Broadway MusicalRodgers and Hammerstein

Week 7段馨君 Iris Hsin-chun Tuan

Associate ProfessorDepartment of Humanities and Social

SciencesNCTU

• When Cole Porter was asked to name the most profound change in musical comedy during his lifetime, he replied, “Rodgers and Hammerstein.”

Cole Porter

Rodgers andHammerstein

• Produced nine musical plays- Oklahoma!(1943), Carousel(1945), Allegro Fuliet(1953), Pipe Dream(1955), Flower Drum Song(1958),and The sound of music(1959)-the film State Fair(1945),and the television musical Cinderella(1975). Hammerstein productions (Me and Julietand

Pipe Dream) was never filmed.

Hammerstein before Rodgers

• Regarding successes, Hammerstein was fond that he was born into the theatrical world with two gold spoons in his mouth.

A revised version of Allegro, re-written by Joe DiPietro, who was a protege of James Hammerstein, was produced at the Signature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia) in January 2004. This version cut the musical in size and scale. The cast was cut with some characters being combined; the original, lavish orchestrations were simplified.

• One spoons being Uncle Arthur Hammerstein, who took him into his producing organization, and the other being Otto Harbach, who accepted him as collaborator.

• His aims of integrating elements of musical comedy with opera.

Chop Suey - Flower Drum Songhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPwiqmv6Xeo&feature=related

• For these operettas, Hammerstein wrote the lyrics for the songs after the music.

• In his “Note” to Lyric he explained that it was easier to write a lyric to fit a composer’s melody rather than force some Middle European or Viennese composer.

• By 1927, Hammerstein had achieved the technical skill ,this skill found its fullest expression in Show Boat.

Show Boat- Soundtrack details .

• Show Boat reflected Oscar Hammerstein’s capacity to reject formula in the search for an adult musical theater form.

• Here was plot, situation, and characterization that dared be believable. At the forefront was the author’s concern for the poor southern Negro.

Show Boat (1936) - Part 1/16: "Cotton Blossom"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo8oJPr-NBg

Pictured is a scene from Livent's epic production of Show Boat directed by Harold Prince. "The Wedding Celebration" with L-R Dan Tullis, Jr as Joe, Patti Cohenour as Magnolia,Hugh Panaro as Ravenal, John McMartin as Cap'n Andy, Cloris Leachman as Parthy andMichael Fletcher as the Sheriff.

Rodgers before Hammerstein

• By age six, Rodgers had taught himself to play the piano with both hands.

• Since his parents were piano l both proud and delighted with that feat, Rodgers was given piano lessons and encouraged from the start to seek a career in music.

• The Princess Theatre Shows- Nobody Home; Very Good, Eddie; Oh, Boy!; Oh, Lady! Lady!-and other work from the same period, Leave It To Fane, were fresh, new and represented a genre of American musical.

Randy Rogel and Alison Walla in Very Good Eddie.

• When Rodgers left 119th Street that afternoon he had acquired, in his own words, “a career, a partner, a best friend- and a source of permanent irritation.”

Lorenz Hart

• Lorenz "Larry" Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart.

Lorenz Hart (right) with Richard Rodgers in 1936.

• Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon," "Mountain Greenery," "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Manhattan," "Where or When," "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered," "Falling in Love with Love," "I'll Tell The Man In The Street," "My Funny Valentine," and "Isn't It Romantic?"

Blue Moonhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3t0cBC6g5U&feature=related

• Rodgers and Hart teamed a final time in the fall of 1943 for a revival of A Connecticut Yankee. Hart had taken off the night of the opening and was gone for two days.

• After Hart's death, Rodgers collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein, with whom earlier that year he had created the hit musical Oklahoma!.

Ella Fitzgerald: The Lady Is a Tramp (Rodgers / Hart, 1937) - Lyricshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQkIccS-W4U

Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga - The Lady Is A Tramphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPAmDULCVrU

Hammerstein

• Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II ( July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years.

Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II

• Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for singers and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs.

South Pacific - I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hairhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIAP364nxEo&feature=related

• Hammerstein was the lyricist and playwright in his partnerships; his collaborators wrote the music.

• Hammerstein collaborated with composers Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans, Rudolf Friml and Sigmund Romberg, but his most famous collaboration was with Richard Rodgers.

Rogers and Hammerstein For sixteen years the songwriting team of Richard .