#Mary Rodgers

[doyouknowthismusical]

[chthonic-cassandra]

But when I got back to the New York for the NBC taping, Steve [Sondheim] called and said, "Let's talk." I didn't talk much; he did. He showed me the new place he'd just bought for $115,000 thanks to the movie deal for Gypsy, which promptly fell through but then came together again. It was a town house on East Forty-ninth Street in Turtle Bay Gardens, next door to Katherine Hepburn. "This is where we could live," he explained, showing me the bottom two floors, which were then a duplex, "And there's plenty of room upstairs for the kids." [...] He never used the M-word and neither did I. But that's what it was intended to be; a marriage, at least of the trial variety. We gave ourselves a year [...] I know what you are saying: Mary, don't! Had I not just freed myself from this sort of thing with my first husband [who was gay and closeted]? Well, no. I was a patsy in that marriage. Here I would be - what? A co-conspirator? The follier half of a folie á duex? And what would Steven be? Even if I loved him, and I did, what was in it for him? But his shrink [...] was pushing him to have a "normal" relationship, and perhaps not having to push too hard. Together, I thought, she and Steve would fix his problem, and together, I thought, he and I would fix mine. [...] Even though he was thirty, I don't think Steve had the foggiest idea what people who love each other did. Which begs the question: Did we love each other? Can one beg an answer? He wasn't in love with me, certainly, and I wasn't really physically attracted to him. I just loved him, thoroughly enough for nothing else to matter. Do you not believe in that? Have you never seen Carousel? So we would get into the same bed, side by side, frozen with fear. We just lay there. We didn't discuss anything; we didn't do anything. If we touched, it was en passant. [...] I didn't confront him. I just said, "Steve, this isn't working, is it?" And he just said, "No, it's not." Not meanly. Merely an observation. I'm not sure he would have known how to call it off himself.

Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green, Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers

In addition to continuing to be heartbreakingly sad, this is also just. Literally. Marry Me A Little.

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

[yen-sids-tournament]

Freaky Friday pt1: Original, Jodie Foster/Barbara Harris (1976) v Remake 1, Shelley Long/Gabby Hoffmann (1995)

The original source material was a children's book; Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers (who was the '76 screenwriter)

You do not have to see both to vote, but it might have been helpful.

Feel free to share opinions or explanations with comments/tags/rbs

[sondheims-hat]

1965: Rodgers-Guettel Christmas Party. In her book Shy, Mary Rodgers calls these parties an "aristocracy of talent."

[pureanonofficial]

I don’t know what the hell he thought I was doing there. Even though he was 30, I don’t think Steve had the foggiest idea what people who love each other did. Which begs the question: Did we love each other? Can one beg an answer? He wasn’t in love with me, certainly, and I wasn’t really physically attracted to him. I just loved him, thoroughly enough for nothing else to matter. Do you not believe in that? Have you never seen Carousel ?

Mary Rodgers on Stephen Sondheim and their "trial marriage," from her memoir Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers.

[shakespearenews]

From Mary Rodger's memoir, Shy – "It helps to have a great lyricist, and a dead one." (p. 266)

[onewordshy]

Carol Burnett and Mary Rodgers move a mattress through the stage door during the original production of Once Upon A Mattress

[willywaldo]

There has to be an implicit morality to counter the freedom of imagination you're championing. You have to let kids know you can't get something for nothing.

Mary Rodgers, the author of Freaky Friday, on writing children's books from her memoir Shy.

[ronnydeschepper]

Vijftien jaar geleden zag ik "Freaky friday" van Mark Waters

Op 04/07/2009 zag ik Freaky friday van Mark Waters uit 2003… Continue reading Vijftien jaar geleden zag ik “Freaky friday” van Mark Waters

[djkerr]

Just finished this incredible memoir of composer, author Mary Rodgers (Once Upon a Mattress, Freaky Friday). Mary Rodgers knew just about everyone associated with American musical theater. Her stories are deliciously candid, full of humor, self deprecating, and often poignantly intimate.

*BONUS* - the audiobook is narrated by the inimitable Christine Baranski! ✨💗

Christine Baranski's narration is impeccable in timing, intelligent, and full of energy. She is performing a one-woman show - 15 hours worth! She superbly channels Mary Rodgers minus impersonation. It's Christine Baranski's voice expertly delivering the tone and cadence of Mary Rodgers; the quick reparteé, the irreverent retorts, and the ever present irony. Fabulous stuff!

Highly recommend. 👏🏼✨

[chthonic-cassandra]

[homophobia] We often worked at my parents' house and would sometimes sit, writing or gossiping, under one of my father's pianos. During one of those conversations, not quite innocently, I mentioned that a certain boy we both knew was probably gay, though I'm not sure that's the word I used. Steve [Sondheim] said, "Maybe I'm that way, too." "Oh, you can go to a psychiatrist and get that changed," I replied blithely. He nodded - we all thought that way back then. "But maybe I don't want to change," he said.

Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green, Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers

I had a lot of reactions to this book, but a major one was just my heart breaking for very young Stephen Sondheim.

[unhinged-jackles]

[notesfromachair]

Adieu '22

Adieu ’22

I avoid ever saying this is the worst about anything because to me that is tempting fate.   Invariably life will answer you back with, really, then try this, and you will find yourself wishing and dreaming and hoping of what you once thought was the worst because in retrospect you had no idea how truly “worst” things could get. Somehow it can still get worse All that being said, 2022 was by no…

[sondheims-hat]

Mary Rodgers Guettel (January 11, 1931 - June 26, 2014)

[deansraspberrypie]

Dean saved

his family 🥺❤🥹

The Winchesters - 1.13 - Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye, 2023

🍰 Tag list: @undisputedchick2 @jranutter @kazsrm67 🥧