ABBA

Actress and soprano who appeared in My Fair Lady and as Nimue in the original cast of Camelot at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in 1960, along with notables such as Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, John Cullum, Robert Goulet, and Roddy McDowall.

In the 1970s, she was a mainstay on the School House Rock! series of animated educational videos that aired between cartoons on Saturday morning. She is credited with appearing on America Rock, Best of School House Rock!, Grammar Rock, History Rock, Money Rock, Multiplication Rock, and Science Rock, on which she performs “Do the Circulation” (sometimes listed as just “Circulation”) along with Joshie Armstead and Maretha Stewart, with lyrics and music by Lynn Ahrens, no less. In 1979, she recorded another one for the kids, The Safari, an animal-themed album, in tandem with Steve Clayton, Rose Marie June, and Tony Wells, and appeared on Frank Sinatra’s boxed set, Trilogy.

Other projects on which she has worked include: Best of Broadway, Vol. 4; Every Body’s Record, as a member of “The Androoze Sisters”; Stephen Sondheim’s Frogs/Evening Primrose; Headstart to Music and I Make Music Too, with John Thomas; the soundtrack to the Woody Allen film, Mighty Aphrodite; the Christmas album, O Come All Ye Faithful; Philip Glass’s three-act musical drama, The Photographer; Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album; Gershon Kingley’s Voices from the Shadow; the gospel album, Walk in a Circle, with David Jarratt.

In the summer of 2001, Mary appeared in a series of concert versions of Sweeney Todd: The first played from July 19 through July 21 in San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Rob Fisher; The second took place at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, with the Ravinia Festival Orchestra led by Andrew Litton. A video of one of the San Francisco concerts is available, as is the entire School House Rock! series.

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