South Pacific - A Wonderful Guy - Some Enchanted Evening - Mary Martin
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- "Wonderful Guy" starts at 3:15
Mary Martin and Wilbur Evans sing "Some Enchanted Evening" in the 1952 London production. Mary then sings "Wonderful Guy" - one of the best examples of the deceptive simplicity of Richard Rodgers' music.
Rodgers gives the verse a driving, aggressive beat (to emphasize Nellie's determination), and then does not start the chorus on the second beat as you would expect from reading the lyric:
"i'm as CORny as kansas in AUGust."
Instead, he starts it on the first beat:
"I'M as corny as KANsas in august"
...giving the song its distinctive feel and playing up Nellie's anger while still offering a light, happy tune.
"Wonderful Guy" starts at 3:15
"Wonderful Guy" starts at 3:15
But the real genius comes in one of his favorite tricks: the repeated phrase. While it appears
that "I'm in love" is simply repeated 16 times in a row, in fact the orchestra is changing chords on each "love," frantically running through the series and building to a powerful climax.
No one could pair a simple melody with complex chords better than Rodgers, and it's one of the reasons his tunes are both so accessible and so enduring.
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This is an invaluable treasure form musical theatre history. Mary Martin's performance and Joshua Logan's staging of A WONDERFUL GUY are magnificent. Martin's relaxation and joy come from her heart - and her talent transmits the material thrillingly. She is, without a doubt, peerless.
This gives me goose bumps! Mary Martin is a legend, and the validity of applying "legend," that perhaps too often used descriptor, to Mary Martin is so obvious here. Goosebumps from an old performance on film! Well, let me tell you what she was like in person. I saw her in "The Sound of Music," and the talent, the love, the electricity which crackled across the footlights into the audience when she was on stage , the sheer hold she had on the audience were unmatched. I never felt that indescribable feeling before or since. When they talk about magic in the theater, I experienced it with Mary Martin.
Mary Martin I think could have been alone on stage for two hours and delighted the audience every second of it. I love every expression and step she makes during "A Wonderful Guy," as well as every note she sings.
💗 Oh, to be living in London or New York City in the 1950s and keeping up with the theater !! Tickets went for as little as $2 or $3 with top prices less that $10. The top price for "My Fair Lady" when it opened in 1956 was $7.50, soon to be raised to $8.05. That price was retained for its seven-year run. The top price for "Gypsy" (1959) was $9.20. The top price for "Chicago" (1975) was $12. I was born decades too late.
Oh My Gosh! How wonderful to see this! I just love Mary Martin. To see footage from her live stage show is a miracle of technology. I wish you had the entire show. Thank you so much for posting this.
There is a full version of it on UA-cam. It's 2 hours and 39 minutes. Sorry this is 2 years later, but I just saw your post.
A legend! It's amazing that because of UA-cam we can watch this. A true treasure.
This brings back SO many memories... I remember singing this to my b-friend in high school, in whispers, under the covers, so that his brother and sisters wouldn't hear (his parents were gone that weekend and he snuck my into the house LOL)... it was the most romantic thing ever! THanks for posting this!
So sweet of you to share that! ❤️
What voices!!
I have always said that Richard Rodgers was a master of simple complexities/complex simplicities. Even a novice piano student can play an "easy" arrangement of a Richard Rodgers piece and come out sounding like a virtuoso.
Someone posted a comment about the "banal lyrics." Let's also give some credit to Hammerstein. He could absolutely have come up with sophisticated lyrics extolling the glories "of love, et cetera, et cetera..." But what we have is a little hick from Little Rock who finds that love has made her "as corny as Kansas in August," admitting to being "trite," "cliche" and "bromidic" (meaning commonplace and unoriginal) - she is expressing her emotion the only way she knows how. She is not a sophisticated soul - remember she leaves him when she learns he has dark skinned children.
Hammerstein was a genius. The lyrics are banal - yes - because the character in the moment calls for them.
Perhaps. But I would prefer, any day, to just seeing Mary Martin sitting on a chair twiddling her toes than any full blown Broadway dance ensemble. Fortunately I did see Ms. Martin one time at the Hollywood Bowl signing "My Heart Belongs to Daddy". Wish I saw more of her performances .....sigh....
New York had far better voices, dancers, or actresses than Martin, Channing or Merman. It had great schools that taught the craft, the skills to the most talented performers in the country. Yet those were a dime a dozen. The most cynical, jaded of theater audiences in the world found these women riveting, astonishing and delightful. They were beyond explaining in the mundane terms of singing dancing or acting. They turned out to be stars on Broadway.
Interesting that none of the women you mentioned really succeeded in films. The stage calls for different qualities apparently.
+filmmekker Check out Merman in Call Me Madam and It's A Mad...World; Martin in Rhythm on the River; and the irrepressible Carol in Thoroughly Modern Millie. I think they succeed quite nicely. Also, Martin, Merman, and Channing's work on television is a treasure.
Brian Turner Yes and neither of them were perfect beauties either but each utterly unique and exuberantly talented.
If only the man were Ezio Pinza ☹️
Quite apart from obvious talents, Mary Martin had a beautiful figure.
cinnaplid Peter Pan?
Right!? Athletic!
I've never noticed this before about Mary Martin, but, she's got one long neck!
Its Peter Pan!!
True, I didn't mention Oscar, but my note was about Rodgers' music and how it worked against the rather banal lyric perfeclty.
Fallout 3 brought me here
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