New Gypsy Recording Will Include Cut Songs

May 03, 2008

New Gypsy Recording Will Include Cut Songs

So, there's going to be yet another recording of Gypsy for us to add to our collections. Any showtune queen worth his or her salt will already have Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, and Bette Midler singing the classic Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim score. (The Tyne Daly recording is for fanatics only, and you could certainly be excused for giving the Rosalind Russell soundtrack a miss. Yeesh.) But there's always room for Patti LuPone, no matter how many recordings of Gypsy you already have.

But to make this new recording even more of a must-have, the CD will feature six songs that were cut from the show. These will include "Mama's Talkin' Soft" and "Nice She Ain't," both of which have been recorded before. But the CD will also feature first-time-ever recordings of "Three Wishes for Christmas," "Smile, Girls," and "Who Needs Him?," as well as two versions of "Mother's Day."

There's an interesting story behind why "Mama's Talkin' Soft" was cut. It's a charming song, currently available on the "Lost in Boston III" CD, and it was meant for young Louise and Baby June to sing in counterpoint to "Small World." The pairing of the two songs would have illuminated just how much the two young girls comprehend their mother's conniving nature.

However, one of the girls in the original Broadway production was afraid of heights, and the location from which they were meant to sing the song was very high up. So, rather than replace the girl, the creators cut the song. (That's actually sort of sweet, when you think about it.) It makes you wonder whether the scene would have been better with the two songs sung in counterpoint, although it's hard to imagine Gypsy any more effective than it already is.

The new Gypsy CD will be recorded on May 5 and 6, with a release set for August.

May 3, 2008 8:47:21 AM | Cast recordings