GROSS: Yeah. PURDUM: Well, this young prostitute has just arrived in Monterey from San Francisco on a bumpy overnight bus ride. 5. GROSS: OK. Prolific on Broadway, in London and in Hollywood from the '20s into the early '40s, Rodgers & Hart wrote more than 40 shows and film scores. Ensemble (1952), Lehman Engel 2:53 2 Oklahoma - From "Oklahoma!" Their legacy in theater can be illustrated with Broadway revivals of, among several other productions, The Sound of Music in 1998, South Pacific in 2008, The King and I in 2015, and Oklahoma! His new book about Rodgers and Hammerstein is called "Something Wonderful." And asked him if he'd consider collaborating with him because he thought Larry was falling apart. Rodgers & Hammerstein were used to breaking their own records, and Pipe Dream was not an exception for them. September 10, 2018. (Reading) If I loved you, time and again, I would try to say all I'd want you to know. Rodgers & Hammerstein's Greatest Hits! Romantic & Beautiful H - YouTube "[citation needed] They were also honored in 1999 with a United States Postal Service stamp commemorating their partnership. Also in the cast were Juanita Hall, Myron McCormick and Betta St. John. And below is a full list of the classic and ground-breaking musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein, sorted chronologically. Like, in "Sound Of Music," which we just heard, the line like a lark who is learning to prey, Sondheim hates that line (laughter). The film, a remake of a 1933 non-musical Will Rogers film of the same name, starred Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, and Vivian Blaine. Please note:This post contains affiliate links. Resources And as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Set against a backdrop the Austrian Anschluss of 1938, it opened on Broadway in 1959 and went on to win five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Richard Rodgers saw the words on the page, and they definitely deeply affected and reflected what he wrote in the music. The only musical they wrote specifically for television, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella aired on CBS on March 31, 1957, the 14th anniversary of Oklahoma! Music:Richard RodgersLyrics:Oscar Hammerstein IIBook:Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse. 5 There is also the R & H 1965 Cinderella with Stuart Damon and Lesley Ann Warren which is a ripper as well. I've only heard the cast recording. A milestone in the development of the American musical, it also marked the beginning of the most successful partnership in Broadway musical history, and was followed by CAROUSEL, ALLEGRO, SOUTH PACIFIC, THE KING AND I, ME AND JULIET, PIPE DREAM, FLOWER DRUM SONG and THE SOUND OF MUSIC. They were guests on the very first broadcast of Toast of the Town, the original name of The Ed Sullivan Show, when it debuted on CBS in June 1948. Hammerstein died in August 1960, before the film was made, so when Rodgers was asked to create two new songs for the film ("I Have Confidence" and "Something Good"), he wrote the lyrics as well as the music. It's about their collaboration that gave us such enduring musicals as "Oklahoma! Just last night, as I was finishing reading your book, a commercial came on TV for Volvo that's using "My Favorite Things" as the music in the ad. ", General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein, "American Musical Theatre: An Introduction", "How Rodgers and Hammerstein Revolutionized Broadway", "Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for, :Proms 2010: Prom 49: A celebration of Rodgers and Hammerstein, review", "Rodgers and Hammerstein remembered for their art and their emotional impact: The Sound of Their Music", https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/aug/21/carousel-musical-review, "Movie vs. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRELUDE/THE SOUND OF MUSIC"). THOMAS: Now, with Hart, you followed the traditional Broadway habit of writing the music first. "Blue Moon" and "My Funny Valentine" were among their dozens of hit songs. ***You may have noticed that for the past year I have been pos. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYBODY'S GOT A HOME BUT ME"). Carousel is also unique among the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals for not having an overture; both the stage and film versions began with the familiar Carousel Waltz. Visit him at benrimalower.com and follow @benrimalower on Twitter.). PURDUM: Yes, and Rodgers, too, in his own way. They'd actually even collaborated on a couple of songs for a varsity show when they were younger men. Oklahoma! It was revolutionary. A film adaptation of Carousel also saw release in 1956. And I think that colored their entire relationship. She said, you probably don't know this song, and then proceeded to sing it. premiered. Among their greatest were On Your Toes, Babes In Arms, The Boys From Syracuse, I Married An Angel and Pal Joey. 1919:Up Stage and Down* Technically the first collaboration between Rodgers and Hammerstein! Actually, he approached him when he was in Philadelphia working as a silent producer on a show called "Best Foot Forward." GROSS: So let's hear an excerpt of "If I Loved You" from the