RIP: Mary Rodgers Guettel

[MrMiniver]

I've just gotten word that my friend, Mary Rodgers Guettel, has passed away at the age of 83. She was the daughter of one composer and the mother of another and a composer in her own right (Once Upon a Mattress among others). She was a real pillar of the theater community. She will be missed.

[+ WilliamM]

I shall also miss Mary Rodgers Guettel.

 

For the record, her dad was Richard Rodgers of Rodgers and Hart & Rodgers and Hammerstein. He needed a new lyricist when Oscar Hammerstein II died in 1960. Instead, Rodgers wrote the lyrics and composed the music for the hit musical "No Strings." Later he worked with many lyricists, including Stephen Sondheim.

 

Mary Rodgers Guettel's son is Adam Guettel who was the composer-lyrist for the successful 2005 musical "The Light in the Piazza."

 

I do not live in New York, but occasionaly saw Mary Rodgers Guettel and her sister, Linda Rodgers Emory, at concerts and Broadway shows. Their mother, Dorothy Rodgers, continue to attend shows and concert as well until her death in 1992 at age 83.

[bostonman]

I've just gotten word that my friend, Mary Rodgers Guettel, has passed away at the age of 83. She was the daughter of one composer and the mother of another and a composer in her own right

 

...and the aunt of another one (Peter Melnick, who wrote the musical Adrift In Macao with Christopher Durang). Lots of talent in that family.

 

Rest in peace, Mary.