Everything about Rodgers And Hammerstein totally explained
Rodgers and Hammerstein were an
American songwriting duo consisting of
Richard Rodgers (
1902 –
1979) and
Oscar Hammerstein II (
1895 –
1960). They are most famous for creating a string of immensely popular
Broadway musicals in the
1940s and
1950s, during what is considered the
golden age of the medium. Five of their shows were outstanding successes:
Oklahoma! (their first collaboration);
Carousel;
South Pacific;
The King and I; and
The Sound of Music. In all, among the many accolades their shows (and their film versions) garnered were thirty-four
Tony Awards; fifteen
Academy Awards; the
Pulitzer Prize; and two
Grammys: this, in spite of the fact that Rodgers and Hammerstein began writing together before the era of the Tonys -
Oklahoma! opened in 1943 and
Carousel in 1945, and the Tonys were not awarded until 1947.
Common theme in addressing social issues
While the duo's work contains some of the happiest, cheerful, and most uplifting songs in
American pop culture, there was a higher purpose addressed in many of their works.
South Pacific clearly addresses
racism. Its song "You Have to be Carefully Taught" candidly conveys that racial biases are not human nature - they're "taught" through social norms and culture.
The King and I demonstrates a society where women are slaves, prompting the protagonist, Anna, to speak out against it. The issue of domestic violence is again addressed in
Carousel.
Sexism and
classism are artfully addressed in Rodgers & Hammerstein's work.
The Sound of Music notably addresses the takeover of
Austria by the
Third Reich. The pain of Austrians watching their country go under foreign invasion is visible by the final performance of "Edelweiss." While their works are immensely entertaining, it appears that they tried to also teach lessons through song and music. They could have made their musicals without addressing these topics, yet apparently sought to enlighten their audiences as well. To great effect, this may have enhanced the popularity of their work.
Previous work and partnerships
Rodgers had previously been in a successful partnership with
Lorenz Hart; among their Broadway hits were the shows
Babes in Arms,
Pal Joey and
A Connecticut Yankee. Hammerstein, a co-writer of the popular
Rudolf Friml operetta
Rose Marie, began a successful collaboration with composer
Jerome Kern on
Sunny, which was a great hit; their 1927 musical
Show Boat is considered to be one of the masterpieces of the American musical theatre. Among others, Hammerstein continued to work with Kern and operetta composer
Sigmund Romberg on shows such as
Sweet Adeline,
Music in the Air and
Very Warm for May. Although the last of these was panned by critics as a failure, it contained one of Kern and Hammerstein's best-loved songs,
All the Things You Are.
In the meantime, Lorenz Hart sank deeper into alcoholism and became more unreliable, prompting Rodgers to approach Hammerstein to ask if he'd consider the possibility of working with him.
Early work: Oklahoma! and Carousel
Oklahoma!
Independently of each other, Rodgers and Hammerstein had been attracted to making a musical based on Lynn Riggs' stage play
Green Grow the Lilacs. When
Jerome Kern declined Hammerstein's offer to work on such a project and Hart refused Rodgers' offer to do the same, Rodgers and Hammerstein began their first collaboration together. The result,
Oklahoma! (1943), marked a revolution in musical drama. Although not the first musical to tell a story of emotional depth and psychological complexity,
Oklahoma! introduced a number of new storytelling elements and techniques. These included its focus on emotional empathy; characters and situations far removed from the audience by time and geography; its use of American historical and social materials; and its use of dance and song to convey plot and character rather than act as an intermission or diversion from the story.
The first production was called
Away We Go! and opened in the Shubert Theatre in
New Haven during March 1943. Only a few changes were made before it opened on Broadway, but two would prove significant: the addition of a
show-stopping number,
Oklahoma!; and the decision to retitle the musical after it.
The original Broadway production opened on March 31, 1943 at the
St. James Theatre. At the time, roles in musicals were usually filled by actors who could sing, but Rodgers and Hammerstein chose the reverse, casting singers who could act. As a result, there were also no stars in the production, another unusual step. Nevertheless, the production ran for a then unprecedented 2212 performances, finally closing on May 29, 1948. Many enduring musical standards come from this show - among them
Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin',
The Surrey with the Fringe on Top,
People Will Say We're in Love, and the title song,
Oklahoma!
In 1955 it was adapted to make an
Academy Award-winning
musical film, shot both in the then new 70mm
widescreen Todd-AO format and the more established
Cinemascope format for theatres without 70mm projection equipment. The
film's soundtrack was #1 on the 1956 album charts.
After their initial success with
Oklahoma!, the pair took a small break from working together and Hammerstein concentrated on the musical
Carmen Jones, a
Broadway version of
Bizet's
Carmen with the characters changed to
African-Americans in the then-modern South, for which he wrote the book and lyrics.
Carousel
The original production of Carousel was directed by
Rouben Mamoulian and opened at
Broadway's
Majestic Theatre on April 19, 1945, running for 890 performances and closing on May 24, 1947. The original cast included
John Raitt,
Jan Clayton,
Jean Darling,
Eric Mattson,
Christine Johnson,
Murvyn Vye,
Bambi Linn, and
Russell Collins. From this show came the hit musical numbers
The Carousel Waltz (an instrumental),
If I Loved You,
June Is Bustin' Out All Over, and
You'll Never Walk Alone.