original cast recording of "Carousel.". These musicals were written by Rodgers and Hammerstein II, but dont have cast albums or a large amount of information available online. David Gewirtzman PURDUM: I think the thing that was most interest to me in doing the research for the book was to come to realize how they had tremendous professional respect for each other. (Singing) Kind of scrawny and pale, picking at my food and lovesick like any other guy. Along with Rodgers' sweeping, memorable melodies and Hammerstein's natural yet highly structured lyrics (Rodgers would write music to Hammerstein's words), these and other hit Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals were turned into blockbuster Hollywood films. At its heart, though, this is a fairy tale, the quintessential romantic love story, and as such, no one could have scored it better than Rodgers & Hammerstein. That musical would eventually becomeRodgers & Hammersteins Oklahoma! "Edelweiss" was the last song that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together. We explore ten exceptional songs by the award-winning team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. In the video below, hear from the duo themselves as they explain how they first met and began collaborating: After long and highly distinguished careers with other collaborators, Richard Rodgers (composer) and Oscar Hammerstein II (librettist/lyricist) joined forces to create the most consistently fruitful and successful partnership in the American musical theatre. And Hammerstein would dictate or mail or messenger the lyrics over. Music:Richard RodgersLyrics:Stephen SondheimBook:Arthur Laurents. | And I found it very sad to learn that each went to his grave not knowing whether the other really had liked him. The show was viewed by more than 100 million people when it was first broadcast live on CBS in 1957 the largest audience in history at the time and succeeded in making Julie Andrews a household name. And they do it in a very sort of quiet, intimate way, in which you almost feel like you're eavesdropping on their most intimate kind of conversation. Pipe Dream was Rodgers and Hammersteins seventh collaboration. Oscar Hammerstein II died in 1960. PURDUM: Well, she'd come out to Hollywood from Weatherford, Texas, where she'd had a dance school. I go to the hills when my heart is lonely. The musical was adapted to the screen in 1954, and scored a Best Actress Oscar nomination for leading lady Dorothy Dandridge. PURDUM: Yeah, no. Rodgers and Hammerstein also received a special Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for Oklahoma!.[12]. "I'm In Love with A Wonderful Guy" from South Pacific. / South Pacific / State Fair / Carousel) : Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr, Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Gloria Grahame, Fred Zinnemann, Henry King, Joshua Logan, Jos Ferrer, Robert Wise, Walter Lang, Benjamin Glazer, Ernest Lehman: Movies & TV Ben Rimalower In the new book "Something Wonderful: Rodgers And Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution," my guest Todd Purdum tells the story of their partnership. In 1945, the film was remade as a musical with original songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Made-for-television and starring Julie Andrews, the movie is an adaptation of the classic childrens story about a young girl who dreams of becoming a princess but is sabotaged by her evil stepsisters, until her magical fairy godmother grants her wish to attend the Princes Ball. With Jerome Kern, he wrote Show Boat, the 1927 operetta that changed the course of modern musical theatre. PURDUM: Well, the important thing they decided to do from the very beginning was, whenever they could, to own their own work and to own it, in so far as they could, outright. The film starred Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and its soundtrack was No. So it's interesting to compare the original lyrics of that song with lyrics that were actually used. And it rankled. We've been talking about Rodgers and Hammerstein's hit shows. Our associate producer for digital media is Molly Seavy-Nesper. RAITT: Nothing. Rights To Rodgers & Hammerstein's Songbook Worth Staggering - Forbes State Fair, the only musical Rodgers & Hammerstein ever wrote for film, included "It Might as Well Be Spring," which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. For example, in "The Sound Of Music" in "Do-Re-Mi," when the children sing the do, mi, mi, mi, so, so - that's all written by Trude Rittman. Oklahoma!, the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, was also the first of a new genre, the musical play, representing a unique fusion of Rodgers' musical comedy and Hammerstein's operetta. You know that he believes in them, and that's enough for you. GROSS: So Richard Rodgers had a different approach to writing songs with Hammerstein than he did with Hart. (Reading) If I loved you, I would tremble every time you'd say my name. Our website is made possible bydisplaying online advertisements to our visitors. [22] The Sound of Music contains more hit songs than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, and the film version was the most financially