I have no recollection of this 1975 show despite the fact that Carole King wrote the music in a collaboration with Maurice Sendak, who supplied the music and lyrics. Really Rosie is based on a number of his children’s books from the early 1960s. Originally a television special, this musical was then expanded and given an off-Broadway run in 1980. Avenue P in Brooklyn is the setting and young Rosie is a big dreamer who essentially spends the entire show corralling the neighborhood kids into pretending to make her fantasy movies, where she naturally is the star. I know Sendak can be dark but maybe this is just not my cup of Ovaltine. This giggly, sugary sweet musical references children’s deaths through kidnapping, choking on a chicken bone or getting chopped into pieces before being placed in a shoebox.
The best songs were “Avenue P” and “Chicken Soup with Rice” but unfortunately they came toward the end of the show. After viewing, I googled the score and, interestingly, both of those songs were in the middle originally. Hard to tell if the many kids in the audience were engaged completely in the cavernous City Center. When I happily departed to the subway, I heard a mom gushing over the performance and reminiscing about listening to the soundtrack as a young girl. Really Rosie might need that kind of connection to be admired.