Tuesday, October 18, 2016

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Millicent Martin

Artist:Millicent Martin
Song:I'm Still Here
Album:Side by Side by Sondheim:Original London Cast Recording




Millicent Martin is a very versatile performer equally adept in stage musicals, TV sitcoms and films. She has spent most of her career in England. But she scored a Tony nomination for her performance in the 1977 Broadway musical Side by Side by Sondheim. She was born June 8, 1934 in Romford, Essex, England. She started out on the stage and she made her first Broadway appearance in the 1954 musical The Boy Friend with Julie Andrews. She returned to England and appeared in shows like Expresso Bongo and The Crooked Mile. But what really got Millicent noticed was as a regular on the 1962 BBC weekly comedy show That Was The Week That Was. This led to her own series Mainly Millicent for three years in the 60s. Millicent also appeared in films like Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, Stop The World-I Want To Get Off and Alfie. In 1975, singer Cleo Laine and husband John Dankworth asked actor David Kernan to put together a revue for a benefit show. He decided to do a Stephen Sondheim revue and he invited some of his friends to perform including Millicent Martin. When producer Cameron Mackintosh saw the show, he decided to bring it to London's West End and then Broadway. It was a huge success and Millicent, Kernan, Ned Sherrin and Julia McKenzie all scored Tony nominations. The show contains songs from various Sondheim shows. I'm Still Here is from Follies. The original cast album is from the London show but the cast was the same on Broadway. It is not available on CD but you can get it on mp3. Millicent also got a Tony nomination for the 1978 show King Of Hearts. She returned to England and appeared a lot on British TV in the 80s. She continues to do that and she also appears on US TV. Fans of Frasier with recognize her as the recurring character Gertrude Moon (Daphne's mother). Recently she has appeared on Modern Family, Hot In Cleveland and 2 Broke Girls. So Millicent Martin is still in demand at age 82. That's pretty good. Here's Millicent Martin performing I'm Still Here on the 1977 Tony Awards broadcast.

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