Really Rosie

Infobox Musical
name= Really Rosie
subtitle=


caption=
music= Carole King
lyrics= Maurice Sendak
book= Maurice Sendak
basis=
productions= 1975 Animated TV Special
1980 Off-Broadway
awards=

"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. [ [http://www.news.ku.edu/2004/04N/FebNews/Feb5/rosie.html "KU Theater for Young People to stage Sendak's "Really Rosie" in February,"] University of Kansas, February 5, 2004] 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, [ [http://biography.jrank.org/pages/1957/Sendak-Maurice-1928.html "Maurice Sendak (1928–) Biography."] Retrieved from JRank.org on August 27, 2008.] 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. [ [http://www.lortel.org/lla_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=2564 Lortel.org] ]

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.

oundtrack

Infobox Album
Name = Really Rosie
Type = studio
Artist = Carole King


Released = 1975
May 25, 1999 (CD reissue)
Recorded = 1975
Genre = Soft rock
Length = 33:24 (original album)
35:50 (CD reissue)
Label = Ode/Epic/SME Records
PE 34955 (original release) flagicon|USA
EK 65742 (CD reissue) flagicon|USA
ECIP-847 flagicon|Japan
Producer = Lou Adler
Sheldon Riss
Reviews = *allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:f9foxq95ldfe link]
Last album = "Wrap Around Joy"
(1974)
This album = "Really Rosie"
(1975)
Next album = "Thoroughbred"
(1976)

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]

Chart position

Notes

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

External links

*
* [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=HacDtIWm4qoC&dq=%22Really+Rosie%22+Sendak&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=5Pt4Rnp1Nv&sig=V_CMt4xRnQ-3LfRr4_luWnKqkoI&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPA7,M1 "Really Rosie"] at Google Books
* [http://www.kutheatre.com/03-04_season/ReallyRosieTG.html Teachers' Guide to "Really Rosie"]