“Never Will I Marry”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDr2IZ64vPg
Frank Loesser,
Greenwillow / 1960
Performer: Anthony
Perkins, original cast recording, 1960
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhCDTmHTv4s
Frank Loesser,
Greenwillow / 1960
Performer: Anthony
Perkins on PBS’s Great Performances, 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTFEtPXxo0k
Frank Loesser,
Greenwillow / 1960
Performers: Nancy
Wilson and Cannonball Adderly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_uF5hM8LAg
Frank Loesser,
Greenwillow / 1960
Performer: Barbra
Streisand, from The Third Album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU112tKVY3Q
Frank Loesser,
Greenwillow / 1960
Performer: Judy
Garland, recorded from Television on February 23, 1964
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBZhJGJ_olk
Frank Loesser, Greenwillow
Performer: Tony Tanner, 1967
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH32QspeQCI
Frank Loesser,
Greenwillow / 1960
Performer: Audra
McDonald
Given
its very strange story, it is probably pretty apparent why Lesser Samuels and
Frank Loesser’s 1960 musical lasted only 97 performances. Set in a mythical
town, Greenwillow, the eldest born of each generation of the Briggs family are
forced to leave their loved ones and wives to “wander,” leaving their family
members to care for one another until their father one day comes home. In some
senses, this is a unstated dream of both heterosexual and homosexual men who
need more time to discover themselves, and casting Anthony Perkins in the lead
role of Gideon Briggs, heightens
the gay subtheme, even though, in this case Gideon did not want to follow the
family custom since he was in love with a local girl, Dorrie,
In any event, Perkins sang the work’s most
powerful song, “Never Will I Marry,” with such soulfulness that it might almost
be thought of as a lost gay anthem before gay marriage was legal, even though we know in the musical itself he does in fact find a way to stay and marry.
Never,
never will I marry
Never,
never will I wed
Born
to wander solitary
Wide
my world, narrow my bed
Never
never never will I marry
Born
to wander 'til I'm dead
The
“narrow my bed” phrase is one of the most haunting moments of this lyric, which
goes on to reiterate what might almost have been seen as a manifesto of gay
life in the early 1960s, saying everything with it's low baritone iteration of the word "born," the high tenor expression of "marry," and Perkins' emphatic statement of a lonely death.
No burden to end
No conscience, no care
No memories to mourn
No turning, for I was
Born to wander solitary
Wide my world, narrow my bed
Never never never will I marry
Born to wander 'til I'm dead
Anthony
Perkins and choreographer Grover Dale during the production of Greenwillow
Clearly, young Gideon, if he were to carry on
the family tradition, has utterly no intention of returning, or “No turning,” as
he puts in the second stanza.
I have included two versions
of this powerful song sung by Perkins, one from the original cast recording,
with its brief and quite silly musical prelude, made in the same year that he
was shooting Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho,
and a second “Great Performances” series from 2013, clearly taken from a Tony
broadcast of years earlier (which I saw), since Perkins died in 1992 of AIDS,
after having had affairs over the years with Tab Hunter, Rock Hudson, Rudolph
Nureyev, Stephen Sondheim, the dancer-choreographer Grover Dale, and, I have
evidence to believe, with my dear friend, Robert Orr—before marrying, at age
41, photographer Berinthia "Berry" Berenson, with whom he had two
sons.
What is utterly fascinating to me is that
this clear anthem of the gay life was also recorded by a substantial number of
women, including a jazz version by Nancy Wilson performing with Cannoball
Adderley, Barbra Streisand, and Judy Garland, all of which I have also included
in my list of video performances.
Los Angeles, August 10, 2017
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