successful film adaptation of a Broadway musical ever made. True, such bold, inspirational ideas as, "A dream that will need all the love you can give" can be syrupy and cloying in the wrong hands, particularly to the song's abundant exposure. But they - also people who they worked with weren't so happy with how they handled the business end. July 10, 2016. Who chopped cotton, who sprayed perfume at Macys, and who worked filing death certificates at an insurance company? It featured songs still treasured today, "In My Own Little Corner", "Ten Minutes Ago" and "Impossible: It's Possible." Then it proceeded to unfold. Rodger and Hammerstein are titans of musical theater. Your eyes mustn't glow like mine. Oklahoma! These were two amateur songs that we wrote together for a college show. (1943), marked a revolution in musical drama. & Rodgers & Hammerstein 1902-1979 2 1895-1960 19401950 [1] ! Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote one musical specifically for the big screen, STATE FAIR, and one for television, CINDERELLA. [citation needed], While Rodgers and Hammerstein's work contains cheerful and often uplifting songs, they departed from the comic and sentimental tone of early 20th century musicals by seriously addressing issues such as racism, sexism and classism in many of their works. [7], By the early 1940s, Hart had sunk deeper into alcoholism and emotional turmoil, and he became unreliable, prompting Rodgers to approach Hammerstein to ask if he would consider working with him.[8]. How Rodgers And Hammerstein Revolutionized Broadway : NPR Reality: The Real Story of the von Trapp Family", National Archives and Records Administration, Theodore S. Chapin, of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, discusses their copyright license philosophy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rodgers_and_Hammerstein&oldid=1162828773, This page was last edited on 1 July 2023, at 10:07. In the process they have helped in elevating New York's Theater District into a . [26] In 2010, the original film arrangements of the team's music were restored and performed at the Proms concerts in London's Royal Albert Hall by the John Wilson Orchestra. And it shows. Thank you. But he also writes about culture. You'll always go along. They had terrific artistic collaboration and commercial success. Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Golden Age of Broadway April 18, 2015. When you go to Disneyland, songs from "Oklahoma!" This year were celebrating the 80thanniversary of Rodgers & Hammerstein! His new book "Something Wonderful" is about the collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. But the conventions of theater were such that older actors and actresses often played younger characters. Prior to his work with Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) collaborated with lyricist Lorenz Hart on a series of musical comedies that epitomized the wit and sophistication of Broadway in its heyday. PURDUM: Well, and she's too brassy for the character. And they had a kind of a distant - a very formal relationship. In 1998 Rodgers & Hammerstein were cited by Time Magazine and CBS News as among the 20 most influential artists of the 20th century, and in 1999 they were jointly commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp. "Do-Re-Mi" is noteworthy not only for its buoyant melody and mnemonically memorable lyrics, but because beyond serving as a method for Maria to teach music to the von Trapp children, "Do-Re-Mi" has literally taught music to generations of children around the world. Prior to their partnership, Richard Rodgers wrote over 30 musicals with Lorenz Hart (Heres the full list of musicals by Rodgers and Hart). Rodgers & Hammerstein's groundbreaking first collaboration, Oklahoma!, set a new standard for book musicals, where the songs and dances were integral to the plot and character development. Only a few changes were made before it opened on Broadway, but three would prove significant: the addition of a show-stopping number, "Oklahoma! In July 1942, the Theatre Guild announced and The New York Times shared that Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II wereteaming up for their first collaboration: a musical adaptation ofGreen Grow the Lilacs. After the success of the 1957 production, another version was presented in 1965 and shown annually on CBS, starring Lesley Ann Warren, Celeste Holm and Walter Pidgeon, and yet another television version in 1997 on ABC, produced by Walt Disney Television, starring Brandy, Whitney Houston, Bernadette Peters, and Whoopi Goldberg. Here are there ratings on IMDb. Both had seen the rapaciousness of producers and the way that creative people maybe sometimes suffered at the businessman's hands. GROSS: To do "Pipe Dream," which ended up being a huge flop. [10][11], After their initial success with Oklahoma!, the pair took a break from working together and Hammerstein concentrated on the musical Carmen Jones, a stage version of Bizet's Carmen with the characters changed to African Americans in the contemporary South, for which he wrote the book and lyrics. Both Rodgers and Hammerstein were initially reluctant to work on the musical for several reasons, but it was met with much acclaim and won three Tony Awards. was actually the first Broadway collaboration between Rodgers and Hammerstein, and it remains one of their most enduring and widely loved musicals. Perhaps more than even any other Rodgers & Hammerstein song, "Climb Every Mountain" can run the risk of being seen as a clich, a saccharine sentiment suitable for a Hallmark card. When the show was touring in Atlanta, Georgia, it offended some Georgian lawmakers, who proposed a bill to outlaw any entertainment they deemed to be inspired by Moscow.