Broadway Composers: Rodgers and Hart

Long before there was Rodgers and Hammerstein, there was Rodgers and Hart. The duo consisted of composer Richard Rogers and lyricist Lorenz Hart.  They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart’s death in 1943. Rodgers and Hart first met when they were both students at Columbia University Read More

Oklahoma!

Oklahoma! transformed the world of musical theater in more ways than one. Richard Rodgers was interested in adapting the 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs into a piece for musical theater.  However, his writing partner Lorenz Hart had no interest in the project. Oscar Hammerstein II expressed interest, but his writing partner Read More

Profile of a Composer: Rodgers & Hammerstein

Rodgers and Hammerstein gave us many wonderful songs including, “Shall We Dance,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Oh, What A Beautiful Morning,” and “Younger Than Springtime.”  They also wrote the songs to The Sound of Music, including My Favorite Things and Edelweiss. The team of Rodgers and Hammerstein consist of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, both Read More

Profile of a Composer: Richard Rodgers

Richard Rodgers is behind the melodies we all lovingly sing from The Sound of Music and numerous other musicals. In fact he composed over 900 songs and 43 Broadway musicals. He was born on June 28, 1902 in New York City.  He began playing the piano when he was six years old and was composing Read More

The Sound of Music

Theaters this week are celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music. The film version, starring a then-unknown Julie Andrews and primarily stage performer Christopher Plummer, of the musical first hit theaters in 1965. The stage version first premiered six years earlier in 1959, with Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, in the title roles. Read More