Maureen McGovern reflects on her music, Broadway and more

There aren’t many people who can claim to have survived not only a sinking ocean liner but also a burning skyscraper, but Maureen McGovern is one. The singer – whose recordings of “The Morning After” and “We May Never Love Like This Again,” the Academy Award winners for Best Original Song for 1972 and 1974, respectively, from the Irwin Allen epics “The Poseidon Adventure” and “The Towering Inferno,” earned her the nickname “Maureen the Disaster Theme Queen” – had a lot to live up to, and a lot to live down, before she was even 25 years old. McGovern remained in theme song mode and on the pop charts with “Can You Read My Mind” from 1978’s “Superman” and “Different Worlds” from the short-lived 1979 sitcom “Angie.” McGovern ultimately parodied her own image by playing a singing nun in the 1980 disaster movie spoof “Airplane!”

By the early 1980s, however, Broadway beckoned and McGovern headed to New York, replacing Linda Ronstadt in “The Pirates of Penzance,” co-starring with the late Raul Julia in “Nine,” and, most recently, playing Marmee in “Little Women” on Broadway and then on a national tour that stopped at Boston’s Opera House. Along the way, she earned respect not only for her recordings and concerts, but also for her almost annual appearances on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. The Ohio-born Grammy Award winner is currently looking back on her life in the one-woman show “A Long and Winding Road,” being presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Wimberly Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. McGovern, 60, spoke with Town Commons last week about her long career and her latest project.

Town Commons: What was the genesis of “A Long and Winding Road?”

Maureen McGovern: This whole project began as an album and then a cabaret show in New York. I use cabaret to break in new materials for my concerts. I do the music from the album in my concerts, but some of what we’re doing here is different. In symphony concerts, everything is very structured. In the theater, however, the singer gets to drive the train. We call what we’re doing now a theatrical concert, because it has a spine and a story.

TC: How did you choose the songs for this show?

MM: A couple of years ago, my agent suggested I do a show with music that would appeal to baby boomers. I wasn’t really interested, but my director and co-writer, Philip Himberg, said that if we could find the right material then we could tell not only my story, but also the story of my generation. We went through about 400 different songs before we finally agreed on just the right material for the show. I love Bob Dylan, Laura Nyro, Pete Seeger, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and, of course, the Beatles, so we chose music by all of them, plus songs by Broadway composers like Stephen Sondheim and William Finn. What’s great is that the songs spring from the dialogue.

TC: There is a lot of folk music in this show. What do you suppose gives it such enduring appeal?

MM: I started out as a folk singer so I have always loved it. Most of these songs I’m doing now, I played on the guitar when I was just a kid. The best folk music is very conversational and very direct. What makes it wonderful is that so much of it remains as timeless and relevant today as when it was first written.

TC: Folk isn’t the only music with lasting appeal. How does it feel to know that, no matter what else you may do, you may always be best known for “The Morning After”?

MM: I will be grateful for “The Morning After” for as long as I live. When I recorded that song, however, things weren’t going that well for me. It was a very frustrating time, because my record producers at the time had all the power over song choice, orchestrations, even the key I sang in. In the years since, though, many people have told me that the song has helped them get over everything from break-ups to the loss of loved ones. I’ve performed it many times over the years on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon and about 12 years into my association with Jerry, my niece was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease. I finally understood what people meant. It is the ultimate song about hope.

TC: What is it like to share so much of your personal story?

MM: My mother died in 1981, just before I made my Broadway debut. I’ve always been sad that I didn’t get to share that experience with her. My dad lived until 2004 and was always very proud of my success. He was a decorated World War II veteran and we parted ways over Vietnam. It was very hard in rehearsals, because that is where you have to honor those emotions. I still get choked up when I think of my father. My father loved “If I Had a Hammer,” so that moment in the show, when the entire audience sings along, is transcendent for me. I always have Peter, Paul and Mary in my head when I sing it, too, and the recent passing of Mary Travers has only added to the emotion.

Maureen McGovern stars in “A Long and Winding Road” at the Virginia Wimberly Theatre, the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston, through Nov. 15. For tickets and information, visit the box office, call 617-266-0800, or go online at huntingtontheatre.org.