Really Rosie
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| Really Rosie | |
| Music | Carole King |
|---|---|
| Lyrics | Maurice Sendak |
| Book | Maurice Sendak |
| Productions | 1975 Animated TV Special 1980 Off-Broadway |
Really Rosie is a musical with a book and lyrics by Maurice Sendak and music by Carole King. The musical is based on Sendak's books Chicken Soup with Rice, Pierre, One was Johnny, Alligators All Around (which comprise The Nutshell Library (1962)), and The Sign on Rosie's Door (1960). Sendak based the story on a demonstrative little girl who used to sing and dance on the stoop of her building, whom he observed while he was a little boy growing up in Brooklyn.
The musical has become a mainstay of children's theater groups.[1] It follows a typical summer day in the life of the Nutshell Kids, a group of several neighborhood friends, including Pierre, Alligator, Johnny and Chicken Soup from the Nutshell Library books, and Rosie and Kathy from The Sign on Rosie' s Door. Rosie, the self-proclaimed sassiest kid on her block of Brooklyn's Avenue P, entertains everyone by directing and starring in an Oscar-winning movie based on the exciting, dramatic, funny (and slightly exaggerated) story of her life.
A half-hour 1975 animated television special was directed by Maurice Sendak, with Carole King voicing the title character. An album based on the songs by King and lyrics by Sendak is available on Ode/Epic/SME Records. Sendak expanded the piece for London and Washington, DC, stage productions in 1978,[2] and an off-Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Patricia Birch with designs by Sendak, which opened on October 14, 1980, at the Westside Theatre, where it ran for 274 performances.[3]
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[edit] Plot
Rosie and the characters from The Nutshell Library live on the same block on Avenue P in Brooklyn, New York. On a hot July Saturday, the children are bored and need something to do. Rosie imagines herself as a famous and talented star, and decides to produce an imaginary movie musical about her life and in particular the demise of her brother named Chicken Soup, to be called Did You Hear What Happened to Chicken Soup?
She gets her friends, the Nutshell Kids, to audition for a role in the film, but they begin to fight over casting. A thunderstorm forces the kids to move into the cellar. To keep the kids' attention, Rosie decides that they need to show the producer the movie's big finale number. She gets them all to close their eyes and imagine the producer inviting them to make her movie. Afterward, when the children go home, Rosie remains to dream of stardom in her big number.
[edit] Soundtrack
| Really Rosie | |||||
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| Studio album by Carole King | |||||
| Released | 1975 May 25, 1999 (CD reissue) |
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| Recorded | 1975 | ||||
| Genre | Soft rock | ||||
| Length | 33:24 (original album) 35:50 (CD reissue) |
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| Label | Ode/Epic/SME Records PE 34955 (original release)  EK 65742 (CD reissue) ECIP-847  |
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| Producer | Lou Adler Sheldon Riss |
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| Carole King chronology | |||||
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[edit] Track listing
Lyrics by Maurice Sendak, music by Carole King
- Really Rosie
- One Was Johnny
- Alligators All Around
- Pierre
- Screaming and Yelling
- The Ballad of Chicken Soup
- Chicken Soup with Rice
- Avenue P
- My Simple Humble Neighborhood
- The Awful Truth
- Such Sufferin’
- Really Rosie (Reprise)
- Really Rosie (Original Piano Demo) [only on CD reissue]
[edit] Chart position
| Year | Country | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | United States | The Billboard Top 200 | 20 |
[edit] Notes
- ^ "KU Theater for Young People to stage Sendak's Really Rosie in February," University of Kansas, February 5, 2004
- ^ "Maurice Sendak (1928–) Biography." Retrieved from JRank.org on August 27, 2008.
- ^ Lortel.org
[edit] References
Jennings, Coleman A. and Maurice Sendak. Theater for Young Audiences: 20 Great Plays For Children, New York: St. Martin's Press/Macmillan, 2005 ISBN 0312337140
[edit] External links
- Really Rosie at the Internet Movie Database
- Really Rosie at Google Books
- Teachers' Guide to Really Rosie
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