RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN

RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN
Perhaps the time when the Broadway Musical truly came into it’s own as a world class art happens in 1943 when Richard Rodgers, who had written very successful musicals with Lorenz Hart, and Oscar Hamerstein II, who had written with every major composer of the 20th century, met to consider collaboration. They would set the popular drama Green Grow the Lilacs, and release to the world the longest running musical of it’s time, Oklahoma! When Alfred Drake came onto the stage singing Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, the American Musical Theatre took a major step forward as an art form. For the first time in history, the dramatic element of the show was equal to the musical element. Before Oklahoma! the plots of musicals existed onoly to get from one song to the next. In fact, songs were often traded back and forth between musicals. Rodgers and Hammerstein determined to use the music to further the drama, not suspend or stop the dramatic action. Where else could songs like Oklahoma, or Poor Judd is Dead, be used in another how. The perfect marriage between good music and theatre was born. Oklahoma, ran 2,212 performances at the St. James Theatre, receiving even more widespread viewership when it was made into a motion picture in 1955. One of the elements of Oklahoma! that distinguished it was the ingenious choreography of Agnes DeMille. She literally changed the course of American Ballet by incorporating movement and costuming of the west into the traditions of ballet. The farmers and the cow men of the west wore their boots as they danced and a new heightened masculinity developed into the ballet forms of the American Musical Theatre and beyond. The public loved the new look that would give rise to Aaron Copland’s great American ballet Rodeo, which she also choreographed. While still enjoying their great success of Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote, what they considered their masterwork, Carousel. Opening April 19, 1945 and running 890 performances, it caused a departure from the formula of Oklahoma!. Because they determined to use more operatic convention, namely longer songs, or arias, and incorporating dialogue with underscoring of music, some of their backers were reluctant to give their support. At this point, given their financial success of Oklahoma, they were able to move forward in production with their own financial resources. In addition they determined to print their own music under the name Williamson, (the maiden name of Richard’s mother), and thereby controlled their own destiny as well as reaped considerable financial rewards. This paradigm was unheard of at the time, but subsequently Irving Berlin would follow suit by printing his own music as well. Though Carousel was not the box office hit that Oklahoma was, it was considered by it’s composers to be their best effort, and a means of saying thank you to God for his giving them the gifts they had enjoyed. The final song of Carousel, promotes the idea that they both believed, tat You’ll Never Walk Alone. At the conclusion of the war, in 1949 they met with another hit, South Pacific, based on the award winning book, Tales of the South Pacific, by war correspondent and veteran, James A. Michenor. The work was directed by Joshua Logan, and written for the talents of the leading characters, Ezio Pinza, matinee idol of the Metropolitan Opera, and Mary Martin. One of the songs, You’ve Got to be Taught, which promoted the idea that prejudice is a learned behavior caused a great deal of concern for the producers, who believed at the time that people went to the theatre to get away from thinking. Rodgers and Hammerstein held fast to keeping the song in, losing some of the their backers in the process. They would find the same challenge, and the same result when South Pacific was later made into a motion picture. In 1951, being approached by Gertrude Lawrence, who was enjoying enormous success with Anna and the King, as a straight play, they determined to set the play to music. King and I became a wonderful vehicle for Lawrence, especially given that they tailored the music to her limited vocal range, but it did not suit her leading man Rex Harrison, who refused to be involved with any musical theatre at all. History would prove that decision to be short lived. The role of the king would ultimately, quite by accident, be played by Yul Brynner.. Songs such as Getting to Know You, Hello Young Lovers, I Whistle a Happy Tune, all show the genius of Rodgers and Hammerstein to tailoring their music to fit the specific gift of an artist. Though Rodgers and Hammerstein enjoyed successes with State Fair, Cinderella, and Flower Drum Song, their most widely accepted work would be their last. Opening on November 16, 1959, The Sound of Music would run 1443 performances, and in 1965 become a motion picture with the widest exposure of a musical in history. Starring Mary Martin who had helped create the character of Maria von Trapp by becoming well acquainted with the historical figure. Oscar Hammerstein would succumb to a long battle with cancer as Sound of Music opened at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre. His last lyric which he wanted set into the piece were: “A bell is no bell till you ring it, A song is no song till you sing it, And love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay Love isn’t love till you give it away”