| Next: | re: Lansbury's vocals in Gypsy. - AlanScott 02:50 am EST 12/31/24 |
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