My favorite thing about this entire production is the clear respect and reverence all of these women have for each other. The way they watch and get so lost in each other's performances is so true and heartfelt. They recognize that everyone of them is at the top of their game and at one point or another was a muse for the great Sondheim. It's inspiring to see them all truly be so invested and supportive of each other during their solo performances.
Can we talk about how Donna totally blacks OUT when she sings this? That stumble at the end when she's kind of snapping out of it. ACTING. She is truly one of the greats.
Patti is so into the performance that she's mirroring emotion, leave her be folks! I do the exact same thing when I'm really into someone's performance.
What I love about this performance is how controlled Murphy is throughout. You can feel the anger, betrayal, and acid lurking just behind her words as she masks what she’s feeling with sarcasm and jokes...and then, her emotions reach a horrifying boiling point on “WAIT A GODDAMN MINUTE!” Note how quickly the laughter stops at that moment-everyone’s shocked as the mask falls with a thud, and we see just how much pain this woman is in. Murphy is a true pro-moving from emotion to emotion with perfect control, and taking the whole audience along for the ride. Bravo to a comic and Broadway genius! :D
So true! Donna literally becomes possessed during the course of this song. The transformation is chilling..... but oh so revealing and entertaining. 😁👍
Rewatching after reading this comment was so spectacular. You broke this down in such a technical way it’s so beautiful when art can be so plainly explained and yet so emotional or even more emotional after a purely technical analysis
I LOVE this performance. Yes, there's the sarcasm, the rage at the ossification of the relationship. But also tenderness, regret, the knowledge that love is still there - after all that time - and that is why she can't leave. The way she shapes this vocally and physically is off the charts. As others have pointed out - there's a complete identification with the character, which is riveting and moving.
pawdaw love your comment here. It’s a song of a woman caught in between all the reasons to leave her husband yet still optimistic and loyal to the image of her in love with him. That’s why in the ending of the song - it can go either way. There’s still a shred of her that wants to stay yet despite it all inches closer to leaving eventually.
One thing you need to take into serious consideration is the fact that the original stage version of this song ends in total disgust and hatred (interpreted by Donna) so I'd recommend you watch that and then come back to your comment... I assure you, you will find the need to make some changes... That said, this particular version, this interpretation by Donna herself is an absolute masterpiece in every single aspect. I have watched it on repeat over 50 times already, and I keep coming back to it, time and time again.... it is a riveting performance, one that sets up a VERY, EXTREMELY high bar for anyone to follow... I am totally in love with Donna in this performance...
@@gustavotozzo But in the end they stay together, and Ben tells Phyllis how much he admires her. So there is tenderness and rage in this song, but also the realisation that this is her life, and that she accepts it, flaws and all.
I've watched this a bunch of times and have only recently noticed at 0:59 how you can see Elaine Stritch having such a fabulous time watching Donna sing... She cracks this huge smile after "How could I survive?" as though it's the first time she's ever heard that line and it's the funniest thing ever.
She really should've been The Witch in the Into The Woods film. I mean, I love Meryl, I thought she was great (and yes, I do love the original with Bernadette), but man Donna Murphy would've been perfect!!
Meryl was great and I doubt Murphy's acting would have been comparable. And most of the universe would not go see Murphy so all worked out for the best.
She is so Brilliant and Captivating!! Wonderful Actress!!! Wonderful Singer!!! Such a Powerful Performance on her part!! The Beautiful, Donna Murphy !!!!🤩🤩🤩🤩😆😆😆😆👍👍👍👍
I had NO CLUE of Donna Murphy's singing ability until I heard her sing in the Disney movie, "Tangled." OMG!! These actress and actors that are superb singers BLOW. ME. AWAY!!! I had respect for them for their acting performances, but the Ultimate Respect, and almost Pride, that I feel when I hear them sing. (I felt the same way when I heard Meryl Streep sing in "Death Becomes Her." Again... O.M.G!!!) Patti LuPone's singing is so extraordinary, that you are riveted completely when she sings. Patti classifies herself as an "Actress who can sing." Meryl Streep made a comment in an interview once that I'm paraphrasing here... "All gifted actors and actresses can sing well" Such a modest thing to say in response to an interviewers comment about how great a singing voice she has. Meryl Streep is one of the most modest and down-to-earth actress there is... especially considering "Who" she is!
Leave you? Leave you? How could I leave you? How could I go it alone? Could I wave the years away With a quick goodbye? How do you wipe tears away When your eyes are dry? Sweetheart, lover, could I recover? Give up the joys I have known? Not to fetch your pills again every day at five Not to give those dinners for ten elderly men from the UN How could I survive? Could I leave you? And your shelves of the world's best books And the evenings of martyred looks, cryptic sighs Sullen glares from those injured eyes? Leave the quips with a sting, jokes with a sneer Passionless lovemaking once a year? Leave the lies ill-concealed and the wounds never healed And the game's not worth winning And wait, I'm just beginning What, leave you, leave you? How could I leave you? What would I do on my own? Putting thoughts of you aside In the south of France Would I think of suicide? Darling, shall we dance? Could I live through the pain On a terrace in Spain? Would it pass? It would pass Could I bury my rage with a boy half your age In the grass? Bet your ass But I've done that already or didn't you know, love? Tell me, how could I leave when I left long ago, love? Could I leave you? No, the point is, could you leave me? Well, I guess you could leave me the house Leave me the flat Leave me the Braques and Chagalls And all that You could leave me the stocks for sentiment's sake And ninety percent of the money you make And the rugs and the cooks Darling, you keep the drugs Angel, you keep the books Honey, I'll take the grand Sugar, you keep the spinet And all of our friends and Just wait a goddamn minute Oh, leave you? Leave you? How could I leave you? Sweetheart, I have to confess, could I leave you?Yes Will I leave you? Will I leave you? Guess!