Carousel was also revolutionary for its time — it was one of the first musicals to contain a tragic plot; the show was adapted from
Ferenc Molnar's play
Liliom. The 1956 film version of
Carousel, made in
Cinemascope 55, starred the same two actors who had starred in the movie of
Oklahoma! -
Gordon MacRae and
Shirley Jones.
Carousel is unique among the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals for not having an overture; both the stage and film versions began with the familiar
Carousel Waltz. This music was included in
John Mauceri's
Philips Records CD of the complete overtures of Rodgers and Hammerstein with the
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. It was also included in Rodgers' rare (1954) album for
Columbia Records with the composer conducting the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
State Fair
In 1945, a
Technicolor musical film version of Phil Stong's novel
State Fair, with songs and script by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was released. The film, a remake of a 1933 non-musical
Will Rogers movie of the
same name, starred
Jeanne Crain,
Dana Andrews,
Dick Haymes and
Vivian Blaine. This was the only time the pair ever wrote a score directly for a film. It was a great success, winning R&H their only Oscar, for the song
It Might as Well Be Spring. In
1962, there was an
unsuccessful remake of the musical film, and it wasn't until years later that the musical was finally performed onstage for the first time - also unsuccessfully.
South Pacific
South Pacific opened on Broadway on April 7,
1949, and ran for more than five years. A number of its songs, such as
Bali Ha'i,
Younger than Springtime, and
Some Enchanted Evening, have become worldwide standards. For their adaptation, Rodgers and Hammerstein, along with co-writer
Joshua Logan, won the
Pulitzer Prize for Drama in
1950. The play is based upon two short stories by
James A. Michener from his book
Tales of the South Pacific, which itself was the winner of the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in
1948. The original cast starred
Mary Martin as the heroine Nellie Forbush and opera star
Ezio Pinza as Emile de Becque, the French plantation owner. Also in the cast were
Juanita Hall,
Myron McCormick,
Betta St. John, and
William Tabbert. The
1958 film version, also directed by Logan, starred
Mitzi Gaynor,
Rossano Brazzi,
John Kerr,
Ray Walston, and
Juanita Hall. Brazzi, Kerr, and Hall had their singing dubbed by others. Much of the film was shot on location on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.
The King and I
Based on
Margaret Landon's
Anna and the King of Siam, the biographical story of
Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King
Mongkut of
Siam in the early
1860s, Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical
The King and I opened on
Broadway on March 29,
1951 and starred
Gertrude Lawrence as Anna, and a mostly unknown
Yul Brynner as the King. This musical featured the hit songs
I Whistle a Happy Tune;
Hello, Young Lovers;
Getting to Know You;
We Kiss in a Shadow;
Something Wonderful;
I Have Dreamed; and
Shall We Dance?
It was adapted for film in
1956 with Brynner re-creating his role opposite
Deborah Kerr (whose singing was largely dubbed by
Marni Nixon). Brynner won an
Oscar as
Best Actor for his portrayal, and Kerr was nominated as
Best Actress. Brynner reprised the role twice on Broadway in
1977 and
1985, and in a short-lived TV sitcom in
1972,
Anna and the King.
Flower Drum Song
Based on a 1957 novel by
C.Y. Lee,
Flower Drum Song takes place in
San Francisco's Chinatown in the late 1950s. The original 1958 production was directed by dancer/singer/actor
Gene Kelly. The story deals with a young Chinese woman who illegally comes to America in hopes of marrying a wealthy young Chinese-American man, who is already in love with a Chinatown nightclub dancer. The young man's parents are traditional Chinese and want him to marry the Chinese woman, but he's hesitant until he falls in love with her. The 1961 film adaptation was a lavish
Ross Hunter production released by
Universal Studios.
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music was Rodgers and Hammerstein's last work together. It told the story of the von Trapp family. It opened on Broadway at the
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on
November 16,
1959, and starred
Mary Martin as Maria and
Theodore Bikel as Captain von Trapp. It later was made into a
movie (released in 1965) starring
Julie Andrews as Maria and
Christopher Plummer as the Captain. The movie won five Oscars, including best picture and best director,
Robert Wise. Hammerstein didn't live to see the movie made. When Rodgers wrote two extra songs for the movie, he wrote the lyrics also.
The Sound of Music probably contains more hit songs than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, probably due more than anything to the phenomenal success of the film version. It was the most financially successful film adaptation of a Broadway musical ever made.
Legacy
These two artists completely re-worked the musical theatre genre. Before they came along musicals were whimsical and usually built around a star, although there were exceptions such as
Show Boat, which was also co-written by Hammerstein. Because the efforts of Rodgers and Hammerstein were so successful, more musicals contained thought-provoking plots, and every aspect of the play, dance, song, and drama was important to the plot.
In
1950, the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein received
The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." In addition to their enduring work, Rodgers and Hammerstein were also honored in
1999 with a
United States Postal Service stamp commemorating their partnership
The
Richard Rodgers Theatre in
New York City is named after Rodgers.
List of shows
Further Information
Get more info on 'Rodgers And Hammerstein'.
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