Frank Loesser | "Never Will I Marry" from Greenwillow / 1960

my favorite broadway musical songs: “never will i marry” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myk5GJ8D6Ek

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 Adderley, 1962

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM4xAY_vuAI

Frank Loesser, Greenwillow / 1960

Performer: Barbra Streisand, from The Third Album, 1963 Frank Loesser, Greenwillow / 1960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU112tKVY3Q

Frank Loesser, Greenwillow / 1960

Performer: Judy Garland, recorded Live at the London Palladium / 1964

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.

 

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, with its ranges from the baritone voice in the word “born,” to the tenor in the word “marry,” and Perkins’ final line aspiration of the word “dead.”

 

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 it. 

     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 Cannonball Adderley, Barbra Streisand, and Judy Garland, all versions of which I have also included in my list of video performances.

 

Los Angeles, August 10, 2017

Reprinted from USTheater, Opera, and Performance (August 2017).