Everybody is talking about Patti's face and I can't help but laugh at the fact that they've been rehearsing this and would have seen her sing this, but she's still so good that everybody is watching almost like they've never seen it. I love it so much
Sigh. Come on ppl. If you look at Patti's face before that moment, she's smiling. She's entranced by Donna's performance and doesn't mask how the emotions affect her.
she can make you feel every instrument in that lush, grand orchestra, it is intoxicating. paul gemignani is wicked too. this has been one of my favorite performances for years and it still holds up, she is one of the all-time great masters of this style of musical theatre
I love how she acted this ... it was comedic and scathing at the same time. It's perfect. Her tone, emphasis, and enunciation on certain phrases and words makes it so good. I wish there was a studio recording.
I can't get enough of this performance! It's perfection! And by the way, Donna would be the perfect Mother Gothel if there will ever be a live version of Tangled.
Magnificent ! Best version I have heard of this amazing Sondheim classic. The way she states the final word "guess" changes it from uncertain to definitive . Go find that boy in the grass !!! You have earned him !
Tbh, the 20 seconds of applause wasnt enough lol. This is literally one of the best preformences i think ive ever seen. I MEAN LOOK AT MRS LAPONE HERSELF 😂
This is one of the best performances that we have on video. It is a true theatre treasure by one of the greatest actors of our time. It is so specific and detailed, so organic, and truthful. A sensational performance of a masterpiece of a song 🤍
I love seeing Donna in this great performance. We were classmates and fellow violinists in middle school before her family moved to MA. In high school, our librarian was “Mr. Lupone” - Patti’s brother. So twitching this is a real walk down memory lane for me. So many great talents.
I don't know if that was planned, but that strand of hair falling at the end was PERFECT! Murphy. Legendary Broadway diva among all those others on stage with her.
Absolutely savage! A great testament to Murphy's talent for bringing nuance, self-deprecation, and grit to her characters (her Dolly Levi was one of the most well-thought out performances of an otherwise hammy role).
Just saw her in Star Trek and was mesmerized. Had to find out who she is (Norwegians don't know) and found this. I'm gob smacked! Spontaneously shouted "Dayum!" at the end. I can't even. The only thing I love more than Star Trek is musical theater (I'm strange). This was perfect!
We put on Follies at Tufts University soon after the original production closed on Broadway in 1972. I was a freshman, just helping with costumes and backstage, but the upper-class kids (I call them kids now!) probably had seen it when it previewed in Boston. I remember that Sondheim sent us a telegram wishing us luck on our opening night. I've always loved this musical and the amazing songs--having been involved with it as an 18-year-old, and seeing it once 20 years later, I could appreciate the youthful as well as the older point of view. "Could I Leave You?" was always a fabulous number, but we were too young to really comprehend the bitterness of a painful marriage. What an amazing performance this is. I can't believe I'm just seeing this for the first time. Brava, Ms. Murphy!
This is the first time I ever heard this song and I'm just in awe. The lyrics are hilarious, the mucis is beautiful and the wonderful sarcatic performace is perfect!!
I absolutely love this!! How much all of these ladies have nothing but the utmost respect for one another. The performances of each of the ladies this night were phenomenal! I never loved Patti LuPone, but it is undeniable how much she respects the ladies in red and enjoys the show. Her little ode to Elaine Stritch in The Ladies Who Lunch makes me chuckle. Her faces at 2:55 at the “Wait a goddamn minute!” are just amazing!
The depth imbued into this performance by Donna Murphy is an anthological one, whichever way one might slice it. The level of sarcasm, of total contempt that DM demonstrates from beginning to end, the cynicism, acidity, total disgust for her husband is so blatant, so believable that it actually sent shivers down my spine. The build-up from sitting to her very last head-throw and final intake of breath is truly history making. I will never be able to watch this song in the same way, ever again. DM has set such a tremendously high hurdle that I believe it would be virtually impossible to even come close to it. Chapeaux! What a consummate ARTIST she is. Without a doubt, Sondheim seated in the audience (knowing his punctiliousness for detail) must have felt very impressed and proud of what DM did on stage... I'm in love with her ARTISTRY!
Murphy is a testament to an older ideal of Broadway talent, where certain vocal idiosyncrasies (her pitchiness is sometimes, to those with a precise ear, a touch distracting) don't matter when the acting talent is absolutely magnificent (I'm personally prejudiced but no one should ever bother trying to play Fosca in 'Passion' again - how could you transcend what she did?). Bravo.
There are certain songs that, through iconic interpretations, become legally and officially the property of certain performers in perpetuity. Examples off the top of my head are Jenn Colella's "Me and the Sky", Shoshana Bean's "She Used to be Mine," and Carl Anderson's "Superstar." This is one of those times. Donna's interpretation of this song is a masterclass, and as good as everyone else is, this cannot be topped.
@@stormbobi disagree. i never thought i would like another version more but katrina lenk's inspires me now, so vicious and i love how she throws it away, it's thrilling in a different way to murphy's here but it affects me more. you're right though in terms of public appraisal. i say make it new!!! something i learned from sondheim before i found it said by ezra pound
This is my favorite version of this song and it isn't even on iTunes! I feel like the other versions are a bit rushed whereas with Donna she gives so much emotion in it and takes time to feel it out.
