“Shy”
Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer, Once Upon a
Mattress, 1959
Performer:
Carol Burnett, 1964
Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer, Once Upon a
Mattress, 1959
Performer:
Carol Burnett, 1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kF43Gb4wCE
Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer, Once
Upon a Mattress, 1959
Performer: Sarah Jessica Parker, 1996
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=650qT7e12YY
Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer, Once Upon a Mattress, 1959
Performer: Tracey Ullman, 2005 TV version
Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer, Once Upon a
Mattress, 1959
Performers:
Jackie Hoffman, John Epperson, and many others in the Transport Groups concert
production, 2013
If
one ever needed a definition of irony, I might invite young students to listen
to Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer’s rendition of the song “Shy” as sung by the
original performer, Carol Burnett.
Burnett brilliantly belts out her “Shy” song, proclaiming her demure behavior underneath her absolutely hurricane-like surface, literally, through Joe Layton’s wonderful choreography, blowing the members of Queen Aggravain’s medieval court off their feet. The young Winnifred (who likes her nick-name of Fred), is, of course, anything but shy. She has just swam the moat to apply for the role of princess, and is determined to find a husband, since, as she finally admits she is “shy” of a man if not naturally shy in personality.
Not a single courtier will admit to being
Prince Dauntless, and whenever the Prince dares to admit that he is the one,
also desperate for a wife, his imperious mother pulls him away. Winnifred takes
the entire court on a whirlwind dance in order to discover the Prince’s
identity, all the time denying her totally domineering personality.
The song and the musical as a whole is so
close to camp that it later was performed by a group of gay and drag
performers, including John Epperson as the Queen and the wonderful David
Greenspan as the King, with comedian Jackie Hoffman as Winnifred. I’ve included
a selection of songs from that Transport Group’s 2013 production.
But then, nearly everybody, including Dody
Goodman, Imogene Coca, Buster Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, and numerous other
luminaries have appeared in productions of this likeable musical, which, when
first appeared Off-Broadway, was given luke-warm reviews, but was loved by
audiences, allowing to last a reasonable run of 244 performances before it was
revived again and again in theater and in television productions. Tracey
Ullman, performing it in 2005 on television, sang beautifully, but far more
tamely than Burnett and others, almost convincing her
audiences that she might really be a little shy and was just bluffing as the
future Princess that couldn’t sleep.
I saw the 1964 television version with
Burnett, Elliot Gould as the Jester, and others. Bernadette Peters later
appeared in a 1972 TV production as Lady Larken, along with the original cast
members, Burnett, Jack Gilford, and Jane White.
The talented composer, Mary Rodgers,
daughter of one of the titans of composers Richard Rodgers, went on to have a
hit in the Off-Broadway musical The Mad
Show, based on skits from Mad
Magazine, and wrote Phyllis Newman's one-woman show The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979), as well as contributing,
along with Stephen Sondheim, to the short-lived Judy Holliday musical, Hot Spot.
Her son, Adam Guettel, wrote the
successful score for the musical, The
Light in the Piazza, and previously sang in numerous operas as a child
performer before turning to compose many notable classical scores.
Mary went on to write numerous children’s
books, playing down her musical gifts, proclaiming that she had neither the
talents of her father or son. But, to be honest, her crazy fairy-tale musical
was one of my favorites of my youth, and her song “Shy,” I always felt, was a
secret satire on her own father’s similar statement in “I Whistle a Happy Tune”
from The King and I.
Los Angeles,
August 29 2017
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