Mary Martin, Broadway Legend Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Mary Martin, Broadway Legend? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Mary Martin, Broadway Legend. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Mary Martin, Broadway Legend ReviewI was very disappointed in this book. I was hoping for a major biographical treatment of the life of the legendary Mary Martin -- but this doesn't begin to fill the bill.
A first reading indicates lots of errors. To list only a few:
Mary Martin didn't study with Dino Borgioli in New York as the author claims, but in London.
Cinderella with Julie Andrews was 1957 and not 1958.
The Song "When You're Far Away From New York Town" was not taken from the character who originally sings it and given to Mary Martin to sing during "Jennie". The singer Jack DeLeon sings it on the OBC recording and sang it in the show.
The companion show for NBC that preceeded "Music with Mary Martin" was called "Magic with Mary Martin" and not "Three to Make Music" as the author claims.
One of the most important television shows she did, the "General Foods 25th Anniversary Show -- A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein" gets no mention in the list of "major television performances"
There was no "Jazz Version of 'Tit Willow'" in the tv special with Noel Coward.
The 1985 "Our Hearts Belong to Mary" special in which Miss Martin made her final New York Broadway stage appearance gets no mention at all. This was a great night of tribute to Mary Martin and there is nothing in the book about it.
It is Dolores Gray, not Delores Gray.
Additionally, some incidents in Mary Martin's life are told out of the chronological order in which they happened, making them appear to have happened at a different point in time.
With so many errors found in a first casual reading of the book, one has to worry about the accuracy of other information.
The author, Ronald Davis, relied very heavily on his oral interviews with close friends of Mary Martin and with the great star herself. Somehow the focus shifts too often to the interviews with these other individuals. Much of the author's research comes from materials at SMU where he was a professor. This is good material, however there is a wealth of other material out there that wasn't tapped for this book.
Basically there is still another fascinating story to be told about this great performer.
Better attribution for a lot of the source material would be welcome. There is so much material borrowed from other sources that the lack of footnotes is frustrating. Sources are discussed in the back of the book but it is difficult to cross-reference them, and the source material section is quite hard to follow. This is amazing considering the book was published by a university press.
The accompanying back matter, the list of her Broadway shows is very sketchy and incomplete. Only major performers are listed. There is only an incomplete list of television appearances, and there is no discography.
If you are waiting for a major and in-depth biography of this wonderful performer -- this book isn't it. There are some nice photographs which are rarely seen and they were enjoyable to look at.Mary Martin, Broadway Legend Overview

Want to learn more information about Mary Martin, Broadway Legend?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now