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Heading into the
summer of 2004, I really had no idea what to do for the lower camp. Although The Little Mermaid had not been a failure by any stretch, it
had made me realize just how difficult some of the Disney stuff was for
young kids to perform, so I thought it would be preferable to seek out more
child-friendly material for the lower camp. The key was to find something
that was written for younger kids to sing
and perform, not just for
them to watch, and with a light, flexible story line which would allow
songs and scenes to be cut without destroying the overall continuity (like,
for example, You’re a Good Man,
Charlie Brown).
During the
summer of 2003 Sarah Davis, who was actually planning on returning for
2004, recommended How to Eat Like a
Child, which had already been recommended by fellow adult staffer
Arlene Virga. Sarah told me she had the script
and sheet music for How to Eat…
and would send it to me after camp. I obtained an audio recording of
the songs from How to Eat…,
but unfortunately, it turned out that Sarah had only the script, not the
sheet music; she did say that she could get it for me. I worked on Aida while I waited for it, but
ultimately I got to the point where I couldn’t wait any longer. With
about a month to go until camp, still no sheet music and neither the time
nor the inclination to learn all the songs by ear, I made an executive
decision to go with Really Rosie instead.
I was in Really Rosie at Camp Natchez in 1981
at the age of ten, and I remembered it rather fondly. I’ve always
been a big Carole King fan, ever since I listened to Tapestry on 8-track over and over again on my parents’
stereo in the mid-1970s. Her music, and the book and lyrics by Maurice Sendak (author of Where
the Wild Things Are) made for a great combination. The children’s
book itself, which contains sheet music for all the songs, was easy to
obtain, and the story was easy to adapt to the stage. Most importantly, the
songs were simple and easy to learn and sing; perfect for a cast of 8- to
10-year-olds. I had a feeling this would be a great lower-camp show.
I did, however,
need to make some modifications and additions to the material. Had we used
only the children’s book and the songs from the original 1975 TV
special, the show would have been about 15 minutes long. There are four
extra songs on the soundtrack album, but only one of them, “My Simple
Humble Neighborhood,” was useful for story purposes (I put the song “Avenue
P” into the script as well, but we ended up cutting it as redundant).
However, in what can only be
described as a stroke of inspiration, I came up with the idea to use four
songs from King’s classic Tapestry
album to flesh out the story and characters. I thought of having
Chicken Soup, the boy who is the object of Rosie’s affections as well
as the subject of her self-styled movie which anchors the story, away at boarding
school (better yet, a Yeshiva), and wrote a scene where they sit on
opposite sides of the stage writing letters to each other and singing, “So
Far Away.” A scene of Chicken Soup walking home in the rain had him
singing “Home Again.” I created the character of Rosie’s
Cousin Jack from New Jersey, who thinks he’s from the west and wants
to turn Rosie’s movie into a western, called “Smackwater Jack.”
Then at the end of the play, when all the kids go home and Rosie and
Chicken Soup are alone on stage, they sing “You’ve Got a Friend”
and are gradually joined by the whole ensemble.
Happily, Sarah Davis
did return to Pontiac in 2004, and as a special added bonus, Cara Farris
also came back, so for the first time since 1999 we had a three-person
theatre team. In addition, we’d all been part of the Pontiac Players
before, so we had a head-start on a lot of the things we wanted to do. I
put Sarah in charge of dance choreography, and Cara in charge of costumes,
props and art direction. It was a very efficient arrangement.
Casting went
well on this show, although we were working with a lot of new campers since
most of the cast of The Little
Mermaid had been sophomores the year before. Fortunately, we discovered
a wealth of new talent in 2004’s freshman and sophomore divisions. Erika
Kaminer had the voice and personality to play the
eponymous Rosie, and Justin Hendler really shone
in auditions and was cast as Chicken Soup. Erika’s equally-talented younger
brother Matthew, making his Pontiac stage debut, was perfect for the role of
Rosie’s cousin Jack. Jake Granoff returned
and was terrific as Johnny, and we split the role of Alligator into two for
twins David and Andrew Glassman. Unfortunately, Rosie is the only female singing
role in the play, so we cast Madison Katz as Kathy and had her sing “My
Simple Humble Neighborhood,” and Jessica Wills as the narrator for “Pierre.”
Speaking of which, Grayson Pollock made his stage debut as Pierre (who only
could say, “I don’t care…”), as did Jacob Mann as
Pierre’s Papa; Alexa Lehr played his Mama.
Also debuting here was Adam Schutzman as the hungry
lion in the Pierre story.
The original Really Rosie was set in Brooklyn,
NY, and since I had just moved to Brooklyn in 2004 and had immediately
developed an affinity for the borough (as everyone who lives there does), I
incorporated as many Brooklyn references into the show as I could. The various
groups of ensemble players were labeled after various neighborhoods (“Brooklyn
Boys,” “Coney Island Girls,” “Bensonhurst Babes,”
etc.), and the set included a painted replica of the F train’s Avenue
P station (Rosie lives on Avenue P). I even gave Jake my Brooklyn Dodgers
cap to wear on stage, even though it was several sizes too big. (I tried to
find a Spaldeen for one of the kids to play with,
but none of the stores in Hudson had one.)
Ultimately, Really Rosie was a wonderful show,
maybe our best lower-camp show of all. It was perfect for the age group,
easy enough to learn and sing for the younger kids, but substantial enough
for the older kids and adults in the audience to enjoy. The songs from Tapestry lent an element of
familiarity to the music, and “You’ve Got a Friend”
became the show’s theme song. The performances, of course, were
wonderful. I really wish there were more shows like this; Really Rosie is a one-off, a very
special piece, and as much fun as The
Simpsons was the following year, and as great as The Lion King and The
Nightmare Before Christmas were, when I watch Really Rosie I can’t help but think that all lower-camp shows should be like
this.
___
Pontiac
Players present
REALLY ROSIE
Book and
lyrics by MAURICE SENDAK Music by CAROLE KING
Additional
lyrics by CAROLE KING and GERRY GOFFIN
Principal
Cast
ERIKA KAMINER
as Rosie
JUSTIN HENDLER
as Chicken Soup
MADISON KATZ
as Kathy
JAKE GRANOFF
as Johnny
DAVID &
ANDREW GLASSMAN as Allie & Gator
GRAYSON
POLLOCK as Pierre
ALEXA LEHR as
Pierre's Mama
JACOB MANN as
Pierre's Papa
JESSICA WILLS
as the Narrator
ADAM SCHUTZMAN
as the Lion
MATTHEW
KAMINER as Cousin Jack
Directed by
JAY BRAIMAN, SARAH DAVIS and CARA FARRIS
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