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Whole Lotta Rosie

posted Monday June 15th, 2009

really-annabelle1

Friday was a very Rosy day.

Our home is always pretty rosy — if not in temperament, at least in the names of its residents: Rosie the blanket, Rosy the dog and of course Annabelle Rose. (I would have named her Rosy if I could have gotten away with it.)

And so when Rosy the dog got sick on the same day as Annabelle’s dance camp performance of “Really Rosie,” I worried it was some sort of a sad, bad sign.

Regarding Rosy the dog. I really don’t want to gross you out, but by way of explanation let me just say that I now know the real meaning of the term shitstorm. And when it happens to you when you’re 98 (in dog years) it just can’t be good. I dropped Rosy off at the vet for some blood tests, Cloroxed the back seat of my car, and got teary every time I thought about her.

That was when I wasn’t tearing up behind the Flip camera. I will warn you that you will have to be a big fan of Maurice Sendak, Carole King or Annabelle to enjoy the following video. The quality is not great and the song — “Such Sufferin” — pretty obscure. (Stick with it — she’s got a couple moves that are priceless. This is her mother talking, remember. But still!)

Speaking of obscure, I was suprised that more people aren’t familiar with “Really Rosie,” a half-hour 70s era cartoon and, later, off-Broadway musical. 

When I was a little kid, I was obsessed with teeny tiny books (Annabelle now is, as well, with no prompting; it’s clearly genetic) and when I was about her age and a nerdy bookstore lurker even then, I found a collection called “The Nutshell Library,” which includes several Sendak gems, including “One Was Johnny,” “Pierre,” “Alligators All Around,” and the aformentioned ode to chicken soup.

Those stories were merged with some others — notably one about a “demonstrative” little girl Sendak remembered from his Brooklyn neighborhood — to create “Really Rosie.” The story doesn’t make a great deal of sense, but it’s really about the music, particularly a song called “Chicken Soup with Rice.”

Here’s a snippet of the opening of the cartoon.

In the short (very short, they only had a week to do it) version performed Friday, Annabelle was the assistant director, which you won’t really get from the video I’ve posted of her. But like I said, I think you’ll enjoy her moves. 

My favorite part of the Sufferin’ song (which is a good lesson to any of us with middle class malaise, frankly; I hope you can make out the words) is the mention of Bufferin, which I had to explain to Annabelle.

And my favorite part of the Rosy the dog saga was when the vet called Saturday, admittedly bewildered, to report that Rosy’s blood tests came back and she’s just fine. We will arm ourselves with a new diet and doggie imodium and move along the yellow brick road with this week’s dance camp performance, some sort of merging of The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz and Wicked.

(Breaking news: I just heard that Annabelle will be playing Dorothy. I better get to work on my video skills.)

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Tags: Filed under: Uncategorized by Amysilverman

4 Responses to “Whole Lotta Rosie”

  1. I have the Nutshell Library! We are soul sisters.

  2. :-)

  3. Me, too! And admittedly love it more than Rachel! Your video is great!

  4. “In February it will be my snowman’s anniversary, with cake for him and soup for me. Happy once, happy twice, happy chicken soup with rice.” I’ve seen only the cartoon special, and only once, but some lyrics just stick.

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