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Shy
- The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
- Narrated by: Christine Baranski, Jesse Green
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
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Publisher's summary
The memoirs of Mary Rodgers―writer, composer, Broadway royalty, and “a woman who tried everything.”
“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.
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Fabulous book about Rodgers & Hammerstein!!!
- By BigWally on 06-27-18
By: Todd S. Purdum
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The Secret Life of the American Musical
- How Broadway Shows Are Built
- By: Jack Viertel
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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For almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in actors and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what, exactly, is a musical?
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Great review lacked music
- By joseph f mcgovern on 10-14-18
By: Jack Viertel
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A Theater for Dreamers
- By: Polly Samson
- Narrated by: Polly Samson
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s 1960, and the world teeters on the edge of cultural, political, sexual, and artistic revolution. On the Greek island of Hydra, a proto-commune of poets, painters, and musicians revel in dreams at the feet of their unofficial leaders, the writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston, troubled queen and king of bohemia. At the center of this circle of misfit artists are the captivating and inscrutable Axel Jensen, his magnetic wife Marianne Ihlen, and a young Canadian ingenue poet named Leonard Cohen.
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On an island is where this book blissfully kept me
- By Amazon Customer on 06-10-21
By: Polly Samson
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When Paris Went Dark
- The City of Light under German Occupation, 1940-1944
- By: Ronald C. Rosbottom
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
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On June 14, 1940, German tanks entered a silent and nearly deserted Paris. Eight days later, France accepted a humiliating defeat and foreign occupation. Subsequently, an eerie sense of normalcy settled over the City of Light. Many Parisians keenly adapted themselves to the situation - even allied themselves with their Nazi overlords. At the same time, amidst this darkening gloom of German ruthlessness, shortages, and curfews, a resistance arose.
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Good but not great
- By gaillardia on 08-21-14
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Girl
- A Novel
- By: Edna O'Brien
- Narrated by: Sheila Atim
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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"I was a girl once, but not anymore." So begins Girl, Edna O’Brien’s harrowing portrayal of the young women abducted by Boko Haram. Set in the deep countryside of northeast Nigeria, this is a brutal story of incarceration, horror, and hunger; a hair-raising escape into the manifold terrors of the forest; and a descent into the labyrinthine bureaucracy and hostility awaiting a victim who returns home with a child blighted by enemy blood.
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Low quality. Hard to understand.
- By RS on 04-21-20
By: Edna O'Brien
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The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
- Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.
- By: Nicholas Meyer
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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This "rediscovered" Sherlock Holmes adventure recounts the unique collaboration of Holmes and Sigmund Freud in the solution of a mystery on which the lives of millions may depend.
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Did I Get the Same Book Everyone Else Got?
- By Troy on 08-28-13
By: Nicholas Meyer
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Did You Ever Have A Family
- By: Bill Clegg
- Narrated by: Bill Clegg
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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On the eve of her daughter's wedding, June Reid's life is completely devastated when a shocking disaster takes the lives of her daughter, her daughter's fiancé, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend, Luke - her entire family, all gone in a moment. And June is the only survivor.
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One of my favorite books, but sadly, read by author
- By Elizabeth on 09-03-15
By: Bill Clegg
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The Last Boat Home
- By: Rachel Sweasey
- Narrated by: Gloria Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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When Daisy, a paintress at the local pottery, looks out across Poole Harbour, waiting for the ‘little ships’ to bring the retreating soldiers home from Dunkirk, she prays her husband will be among them. But Alfie is declared missing, presumed dead, and Daisy must learn to live as a widow. Then a chance encounter with a French soldier throws Daisy’s life even further off course, with heartbreaking consequences that will span generations.
By: Rachel Sweasey
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Arctic Fury
- By: Greer Macallister
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Eccentric Lady Jane Franklin makes an outlandish offer to adventurer Virginia Reeve: take a dozen women, trek into the Arctic, and find her husband's lost expedition. Four parties have failed to find him, and Lady Franklin wants a radical new approach: put the women in charge. A year later, Virginia stands trial for murder. Survivors of the expedition willing to publicly support her sit in the front row. There are only five. What happened out there on the ice?