[17]. ", (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING"). He was pushing the ball forward in some ways - breaking the conventions more than Rodgers, I think, in some ways. All the cattle are standing like statues. My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze, to laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over stones in its way, to sing through the night like a lark who is learning to prey. It was received in 1943 the way "Hamilton" is received today, as something really radically new in the theater. I've never seen the show. So Rodgers then teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein. PURDUM: Well, they'd known each other for years. And John Steinbeck said at one point to Oscar, you've turned my prostitute into a visiting nurse. Mild and frivolous, the film received middling reviews upon its release, but it does feature the Academy Award-winning song It Might as Well Be Spring, which would go on to be a hit for Frank Sinatra. 10 Iconic Broadway Dance Numbers. PURDUM: It's very uncomfortable. But his new book is about Rodgers and Hammerstein. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Sheet Music Collection, Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammersteins Broadway Revolution, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Piano Duet Book. Hey Fred! About - Rodgers & Hammerstein Despite Hammerstein's death in 1960, Rodgers continued to write for the Broadway stage. It won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, Robert Wise. | The Best of Rogers & Hammerstein 101 Singers Orchestra GMB Still, it's my single choice from The King and I because of the depth of feeling in Richard Rodgers' ethereal music and, particularly, in Oscar Hammerstein's exemplary words, which express tremendous empathy with effortless poetry. The production received mixed reviews. The film centers on recent immigrant Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) who arrives in America from Hong Kong, pursuing an arranged marriage with nightclub owner Sammy Fong (Jack Soo). The genius of the song is the opening verse ("I expect everyone of my crowd to make fun of my proud protestations of faith in romance"), which tells us Nellie knows she's being cheesy. FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Top 10 Songs by Stephen Sondheim, Im the Greatest Star The Essential Barbra Streisand on Disc, Keep It Together! Cinderella aired on March 31, 1957, on CBS. Where Tom Hardy's Batman Villain Is From. GROSS: So before there was a Rodgers and Hammerstein, there was a Rodgers and Hart. Then all at once, he'll do something wonderful. and "A Puzzlement." If I loved you, words wouldn't come in an easy way. August 26, 2016, Tickets may be tough to come by, but getting one is not, By By Definitely Cinderella Stacy. The ultimate tribute came the following season, when he had three musicals playing on Broadway simultaneously: Show Boat (1995 Tony Award winner, Best Musical Revival); The King and I (1996 Tony Award winner, Best Musical Revival); and State Fair (1996 Tony Award nominee for Best Score.). A lot of responsibility falls on this little ode, particularly in contemporary revivals of Carousel, as Julie must justify for the audience why she still loves the man who hit her. She was playing a young postulant. The duo of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II are titans of musical theatre. GROSS: My guest is Todd Purdum, author of the new book "Something Wonderful: Rodgers And Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution." [4] Although Rodgers did not work with Hammerstein again until Oklahoma!, they achieved success independently from each other. [27], Rodgers and Hammerstein appeared on live telecasts several times. Those lines are wonderful. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. But she sang for Oscar Hammerstein a song called "Indian Love Call" from his play "Rose-Marie." A surprise hit with IMDb reviewers is Rodger and Hammersteins musical version of Cinderella. The partnership disbanded temporarily early in 1943 when Rodgers collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II on OKLAHOMA! Rodgers & Hammerstein shared the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with South Pacific co-writer Joshua Logan. They weren't in the same room composing. Round in circles I'd go, longing to tell you but afraid and shy. And they wouldn't just have the royalties to the songs for public performance or sheet music sales or records and so forth. GROSS: So that was "If I Loved You" from the original cast recording of "Carousel." RODGERS: Yes. And it's an interview from 1960 in which Tony Thomas is interviewing Richard