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Jule Styne has written many songs that you know-you just don't know it. His name is pronouned Jul-ee, and he is credited with writing the music for the two greatest one woman vehicles in the history of musical theatre: "Funny Girl" which turned Barbra Streisand upon whom the entire show rested,into a household name, and then "Gypsy" which is again a vehicle for a woman, Mama Rose-the original stage stage mother. Both of these musicals-his most famous-are histgorical biographical about women in show business. Gypsy holds the record as most revived musical on Broadway though the star, Ethel Merman, was hired before the composer or lytricist was. Arthur Laurents, legendary creator of "West Side Story" wanted to hire Stephen Sondheim to write both the music and lyrics for "Gypsy" but Ethal Merman refused, saying she wanted someone with more eperience. So the vocal score is created by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim. It contains some of the best music for theatre and where Laurents' and Styne's marks are all over this score, Sondheim's voice rings through and it's clear to see the ways in which he guided some of the music. This score opens with the classic song, "Let Me Entertain you" and contains other standard classics such as "Together wherever We Go" (with the brilliant inner rhyme: "No fits no fights no feuds and no egos; amigos forever") and these songs are developed and worked throughout more complex songs. The music is interwoven nicely with the book, "All I need is The Girl" is a remarkable piece of music containing a wonderful spoken and dance rpoutine within-this is a classic theatre audition song. "If Momma Was Married is hysterical and "Some People"-with the strong influence of Sondheim's powerful lyrics introduces Rose and brilliantly helps to develop her character.(Bernadette Peters, who revived this role among several others would record this at Carnegie Hall) Later she sings "Eve'rything's Comin' Up Roses" and unlike most Broadway musicals of that time, "Gypsy" has a sad ending, where we watch Rose sink into madness within the four minute song "Rose's Turn." Arthur Laurents did this with "West Side Story" in 1957, Sondheim would brilliantly duplicate it with "Live, Love, Laugh" in his 1970 "Follies" and again with "Epiphany" in "Sweeney Todd." This vocal score is one that will challenge the non-proffesional, since the score was created from the orchestration, so a pianist must make fast decisions about what to leave out of the accompaniment and what to slip in. Jule Styne often wrote music that indicated the vocal line, chord symbols and basic accompaniment rhythms and so it would be the prchestrator who filled in the rest. A professional pianist will sight read this score easily, but the score is so vital to the book and characters that it develops and becomes one single theatrical work. With today's budget cuts and smaller orchestras the pianist should be prepared to play any or all of the score. After Ethel Merman belted the score from down center, revivals included most of Broadway's female legeneds: Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Tyne Daly and Betty Buckley. Rosalind Russell and Bette Midler took the roles in film versions. Each production varied slighty from the next, not just in the obvious ways but also material that was re-writen. The published score, however, is the original that opened at the Broadway Theatre in May of 1959.Read full review
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