"Oh, My Mysterious Lady" from PETER PAN

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 2:42am

It's always been my favorite song from the show and I LOVE to see it performed by Cyril Ritchard and Mary Martin (Here's a little treat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vuk3jyRzlw) But from the revivals (I'm not sure about the Sandy Duncan revival) the song was cut and replaced with a fight scene in the lagoon between Peter and Captain Hook. Why was it cut? Anyone know?

Thanks!

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 2:53am

Where was the movie filmed?

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 2:58am

Some NBC studio. I dunno. lol.

[juice23]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 3:38am

prob bc rigby can't sing it?

Haha... in my 7th grade production we cut it.... because I was playing Peter (my voice hadn't changed yet), and a boy.

:sigh:

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 3:46am

You had a boy play Peter?

We included it when I did the show in high school. It's a great number.

[juice23]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 3:47am

Yeah, it was middle school. I was the boy who played Peter...

[juice23]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 3:54am

this caused me to search sandy duncan in the role...

I think she's terrific. She sounds good, and really has a twinkle in her eye. She's the most little boy-ish out of Martin, Duncan, and Rigby...

What do ya'll think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzM_Wl_ZL-E

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 3:57am

Was that from the Tony Awards and who introduced her?

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 3:57am

Duncan was always my favorite. She's amazing in the role.

1. Sandy Duncan
2. Mary Martin
3. Cathy Rigby

[juice23]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 4:05am

I think it might have been the Tony's .... I think that is Mary Martin herself introducing her... I could be wrong.

I wish Duncan was recorded. I have the Martin cast recording and know it well... and I really don't enjoy Rigby's voice. Another version would have been very welcome. I think the score is very charming, and the Peter Pan story is one of my all time favorites.

Updated On: 5/27/07 at 04:05 AM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 7:22am

The song usually gets cut because the lagoon scene is more true to the source material...and it's tough to find people to sing it. However, Cap'nHook will know better than I.

Personally, Mary Martin will ALWAYS be "Peter Pan"

[Candleshoe2]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 10:39am

Just wondering if that's how the original production used to be, since the Cathy Rigby version on DVD is a bit different. I have both on video, and there are a few significant differences, and I didn't know if some of them were cut or added for the tapings?

[GClef2]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 10:46am

It was included when I played Captain Hook in highschool. It has some really difficult Cadenzas and Coleratura passages, so it understandably cut if peter pan does not have a properly trained voice. However, if Peter Pan is a consumate vocalist, it is a great song to show of in.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 10:48am

candleshoe- I believe that was move for move, line for line, song for song, set for set, costume for costume exactly the same as the original production. It was the second time the production was aired, the first time was in black and white. Great video. Some say Martin was showing signs of aging during the color broadcast. I disagree.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 10:55am

Duncan performed "Mysterious Lady." The only major script change made for the 1979 revival was that Liza no longer came to Neverland (a silly device created in the original production for Mary Martin to have a chance to perform on stage with real life daughter Heller Halliday). A new song was written for the revival called "Youth Joy and Freedom." It was reportedly terrible and only performed once before being cut.

Kinescopes exist of the 1955 and 1956 broadcasts of PETER PAN, and in every way they are superior to what was seen in the 1960 broadcast. Martin is pretty fabulous in the 1955 airing and less effective in my opinion by the 1960 color taping.

Kathleen Nolan's Wendy, however, remains unsurpassed, and its a shame her performance wasn't preserved for the color taping.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 1:42pm

The song was basically written as a piece of specialty material for the show when Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Stein came in to supplement the score.

It was felt that Cyril Ritchard and Mary Martin didn't have enough stage time together in the show. So, this number was written. It was written the way it was because Jule Stein had worked with Mary Martin back in the '30s in Hollywood and remembered that she could sing Coleratura.

It's usually removed because, as GClef2 said, it is difficult to sing.

Another reason, I'd say is that it's too "Broadway" in it's reason for existing. You have two terrific stars who don't have a number together, you write one for them to do.

