Really Rosie

My children just love this. After a long time, a friend of ours had the video (we live overseas) and we saw it again. Everyone (and I mean everyone) was singing along. Not a great story perhaps but just a great collection of wonderful music geared toward adults. As my 10 year old sits in the bath right now, she is singing Pierre at the top of her lungs. Is this what these shows should be about! Making children happy and helping their imaginations. Well, IMDb says 10 lines so 10 lines it is. 30 years later and I do not see one Disney soundtrack even coming close to the talent and beauty of Carole King's work and Maurice Sendaks story. I have to say.

Much to my surprise, this show (along with other Maurice Sendak works) is finally available on DVD; the two stories I enjoyed the most were "Pierre" and "Chicken Soup with Rice." I cannot honestly comment on the others in the show ("Alligators ALl Around" and "One was Johnny"). Carole King's whimsical songs are still very singable and are just a lot of fun!

I recall being caught up with the music from this when I was in 1st grade; my teacher had a tape and I listened to it incessantly, singing along...with headphones on! :) My parents liked hearing about that one..but I digress.

The animation for the show is a bit stilted (no worse than any Anime' I've seen!), but the stories and the encouragement for kids to use their IMAGINATIONS is certainly welcomed! Of course, with "Pierre" you get the obligatory message ("CARE!!")and that's fine. The story is told with so much whimsy and frivolity that the moral is kind of a surprise reminder by the end!

Once again, if the video of this is not for you, then at least check out the songs or the books individually. They are worthwhile on their own. Imagine my surprise when I grew up from 1st grade and found out that Carole King was famous for songs OTHER than those from "Really Rosie"! What a cool surprise.

SOOO many memories. This is actually "before my time" since I'm a child of the 80's, but my mother got me the record, and singing Alligators all around (and Pierre, and Chicken Soup and Rice, and One was Johnny, and pretty much everything on this album!) was all part of my childhood experience. I stumbled across the CD on amazon.com, and started talking about it to my boyfriend, who surprised me with the CD. LOVED IT! Cant wait to share it with my own kids one day. If this is a lovely reminder of your childhood, as it is for mine, I would definitely recommend picking up a copy of the CD--after all, you're in it for the songs, not the images (although those don't hurt, and I suppose brainwashing the next generation to really appreciate Really Rosie may require some visual stimuli).

I had a copy of this video when I was a kid and used to watch it all the time! It was my first exposure to the awesomeness that is Carole King, and further proof of the awesomeness of the late great Maurice Sendak! I highly recommend this movie to both kids and adults, both for the educational and musical value it has! Screaming and Yelling may seem superfluous, but it's not terrible, Carole still does a great job, as usual! Also, fun fact, her two daughters were back up singers on the album! I've heard that she's lost her talent in recent years, but I don't want to know about it, because I want to think of her as I've heard her, perfect and pure!

When the writer/singer of "I Feel the Earth Move" teams up with the author of "Where the Wild Things Are", you know you're in for something good. And "Really Rosie" is just that. Carole King had written a number of songs for other performers, having sung only a few personally, but this is one of her high points. She provides the voice of a woman who fancies herself a star and sings songs about it to the children in her Brooklyn neighborhood. Each character has a song, in fact.

I first learned of "Really Rosie" when I was in fifth grade and my class was putting on a production of it. We listened to the songs on the soundtrack - side 2 had some songs that weren't in the special - but changed one of the lines in "Alligators All Around" to avoid racially insensitive lyrics. We watched the movie, but only got about two thirds of the way through. My task in the production was operating the flood light, but I was having braces put in the day of the performance, so naturally I was in no condition to operate any machinery. I later watched the class's production on the video that they made of it.

The main point is that "Really Rosie" is one of the greatest animated TV specials ever. A fine achievement for both Carole King and Maurice Sendak. And remember, always care!