First published 2022
Mary Rodgers Guettel refuses to remain sandwiched between two musical giants. Her father Richard Rodgers created some of America's greatest melodies. Her son Adam Guettel carries on the family tradition. But Mary carves out her own path as composer of the hit musical Once Upon a Mattress and author of the beloved novel Freaky Friday. She transforms from an angry child trapped by privilege into a theater star, children's book writer, and philanthropist who eventually chairs the Juilliard School. Working with coauthor Jesse Green, the chief theater critic of The New York Times, Mary tells her story with interruptions, corrections, and contradictions that reveal a woman fighting disapproving parents and widespread sexism. She discovers art and love on her own terms, becoming the kind of woman who makes herself rather than waiting to be made.
Genres: 20th-century, autobiography, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
480 pages · Hardcover · Farrar, Straus and Giroux