Skip to main content
BPN Logo
178 Mary Martin

An episode paying tribute to one of Broadway’s most acclaimed leading ladies, Mary Martin, on what would have been her 72nd birthday. Martin starred in numerous Broadway shows, including SOUTH PACIFIC, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, I DO I DO, and perhaps most memorably as the title character in PETER PAN... Read More

From the show: Anything Goes

31 mins
Aug 31

Featured Shows

About

An episode paying tribute to one of Broadway’s most acclaimed leading ladies, Mary Martin, on what would have been her 72nd birthday. Martin starred in numerous Broadway shows, including SOUTH PACIFIC, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, I DO I DO, and perhaps most memorably as the title character in PETER PAN.

Featured songs: “Anything Goes”, “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”, “Speak Low”, “To Keep My Love Alive”, “Motherhood”, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair”, “Do-Re-Mi”, and “Never Never Land”.

Originally produced and broadcast in 1985. For more information, go to AnythingGoesPL.com or BPN.FM/Anything Goes. Theme music arranged by Bruce Coughlin. Associate producer Jeff Lunden. Anything Goes – Backstage with Broadway’s Best – is produced and hosted by Paul Lazarus.

Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Paul Lazarus: Hi, this is Paul Lazarus. In the 1980s, I produced and hosted a radio series called Anything Goes, a celebration of the American musical theater. Now the Broadway Podcast Network is bringing back these shows. This is a tribute to legendary performer Mary Martin on what would have been her 72nd birthday. Martin starred in numerous Broadway shows including South Pacific, The Sound of Music, I Do, I Do, and perhaps most memorably as the title character in Peter Pan. This program originally aired in 1985.

[0:39] ♪ Musical number: "Anything Goes" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[2:53] Paul Lazarus: And that's Mary Martin singing "Anything Goes," and today is Ms. Martin's birthday, born December 1st, 1913. I'll let you figure out the age. So we'll be taking a long listen to the songs of Mary Martin in many of her Broadway shows. The actress-singer was born in Weatherford, Texas, December 1st, 1913, and has gone on to be one of the first ladies of the American musical theater. She has done a number of such shows as The Sound of Music in South Pacific, One Touch of Venus, Lute Song, I Do, I Do, Peter Pan, just to name a few. But her first major showstopper was in her Broadway debut in Leave It to Me when she sang Cole Porter's song, "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." And here's Cole Porter to talk about it.

[3:44] Cole Porter: I'm not always right, but I was right in the case of a little girl who came to audition for me in 1938, it was. We had June Knight for the part in Leave It to Me, and she left with a Texas millionaire. So we were up a tree for that part, and this agent suddenly called up, said, I have a little girl from the West Coast who might be good. And he brought up this little girl who gave a very good audition. And then I gave her a song I'd written for the part called "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."

[4:15] ♪ Musical number: "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[7:09] ♪ Musical number: "Speak Low" ♪

[9:31] ♪ Musical number: "To Keep My Love Alive" ♪

[10:23] ♪ Musical number: "To Keep My Love Alive" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[12:01] ♪ Musical number: "Motherhood" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[14:05] Paul Lazarus: That was "Motherhood" from the 1965 London cast of *Hello, Dolly!* which featured Mary Martin. That was sung with Marilyn Lovell and Coco Ramirez. A little bit more of an easy-going interpretation than the one we're used to. The record before that was a classic that Mary Martin made with Richard Rogers at the piano, which I think is one of my favorite records of all time. It's called *Mary Martin Sings, Richard Rogers Plays*, with an orchestra conducted by John Lesko. Orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett. And you heard "To Keep My Love Alive," the Rochester Heart Classic. And I wanted to play one more song from that album because I love it so much. This is "There's a Small Hotel" from *On Your Toes*.

[14:46] ♪ Musical number: "There's a Small Hotel" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[18:21] Paul Lazarus: You are listening to *Anything Goes* with a birthday tribute to Mary Martin. I suppose the Mary Martin that I know best is the Mary Martin of *South Pacific*, *Sound of Music*, and *Peter Pan*. Those of my generation certainly grew up with her singing these classic songs, and here are selections from all three of those shows.

[18:43] ♪ Musical number: "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[20:46] ♪ Musical number: "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[22:04] ♪ Musical number: "Do-Re-Mi" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[24:27] ♪ Musical number: "I've Got a Crow" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[26:52] ♪ Musical number: "Never Never Land" — performed by Mary Martin ♪

[28:56] Paul Lazarus: You just heard Mary Martin singing all of her classic performances in that last section, ending with, of course, two duets from *Peter Pan*, "I've Got a Crow" with Kathy Nolan, and also "Never, Never Land." Prior to that, we played "Do Re Mi" from *The Sound of Music*, and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" from *South Pacific*, all by way of saying happy birthday, Mary Martin. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate and follow us. Thanks for listening. See you next time.

© Broadway Podcast Network, All Rights Reserved

An error occurred