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Not what I thought it would be.
- By Morgana on 12-16-20
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Still Here
- The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch
- By: Alexandra Jacobs
- Narrated by: Andréa Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Still Here is the first full telling of Elaine Stritch’s life. Rollicking but intimate, it tracks one of Broadway’s great personalities from her upbringing in Detroit during the Great Depression to her fateful move to New York City, where she studied alongside Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, and Harry Belafonte. We accompany Elaine through her jagged rise to fame, to Hollywood and London, and across her later years, when she enjoyed a stunning renaissance, punctuated by a turn on the popular television show 30 Rock.
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Phenomenal account of a Broadway Icon
- By Donna Deal on 12-30-19
By: Alexandra Jacobs
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Gays on Broadway
- By: Ethan Mordden
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Writing with his customary verve and wit, author Ethan Mordden follows the steady liberation of gay themes on the American stage. The story begins in the early twentieth century, when gay characters were virtually banned from productions. The 1920s saw a flurry of plays closed on moral grounds as well as the Wales Padlock Act, which forbade representation of "sex degeneracy". While authorities made consistent attempts to shutter the movement, the public remained curious, and after a few decades of war making, a truce broke out when The Boys In the Band became a national smash hit.
By: Ethan Mordden
What listeners say about Shy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Armando
- 01-08-24
Wonderful sauciness
This book is a unique combination of autobiography & interview. Mary was the daughter of Richard Rogers of Rogers & Hammerstein fame who was an accomplished musical author herself. You get facts about her father’s productions along with juicy sharp gossip about the era delivered by barbed tartness by Christine Baranski. I can not recommend this book enough for theatre lovers.
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- Jm
- 03-15-24
Insightful…a delightful cut to the chase.
Clever, interesting and honest to a fault, what a legacy Mary Rogers has left for those who value a life in the arts.
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- triathlondude
- 02-16-24
Baranski is a marvelous narrator.
Christine Baranski is perfection. Mary’s story is hilarious, heartbreaking, and admirable. One of the wittiest biographies I’ve “read.”
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- Pennypie
- 11-17-23
Worth the wait!
From the second the book came out I’ve been checking and checking and checking and checking for the audio version. I finally gave up. And then, all of a sudden, here it is. Worth the wait and the time. What a fantastic broad was Mary Rodgers Guettel. Drink it in.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Pam
- 08-19-23
Great Listen-To!
Christine Baranski does a great job of making Mary Rodgers come to life. Jesse Green did a wonderful job of interjecting explanations as needed, and at the end, I could have cried, as I felt I lost someone I had known. Very well done!
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- Melanie Ripley
- 09-02-23
A Fun, Behind-the-Scenes Treat for Broadway Fans
If you can sing along with original cast albums from the Golden Age of Broadway, then this book is for you. Christine Baranski makes Mary Rodgers' wit, wisdom, and wisecracks come alive, and she perfects a snarky tone that is more delectable than depressing.
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- Erik B. Rinderle
- 09-17-23
What a fun book!
Mary Rodgers had such a non-traditional life, and it was told so well through Jesse Green and Christine Baranski’s narration. I felt like Rodgers was telling me the story, while Green’s “back to the real world” side notes punctuated the storytelling. I want more.
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2 people found this helpful
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- pron name
- 11-28-23
Most entertaining,thought-provoking and so funny and endearing
The narration was as good as it gets. The storytelling held my interest The disclosures were truly that, and I felt like I knew who Mary Rogers was. Great read
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- JEN of Jamestown, CA
- 11-23-23
Amazing Life
I LOVED THIS BOOK AND THE READING OF IT. I didn’t know anything about Mary Rodgers other that who her father was. I was many times astounded and enlightened with her accomplishments and her relationships. What an awesome human being! And Christine Baranski was pitch perfect, as was the voice of reason and truth, Jesse Green. Thanks so much for this book and Audible.
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- Jim Berg
- 03-27-24
Candor and humor
I loved it and so will you. A look behind the curtain at Broadway, the the Rodgers family and all the ups and downs of trying to be creative.
Best of all: the narrator was superb. It made the listener believe Mary Rodgers personally narrated the book.
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