Early work Rodgers and Hammerstein

1 work

1.1 oklahoma!
1.2 carousel
1.3 state fair

early work
oklahoma!

independently of each other, rodgers , hammerstein had been attracted making musical based on lynn riggs stage play green grow lilacs. when jerome kern declined hammerstein s offer work on such project , hart refused rodgers offer same, rodgers , hammerstein began first collaboration. result, oklahoma! (1943), marked revolution in musical drama. although not first musical tell story of emotional depth , psychological complexity, oklahoma! introduced number of new storytelling elements , techniques. these included use of song , dance convey , advance both plot , character rather act diversion story , firm integration of every song plot-line.

oklahoma! called away go! , opened @ shubert theatre in new haven in march 1943. few changes made before opened on broadway, 3 prove significant: addition of show-stopping number, oklahoma! ; deletion of musical number boys , girls , me , after replaced reprise of people re in love ; , decision re-title musical after song.

the original broadway production opened on march 31, 1943, @ st. james theatre. although typical musical of time written around talents of specific performer, such ethel merman or fred astaire, no stars used in production. original cast included alfred drake (curly), joan roberts (laurey), celeste holm (ado annie), howard da silva (jud fry), betty garde (aunt eller), lee dixon (will parker) , joseph bulloff (ali hakim). marc platt danced role of dream curly , , katharine sergava danced part of dream laurey . in oklahoma!, story , songs considered more important sheer star power. nevertheless, production ran then-unprecedented 2,212 performances, closing on may 29, 1948. many enduring musical standards come show, among them oh, beautiful mornin , surrey fringe on top , cain t no , aforementioned people re in love , , oklahoma! .

in 1955 made academy award-winning musical film, first feature shot todd-ao 70 mm widescreen process. film starred gordon macrae , shirley jones, , soundtrack #1 on 1956 album charts.

after initial success oklahoma!, pair took break working , hammerstein concentrated on musical carmen jones, broadway version of bizet s carmen characters changed african americans in contemporary south, wrote book , lyrics. musical adapted screen in 1954, , scored best actress oscar nomination leading lady dorothy dandridge.

carousel

the original production of carousel directed rouben mamoulian , opened @ broadway s majestic theatre on april 19, 1945, running 890 performances , closing on may 24, 1947. cast included john raitt, jan clayton, jean darling, christine johnson , bambi linn. show came hit musical numbers carousel waltz (an instrumental), if loved , june bustin out on , , ll never walk alone .

carousel revolutionary time – adapted ferenc molnár s play liliom, 1 of first musicals contain tragic plot antihero; contained extended ballet crucial plot, , several extended musical scenes containing both sung , spoken material, dance. 1956 film version of carousel, made in cinemascope 55, again starred gordon macrae , shirley jones, same leads film version of oklahoma!

carousel unique among rodgers , hammerstein musicals not having overture; both stage , film versions began familiar carousel waltz. music included in john mauceri s philips records cd of complete overtures of rodgers , hammerstein hollywood bowl orchestra. included in rodgers rare 1954 album columbia records composer conducting new york philharmonic orchestra.

state fair

in 1945, technicolor musical film version of phil stong s novel state fair, songs , script rodgers , hammerstein, released. film, remake of 1933 non-musical rogers film of same name, starred jeanne crain, dana andrews, dick haymes, , vivian blaine. time pair ever wrote score directly film. great success, winning rodgers , hammerstein lone oscar, song might spring , unadventurous material them, compared several of broadway shows. in 1962, unsuccessful remake of musical film released.

in 1969, st. louis municipal opera presented world stage premiere of state fair starring ozzie , harriet nelson. production directed james hammerstein, supervised richard rodgers , choreographed tommy tune. state fair arrived on broadway on march 27, 1996, donna mckechnie , andrea mcardle, produced david merrick, , received 5 tony award nominations.