ABSTRACT
Some of the innovations of The Music Man stemmed from Meredith Willson's being a Broadway novice; unaware of all of musical theatre's conventions, he was unfettered by tradition. Mary Rodgers, as the daughter of Richard Rodgers, had been in theatrical circles all her life. Rodgers worked with lyricist Marshall Barer on the one-act summer show at the Tamiment resort in the Poconos. Besides introducing Carol Burnett to Broadway, Once Upon a Mattress featured Jane White as Queen Aggravain. Ethan Mordden has quipped that Once Upon a Mattress was the only musical ever to "tour" Manhattan. Rodgers and Barer tried their hands at a revue—The Mad Show— in 1966. Mary Rodgers and Richard Adler both had musicians for fathers, but Adler learned virtually nothing from his parent. Using a toy xylophone, Adler laboriously composed his tunes. In 1950, Adler met Jerry Ross, who, like himself, enjoyed writing words and music for songs.
