| re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 03:35 pm EDT 05/07/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin - AlanScott 12:41 pm EDT 05/07/15 |
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| Of course, in hindsight -- and maybe even at the time -- the idea of either Mary Martin or Dolores Gray as Eliza in MY FAIR LADY seems ludicrous, for several reasons. | |
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| re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 06:21 pm EDT 05/08/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin - Michael_Portantiere 03:35 pm EDT 05/07/15 |
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| I can quite see Mary Martin as Eliza. I think that if she could have managed the accent work, she could have acted it well. I can understand why a whole bunch of people saw it as a role for her. Dolores Gray is tougher to imagine. But she may have had more range than she generally got to demonstrate. Or perhaps her Eliza in Pygmalion convinced everyone that she didn't. I believe Carol Channing also played Eliza in Pygmalion in a stock tour. I can imagine her being able to do it. Obviously, she could not have played Eliza in the musical we know as My Fair Lady (although it's interesting to listen to No for an Answer and hear that she did have some head voice at her disposal when she was young). Her tour in another Shaw, The Millionairess, seems to have been successful. | |
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| re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 12:03 am EDT 05/09/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin - AlanScott 06:21 pm EDT 05/08/15 |
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| "I can quite see Mary Martin as Eliza. I think that if she could have managed the accent work, she could have acted it well. I can understand why a whole bunch of people saw it as a role for her." Well, I think it's a huge "if" as to whether Martin could have managed the accent work. Also, although we all know she had a soprano range, it was never very convincing to me, and I don't think the role of Eliza would work nearly as well if her songs were in the alto range. Most important of all, although I know Eliza had previously been played by several older women in productions of PYGMALION, I think it's very important to the plot of the play and the musical that she be quite young, and I don't think that would have worked at all with Martin -- even though I know she was always praised for her youthful quality on stage, and no one seems to have strongly objected to her age when she did THE SOUND OF MUSIC :-) | |
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| re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin | |
| Posted by: | PlayWiz 05:22 pm EDT 05/07/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin - Michael_Portantiere 03:35 pm EDT 05/07/15 |
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| I'm not sure how Mary Martin's attempts at an English accent would have been, but she was one of the first in line for female musical leads at the time, kind of like Kelli O'Hara (well at Lincoln Center anyway) but in Martin's case, she actually represented box-office dollars. Also, if Gray had been cast, the keys could have been lowered. Eliza doesn't really go very high--just a "G" in "I Could Have Dance All Night". Gray was a fine actress and had studied at RADA around the time she starred in "Annie Get Your Gun" in London. Maybe Gertrude Lawrence, who I believe performed in "Pygmalion" might have been interested if she had lived, since Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Lynn Fontanne had played the role at considerably older ages than Eliza's stated age. | |
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| re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin | |
| Posted by: | larry13 11:36 am EDT 05/08/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin - PlayWiz 05:22 pm EDT 05/07/15 |
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| I agree with what you say about Mary Martin. But Dolores Gray--whom I love!--as Eliza Doolittle?!! I don't care whether the keys would have been lowered. And Gertrude Lawrence, who never had much of a voice, as Eliza in her late fifties?!! How old were either Mrs.Campbell or Fontanne when they played Eliza, and acted, of course, not sung? Are we really talking about the same score that Julie Andrews sang?? | |
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| re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin | |
| Posted by: | PlayWiz 03:44 pm EDT 05/08/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin - larry13 11:36 am EDT 05/08/15 |
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| I'm pretty sure if someone like Gray or Lawrence were around, the score would have been tailored more for their voices. Oh, Lawrence did have some range during her prime with a soprano placement using some head voice, though her intonation (pitch) was shaky. There's a recording of her doing "The Saga of Jenny" from "Lady in the Dark" where she goes for a high note at the end and, by hook or by crook, she goes for it, grabs it by the tail and it may not be the most pleasant thing to hear, but by gosh and by golly, she latches on to it and doesn't let it go! Hear for yourself! :) | |
| Link | Gertrude Lawrence - "Saga of Jenny" |
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| re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 12:08 pm EDT 05/08/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin - larry13 11:36 am EDT 05/08/15 |
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| Mrs. Pat was 49 when she first played Eliza. I would think if it had been written for Dolores Gray or Mary Martin, the score would have been tailored to what Gray or Martin could do. Btw, Rodgers and Hammerstein considered writing a musical version of The Magic Bed-Knob for Martin. | |
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| re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 12:06 am EDT 05/09/15 |
| In reply to: | re: Are these some of the songs they played for Mary Martin - AlanScott 12:08 pm EDT 05/08/15 |
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| "I would think if it had been written for Dolores Gray or Mary Martin, the score would have been tailored to what Gray or Martin could do." And I think, if that had happened, MY FAIR LADY would probably be a forgotten musical, because as great as Martin and Gray were in roles they were suited for, there is almost nothing about either of them that has anything to do with Eliza Doolittle. | |
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