RECORDING GYPSY:

Warn your neighbors, folks! If the Gypsy CD is anywhere near as thrilling as the sound heard in the recording studio this past week, fans across the country will be blaring Bernadette Peters' renditions of "Some People," "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn" for years to come. In fact, the Angel Records release — set to hit stores Aug. 19 — may turn out to be the definitive Gypsy recording.

I celebrated my 35th birthday this past Tuesday, and I couldn't fathom a more exciting gift than an invitation to attend the Gypsy recording sessions, which were held June 22 and 23 at Manhattan's Right Track Studios on West 38th Street. I was unable to attend the Sunday morning session, so I missed the first half of the day, which featured Marvin Laird and the Gypsy orchestra recording Jule Styne's famed Overture and Entr'Acte. The morning also included the taping of "Newsboys," "May We Entertain You," "Farmboys," "Broadway" and David Burtka's toe-tapping "All I Need Is the Girl."

I arrived at 3 PM, just in time for the afternoon session featuring star Peters. A little scene-setting: the recording studios are located on the fourth floor of the building. The sound booth, featuring two rows of control panels and a row of couches along the back wall, is separated from the main recording room by a panel of glass. The large orchestra was situated in this cavernous room with conductor Laird on a raised podium in the middle. A row of microphones was lined up facing the orchestra, directly in front of the sound booth. There was also another smaller recording room to the left of the sound booth, where two-time Tony Award winner Peters recorded all her tracks. Among those listening intently in the sound booth on the first day of recording were Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes; veteran Tony winning Broadway composer and Gypsy lyricist Stephen Sondheim; musical supervisor Patrick Vaccariello; and record producer Jay David Saks.

Two further takes of "Together" were recorded at 3:43 and 3:50 PM, followed by two takes of "Toreadorables." Peters and Dossett offered a lilting "Small World" at 4:22 PM. For the second take of that duet, two "pleases" were added to the musical interlude when Rose persuades Herbie to be the agent for her daughters' act. In the show, Peters manages to lure Herbie through seductive poses and non-verbal begging, which wouldn't be discernable on a recording.

It's clear that everyone in the room who works with or has worked with Peters adores her, probably no one more than composer Sondheim, who knows every note and lyric of the score, and interjects such phrases as "Hire her! Hire her!" or "Yes! Yes! Yes!" after Peters completes various songs. He is a stickler, however, and knows exactly how he wants certain phrases to sound, even requesting Peters to do a third take of "Small World" to better enunciate the "g" on "traveling" and "settling."

The remainder of the afternoon included Blanchard's touching "Little Lamb"; the final scene between Rose (Peters) and Louise (Blanchard), when the mother and daughter try to reconcile their differences; the second portion of "Mr. Goldstone"; and Peters and Dossett's charming "You'll Never Get Away from Me."

Also observing the recording session was composer Jule Styne's widow, Margaret. I had the chance to speak with Margaret, who had also watched Angela Lansbury and Tyne Daly record their Gypsys. I asked her to speak about Peters' Rose, and Styne explained, "To me she has this wonderful touching quality. She makes you want to cry. . . . You're very sympathetic to her, and it's very touching. I find as the show goes on, I really care about her, more so with this [Rose] than the others. . . . [Bernadette is] very touching, very vulnerable and sexy. She's very multi-dimensional." Styne also added that she wished her husband were alive to attend the recording. "I wish Jule were here. He'd love it so much. He'd be popping up and down. His ear was amazing. If there were ten violins, he could tell which out of ten was playing the wrong note."

The Gypsy orchestra broke for dinner 6-7 PM, and the recording resumed with Tammy Blanchard and Kate Reinders singing their first-act plea, "If Momma Was Married." The day ended on a high note as the three strippers — Electra (Julie Halston), Tessie Tura (Heather Lee) and Mazeppa (Kate Buddeke) — belted out their second-act show-stopper, "You Gotta Get a Gimmick."

As much fun as it was to attend the first day of recording, it was the second day that was, in a word, thrilling. Listening to Peters record her exceptional versions of "Some People," "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn" was a treat of a lifetime. The afternoon began a little after 1 PM with Peters recording her first number in the show, the classic Styne-Sondheim tune "Some People." It was decided that the first take's tempo was a bit too fast, so a second was recorded at 1:20 PM. It was interesting to note the difference in the studio's atmosphere on this second day of recording: On the first, people were much more casual, talking through some of the recordings and mulling about. On the second day, an additional sense of excitement filled the air, and there was complete silence as Peters recorded her "big three" tunes: Everyone was completely enraptured by her performances, and each take was greeted by enthusiastic applause. I particularly liked the determination Peters brought to the second take of "Some People," especially the phrase "some people ain't meeeee" and the spoken line, "but I'll get it, and I'll get my kids OUT!" After, Sondheim simply exclaimed, "Great!"

Peters took a 15-minute break as the orchestra recorded the portion of "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" featuring the out-of-tune trumpet solo. Sondheim was unhappy with the instrumental passage, and felt that a bugle was needed to achieve the appropriate comic effect. Unfortunately, there was no bugle in the recording studio; just as a messenger was about to head to the Shubert Theatre, a trumpeter came through with the correct sound, and during the take, Sondheim laughed, "Now, that's funny! Ask him if he wants to understudy." Peters also joked that she could play the solo, having done so during the West End concert tribute to producer Cameron Mackintosh, where she took part in the "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" sequence.  Continued...