Yes, you heard right. Mama Partridge is coming to town. But so is saucy hooker Lulu Bains from Elmer Gantry, prim librarian Marian Paroo from The Music Man, hash-smoking senior citizen Grace from Adam Sandler’s Grandma’s Boy, Mother Goose from Sesame Street, and Miss Pittsburgh of 1952. Memorable as Shirley Jones was leading her Cowsills-like brood in that Seventies sitcom, her career had a lot more to it, such as being handpicked by Rodgers and Hammerstein to play ingenue Laurey when they took their stage smash Oklahoma! to the silver screen and an Oscar-winning turn opposite Burt Lancaster in the cinematic Gantry. Austin almost got to see her in TexARTS’ production of Carousel in June, playing Cousin Nettie opposite her son Patrick Cassidy, but sadly Jones had to withdraw from the show. She promised, however, to return and give a solo concert to benefit TexARTS, and she’s doing so this Friday, Sept. 21, at Riverbend Centre. Margaret Moser spoke to the stage and screen star about the many things she’s done besides shake a tambourine and “Get Happy.” To read it, see “Me and Miss Jones,” in the Earache! music blog on austinchronicle.com/earache. For information about her concert, visit www.tex-arts.org, and see Music Listings.
This article appears in September 21 • 2007.