Rodgers and asking why it was so hard to get "Oklahoma!" PURDUM: No, they were actually albums full of 78s and brown paper sleeves. It is also true, though, that Hammerstein - and Shirley Jones once told an interviewer that she thought, in a way, Oscar, who was quieter and not on the surface the dominant personality, might actually have been the more dominant partner in the sense that he was the one - he was really the pioneer who was so instrumental in writing these books. PURDUM: (Laughter) Well, these are the songs I grew up with, the songs my parents played on a record player. In 2002, the Richard Rodgers Centennial was celebrated around the world, with tributes from Tokyo to London, from the Hollywood Bowl to the White House, featuring six new television specials, museum retrospectives, a dozen new ballets, half a dozen books, new recordings and countless concert and stage productions (including three simultaneous revivals on Broadway, matching Hammerstein's feat of six years earlier), giving testament to the enduring popularity of Richard Rodgers and the sound of his music. Something Wonderful: Top 10 Songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein And Hammerstein said, well, as long as Larry can do the work, you have to stay with him because it would kill him if you left him. They're a dime a dozen. What does Sondheim think is so important about that song and how it's done in the show? Their 1927 musical Show Boat is considered to be one of the masterpieces of the American musical theater. Andrews played Cinderella, with Edith Adams as the Fairy Godmother, Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley as stepsisters Joy and Portia, and Jon Cypher as Prince Christopher. I've heard the difficulty was that you were a new team. Rodgers and Hammersteins final collaboration is probably their most famous, so its not surprising to see it come in at the top of the IMDb rankings. SHOP THE SOUND OF MUSIC CAPSULE COLLECTION Our new capsule collection for The Sound of Music features lyrics from your favorite musical! or Hammerstein and Jerome Kern's "Make Believe" from Show Boat), set to one of Richard Rodgers' most lush melodies. Todd Purdum's new book is about the creative partnership and strained personal relationship behind such hit shows as Carousel, South Pacific and The Sound of Music. But that's actually not what happened. And it was such a success that from that point on it became the normal pattern for a successful Broadway show, on the Sunday afternoon after the opening, to record an album. Nobody could sort of believe that a musical comedy would open in such a naturalistic way. In 1962, an unsuccessful remake of the musical film was released. And in the original draft of "Carousel" before - during its out-of-town tryout in Boston - he had the godlike figure that later became the Starkeeper portrayed by a married couple, a sort of Mr. and Mrs. God, as if they'd been drawn by Currier and Ives. The preceding stage version saw . That didn't go so well. Don't try to change it. We'll talk more after a break. They have made many musicals that have been turned to films. The term "formula musical" may refer to a musical with a predictable plot, but it also refers to the casting requirements of Rodgers & Hammerstein characters. This is FRESH AIR. And you say he was trying in that play to capture his nostalgic feelings about growing up in Oklahoma before it was a state. He's now a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and senior writer for Politico. She's feeling pretty bedraggled. We're going to take a short break, and then we'll be right back. Such a classic. "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific, South Pacific's sweeping "Some Enchanted Evening" is another in Rodgers & Hammerstein's collection of love-at-first-sight ballads. Featuring classic songs such as My Favorite Things, Sixteen Going on Seventeen, Climb Evry Mountain, and So Long, Farewell among others its no wonder singalong screenings of the film still happen regularly to this day. Packed with famous show tunes such as Oh What a Beautiful Mornin, People Will Say Were In Love, and Oklahoma, its no surprise that it picked up the Academy Award for best music in the year of its release. And the first thing they did was to set up their own music publishing company so that they would own the copyrights in their songs. The story centers on farm girl Laurey Williams (Shirley Jones, who also played Julie Jordan in Carousel) who is caught in a love triangle with handsome cowboy Curly McLain (Gordon MacRae) and dangerous social outsider Jud Fry (the great character actor Rod Steiger). State Fair (musical) - Wikipedia The result, Oklahoma! Ensemble (Studio) (1964) 3:50 WATCH LISTEN OKLAHOMA! So there were family connections. South Pacific opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949, and ran for over five years. Music:Richard RodgersLyrics:Martin Charnin, Raymond JesselBook:Thomas Meehan. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein had one of the most successful musical partnerships of the 20th century, collaborating on the musicals "Oklahoma!," "Carousel," "South Pacific," "The King And .
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