In the second program of the 8-part Great Interpreters Goes Broadway! series, Adriaan Fuchs examines the life and career of Mary Martin, one of musical theater's greatest stars.

Mary Martin’s place in the history of American musical theater is singular. With her radiant stage presence, warm, golden voice, and legendary charm, 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 David 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.”