The memoirs of Mary Rodgerswriter, composer, Broadway royalty, and a woman who tried everything.
What am I, bologna? Mary Rodgers (19312014) often said. She was referring to being stuck in the middle of a talent sandwich: the daughter of one composer and the mother of another. And not just any composers. Her father was Richard Rodgers, perhaps the greatest American melodist; her son, Adam Guettel, a worthy successor. What that leaves out is Mary herself, also a composer, whose musicalOnce Upon a Mattressremains one of the rare revivable Broadway hits written by a woman.
Shyis the story of how it all happened: how Mary grew from an angry child, constrained by privilege and a parents overwhelming gift, to become not just a theater figure in her own right but also a renowned author of books for young readers (including the classicFreaky Friday) and, in a final grand turn, a doyenne of philanthropy and the chairman of the Juilliard School.
But in telling these storieswith copious annotations, contradictions, and interruptions from Jesse Green, the chief theater critic ofThe New York TimesShyalso tells another, about a woman liberating herself from disapproving parents and pervasive sexism to find art and romance on her own terms. Whether writing for Judy Holliday or Rin Tin Tin, dating Hal Prince or falling for Stephen Sondheim over a game of chess at thirteen, Rodgers grabbed every chance possibleand then some.
Both an eyewitness report from the golden age of American musical theater and a tale of a woman striving for a meaningful life,Shyis, above all, a chance to sit at the feet of the kind of woman they dont make anymoreand never did. They make themselves.
Mary Rodgers(19312014) was an accomplished composer, author, and screenwriter. She was the author of the novelFreaky Fridayand its 1976 screenplay adaptation, and of several other novels. Rodgers also wlc/
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