My one problem with the more recent revivals of "Peter Pan" is that they don't have the delightful playfulness that the Mary Martin version has.

They remove "Mysterious Lady" and replace it with the scene where Hook stabs and Peter says that death will be a marvelous adventure.

They don't sing "Ugh A Wug" because it's supposedly racist. They take the Indians out of their Keds sneakers and make them look like extras from "Dances With Wolves".

And as for the Cathy Rigby version that got video taped, there was absolutely absolutely nothing camp about it's Captain Hook!

You have to camp Captain Hook!

That's half the fun!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 1:54pm

The Rigby version didn't cut "Ugh A Wug". It was just revised with a more authentic Native American sound and dance added to it. (Though who's to say the Indians in Neverland are Native Americans?) Also the costumes were designed to be more authentic. C'mon. It's not even PC to say Indians anymore. They couldn't put them in keds sneakers.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 2:00pm

The version if "Ugg a Wug" in the Rigby version is embarrasingly bad.

It should have been kept the way it was.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 2:16pm

I don't like the Sandy Duncan clip of "I'm Flying". I hate the change of the word flying to flyin'.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 2:31pm

First of all, I misspelled Jule Styne's name. Mea Culpa.

The Mary Martin version was like watching kids having fun playing. There might be historical and cultural inconsistencies, but it's fun.

And we're talking about a story that was written by an Edwardian Englishman, so it's not like the source material was culturally authentic!

Getting rid of "I'm An Indian, Too" I can understand, because that is supposed to be about actual Native Americans.

Messing around with "Ugh A Wug" is just being anal retentive.

I mean, "Ugh A Wug a meatball..." Whats wrong with that?

[ComaBaby01]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 3:03pm

I've played Peter and saw the final Rigby tour last year. There is no musical or story for that matter dearer to my heart than Peter Pan.

I personally don't think Mysterious Lady is that difficult. Most performers take liberties with the song and sing it in different ways anyway. Plus, I think whether you can sing it perfectly or not, it's a song that's not meant to be sung perfectly because it's spoofing what Peter thinks of high-born ladies. Remember, he hasn't seen a lady since he was a baby (his mother) and he doesn't even remember her that well. So to sing it comedically would be just as appropriate.

A lot of people don't like the song and think it's pointless. I love it and it was one of my favorite numbers to perform. Plus, the dance/fight scene after it is some of the catchiest music and so fun to perform to.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 7:59pm

Coma, Peter Pan was my first show and I have done the show severa times, in several roles, and several different versions. I have spent MANY MANY hours studying and preparing for that. especially the time I played Peter.
Casting Mary martin, or any woman, was against Barrie's wishes. he had to RESIGN himself to the fact that at the time, no one would cast a male. the original musical, and especially Mysterious Lady and blasphemous and goes 100% against barrie's vision and he would be doing barrel rolls in his grave if you could see him...

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 8:44pm

As a child first seeing MYSTERIOUS LADY was mind boggling:
Here was an aging small delicate woman playing a boy playing a flirty woman singing with a very feminine voice,
being persued by a Large effeminate Man in Pirate Drag.
Somehow I completely enjoyed it and was titilated also.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 9:40pm

My aunt took me to the Winter Garden in 1954 to see Mary Martin in PETER PAN--my first Broadway show. I will never forget it. We sat in the loge at the front of the balcony. I was mesmerized by the flying sequences and by the live orchestra (un-amplified) and by the entire score, especially "I'm Flying", "Neverland", and "I've Gotta Crow". Actually, "Oh, My Mysterious Lady" was not one of my favorite songs--I thought it went on too long. But I enjoyed the spritely Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard in everything else they did. This show was the beginning of a beautiful, life-long friendship with Broadway.

[jv92]

Posted: 5/27/07 at 9:47pm

Mary Martin was charmingas Peter Pan. I didn't have the distinct pleasure of seeing her live as Gypsy9 did, but I saw her on television and every other Peter in that show pales in comparison.