I interview Jesse Green, chief theater critic for The New York Times on the Mary Rodgers memoir Shy, that he co-wrote with the composer. The book is a no holds barred look at her life. It is outrageously funny, poignant and a great read.
FROM AMAZON…
“What am I, bologna?” Mary Rodgers (1931–2014) 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 musical Once Upon a Mattress remains one of the rare revivable Broadway hits written by a woman.
Shy is the story of how it all happened: how Mary grew from an angry child, constrained by privilege and a parent’s 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 classic Freaky Friday) and, in a final grand turn, a doyenne of philanthropy and the chairman of the Juilliard School.
But in telling these stories―with copious annotations, contradictions, and interruptions from Jesse Green, the chief theater critic of The New York Times―Shy also 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 possible―and 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, Shy is, above all, a chance to sit at the feet of the kind of woman they don’t make anymore―and never did. They make themselves.
Jesse Green is the chief theater critic for The New York Times. From 2013 to 2017 he was the theater critic for New York magazine, where he had also been a contributing editor, writing long-form features, since 2008. Before that, he wrote about theater and other cultural topics for the Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times while covering broader subjects for The New York Times Magazine. Articles he has written for these and many other publications have been recognized with nominations and prizes from the National Magazine Awards and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, among others.
His latest book, “Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers,” written with Rodgers, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Earlier books include the novel “O Beautiful” (Ballantine/Random House), which Entertainment Weekly called “one of the best first novels of the year,” in 1990. He is also the author of “The Velveteen Father: An Unexpected Journey to Parenthood,” a memoir published by Villard/Random House in 1999 that was named one of the best nonfiction books of the year by The Los Angeles Times Book Review, one of the 10 best memoirs or biographies of the year by Amazon, and one of the best parenting books of the year by Child magazine. It won the Lambda Literary Award for Biography or Autobiography in 2000. His short fiction and essays have appeared in many magazines and collections.
Before turning to writing, Mr. Green worked in the theater as a gofer, a copyist, and a musical coordinator on Broadway shows. He has also written cryptic crosswords and other puzzles for many publications. He is a graduate of Yale College, with a degree in English and Theater.
You can find more of his works at Amazon.com.
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