Rodgers (left) and Hammerstein (right), with
Irving Berlin (middle) and
Helen Tamiris, watching auditions at the St. James Theatre
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; two
Pulitzer Prizes; 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 did not begin to be awarded until 1947.
Previous work and partnerships
- See also: Rodgers and Hart
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 would consider the possibility of working with him. They made a secret arrangement, which came into force when Hart
was not available to work on the project that was to become Oklahoma![1] When working with Hart, Rodgers would always write the music for Hart to write the lyrics. However,
when he teamed up with Hammerstein, Hammerstein would write the lyrics first and then Rodgers would write the music.
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 all time 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.[2]
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.
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 was not 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 later adapted for film, in 1956 with Brynner re-creating his role opposite
Deborah Kerr. 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.
The Sound of Music
-
- See also: The Sound of Music
(film)
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 did not 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 - 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 now 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
References
- ^ Rodgers, Richard Musical Stages, an autobiography W.H. Allen &
Co. Ltd., (1975) pp. 207-217 ISBN 0-491-01777-4
- ^ Oklahoma! (MCA/Capitol) at All Music Guide
Additional sources
- Nolan, Frederick "The Sound of Their Music: The Story of Rodgers and Hammerstein" (New York: Applause Books, 2002) ISBN
1-55783-473-3
See also
External links
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