Together, Whatever
Patti LuPone was on Wednesday's Good Morning America with Gypsy co-stars Laura Benanti and Boyd Gaines. As you'd expect, they did "Together, Wherever We Go" since it's the only song with all three.
They performed the rarely heard third chorus, but had a new finish. Originally, it ends
ALL: We go in a group/ We tour in a troupe
We land in the soup but we know
The things we do, we do by threes/ A perfect team—
ROSE: No this way Louise!/ Together
HERBIE & LOUISE: Wherever
ALL: Together wherever we go!
Instead it was
HERBIE: When the audience boos
LOUISE: We don't drop our cues
ROSE: We always can use what they throw/ the fruit may fly but why complain?
HERBIE & LOUISE: tomato sauce goes great with chow mein
ROSE: Together
HERBIE & LOUISE: Wherever
ALL: Together wherever we go
I doubt they performed a special lyric just for GMA, so I assume this is the version they do on stage. The question is did Sondheim write it? And did he write it just for this production? I find it hard to believe they'd replace his words with another's. But when I saw Bernadette Peters in the 2003 Gypsy they were still singing the original lyric. And if it is Sondheim, why did he add an extra syllable right at the start--that's not his style.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:10 AM
5 Comments:
That "new" ending is heard on the Bernadette Peters recording of "Gypsy" as well as the Angela Lansbury recording. I am pretty sure its the original ending of the song and sometimes gets edited on recordings.
Thanks for the information. I thought I remembered them doing the "Louise" gag in the Bernadette Peters production, but maybe I'm remembering another version. (And the only recording I have of Gypsy is Ethel Merman's, which only had the first two choruses.)
The song was cut from the Rosalind Russell movie version (which, though it may be my favorite song in the show, is a good dramatic choice--I may post about that some day). I haven't seen the entire Bette Midler TV version, so I can't say what they sing there.
As far as the new lines being the original lines, I doubt it. I'm looking at my copy of Ten Great Musicals Of The American Theatre, edited by Stanley Richards, and the ones I quote as the originals are in it. I could see if the script were published contemporaneously it might have lyrics that weren't used, but the book came out in 1973.
So what happened? I don't know, but it seems likely somewhere along the line Sondheim (or someone else?) wrote new lines. The show was always more his and Arthur Laurents' than Jerome Robbins'. They wrote all the words between them while Robbins was away, and when he returned and saw it was an intimate piece rather than the tribute to Vaudeville he was planning, he never quite felt he owned the show the way he did West Side Story.
After the original 1959 production, Laurents has been taking over, directing it himself, tryig to get the show done as he sees fit (especially the stripping scene and "Rose's Turn"). Maybe he had Sondheim make some changes for him. It's not uncommon. In the Phil Silvers revival of Forum, two songs were cut and two were added. And Sondheim added a verse for Barbra Streisand when she recorded "Send In The Clowns."
Let me add people should check out your website and see pictures of the actors in Gypsy.
The "No this way, Louise!" bit happens in a reprise in this new production. There's a few minutes of dialogue after the song and then the last chorus strikes up again. It's actually one of my favorite gags in the show.
Once again, thanks for the info. This is what's great about the internet. Here I am out in LA writing about a production on Broadway which I can only guess about and two people who have actually seen it write in.
And check out The Player's website, which has more about Gypsy, and many other things.
We don't write about theatre that often, but we regularly comment on entertainment in general, so I hope we see you here again.
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