Mary Martin

Adriaan Fuchs

“I beat my brains out performing … and I like to hear the echo.”

– Mary Martin

Great Interpreters Goes Broadway! – Program 2: Mary Martin
Broadcast on Fine Music Radio on 12 June 2015.

With her radiant stage presence, warm, golden voice, and legendary charm, Mary Martin became one of musical theater’s greatest stars.

A favorite with songwriters, critics and audiences, she originated such Tony Award-winning leading roles as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, the title role in Peter Pan and Maria in The Sound of Music. But even though her roles were iconic, Martin doesn’t inspire the same devotion today as some other leading ladies, noted David Cote. “Maybe that’s because she was denied the chance to immortalize most of her performances on celluloid, or because she didn’t have an outsize personal or idiosyncratic voice like Ethel Merman.” While Merman was the Broadway powerhouse whose brassy, clarion voice could galvanize audiences, Martin was the subtler, more inward-looking artist. If she couldn’t top Merman for vocal prowess, she probably had the edge on that elusive quality called charm. But, as Cote argues, whatever the cause of Martin’s underrated stature, she deserves credit for being the first to tell us what we now take for granted: that the hills are alive, that children can fly and that men can be washed out of hair.”

In the second program of the 8-part Great Interpreters Goes Broadway! series, Adriaan Fuchs examines the life and career of Broadway legend Mary Martin.

Podcast Track List

1) “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

2) The Sound of Music from The Sound of Music
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

3) “Il Bacio”
Mary Martin
Music by Luigi Arditi
Lyrics by Gottardo Aldighieri

4) “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” from Leave It To Me
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter

5) “I’m A Stranger Here Myself” from One Touch of Venus
Music by Kurt Weill
Lyrics by Ogden Nash

6) “Anything You Can Do” from Annie Get Your Gun
Performed by Mary Martin & John Raitt
Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

7) “Cockeyed Optimist” from South Pacific
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

8) “A Wonderful Guy” from South Pacific
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

9) “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair” from South Pacific
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

10) “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” from Cinderella
Music and lyrics by Al Hoffman, Mack David, and Jerry Livingston
Recorded in 1958

11) “I’m Flyin’” from Peter Pan
Music by Mark Charlap
Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh

12) “Hello Dolly” from Hello Dolly
Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman

13) “When You Wish Upon A Star” from Pinocchio
Music and lyrics by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington
Recorded in 1958

14) “Never, Neverland” from Peter Pan
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolphe Green

Videos

Peter Pan (1960)
Director: Vincent J. Donehue
Music by Mark “Moose” Charlap and Jule Styne.
Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, with additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
Writers: Jerome Robbins (adaptation), J.M. Barrie (based on the play by) (as Sir James M. Barrie)
Starring: Mary Martin (as Peter Pan), Cyril Ritchard (Captain Hook/Mr Darling) and Maureen Bailey (Wendy Darling).

Medley from The Ford 50th Anniversary Television Show
Ethel Merman & Mary Martin
Recorded “live” on June 15, 1953.