Here's kind of a neat triple feature. Three different women have starred on Broadway in what some would call the "Mary Martin" version of the musical, Peter Pan…one being, of course, Mary Martin. It was written for her, rendering obsolete a previous Peter Pan musical and a couple of non-musical versions. Because it's so famous, people think it must have been a long-running Broadway smash but in fact, Ms. Martin only did it in New York for a few months — October of '54 through February of '55. She did tour with it for years but it's mainly known because she performed it three times on television — in 1955, 1956 and 1960. The first two were live. The third was produced on tape and was subsequently rebroadcast on a number of occasions.
I remember liking the TV version, though with reservations. Even as a kid, I thought Mary Martin didn't look like a lost boy who could fly. I thought she looked like someone's very sweet grandmother on a wire. There's a limit to how much you, as an audience member, can pretend and go along with someone or something on screen that isn't convincing and she came perilously close to my limit when I was a lad. And though I didn't know what "gay" was then, I later realized that's what I always thought Captain Hook, as played by Cyril Ritchard, was in that production. His feet touched the floor even less than hers. In the number where Hook lusts after a mysterious lady who is actually Peter Pan singing soprano, I lost all track of who was the boy and who was the girl…and I think they did, too.
Anyway, here's "I'm Flying" as Mary Martin and Company performed it for the 1960 videotaping. I have a suspicion that when this tape was released on home video, someone went in and digitally "painted out" some of the flying wires. At least, I remember them as being quite obvious when I saw them on my home set at age eight, even though we got lousy reception. With or without them, it's a pretty good number…
In September of '79, the show was revived with Sandy Duncan in the lead. She did it for a year and a half on Broadway, vastly exceeding Ms. Martin's run, then toured it for a year or two. I saw this production out here and thought it was outstanding. By then, her Cap'n Hook was Christopher Hewett, better known as Roger DeBris and/or Mr. Belvedere. Hewett managed to not play it as campy as Ritchard and I thought the story worked better with the villain acting like he wanted to kill Pan rather than to style his hair. I linked to the following clip once before but here it is again…the same number, only as performed by Ms. Duncan and Friends. This was taped for the TV show, Omnibus…
In the late eighties, former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby began a long stint touring America with a bus-'n'-truck version that played everywhere, including four separate runs in Broadway houses, usually when one had a few months open around Christmas time. She's retired from the role now, which is a shame because I thought she was about as good as anyone could be in the part. Fortunately, her production was videotaped for cable and released to home video. Both the VHS and DVD versions seem to be outta-print but they're not scarce if you hunt around on eBay or at some merchants. Since I never saw the Mary Martin version live, I'm hesitant to say I liked Cathy Rigby better but the fact that I'd consider saying that should tell you something.
This is the Rigby version of…yes, the same number as the other two. Here's how they did "I'm Flying" on the 1991 Tony Awards — a bit abbreviated for the telecast and not as polished as it is on the home video version. It has the addition of Pan swooping out over the audience, which Rigby did each performance as her curtain call "bow" at the end of the show. Sandy Duncan did that in her production, too. I don't care how jaded and sophisticated you are. It's a truly thrilling theatrical moment. If I ever do a one-man show on Broadway, I'll either close by doing that or smashing a watermelon. Maybe both at the same time.