Rodgers and Hammerstein



""I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn't write anything without hope in it.""

- Oscar Hammerstein II

American songwriting team consisting of Richard Rodgers (1902-1979, composer) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960, lyricist). Together they earned 34 Tonys, 15 Academy Awards, a Pulitzer and two Grammys. As the quote above indicates, their shows were well on the "idealist" end of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism; despite often dealing with serious topics (racism in South Pacific, sexual harassment in Oklahoma!, spousal abuse in Carousel), they're a by-word for perky, heart-warming, optimistic musicals.

Before their creative partnership began, both had been involved in earlier collaborations; Rodgers was acclaimed for his work with Lorenz Hart, while Hammerstein co-wrote Show Boat (arguably the first modern musical, and written in a style which foreshadowed the work of this duo) with composer Jerome Kern.

Curiously, Oscar Hammerstein knew Stephen Sondheim as a young man and was a formative influence on him (Sondheim has said that "if Oscar was a geologist, I would have been a geologist").

Best known for their Broadway musicals:
 * Oklahoma!
 * Carousel
 * State Fair (originally a movie)
 * Allegro
 * South Pacific
 *  The King and I
 * Me And Juliet
 * Pipe Dream
 * Cinderella (originally written for television)
 * Flower Drum Song
 * The Sound of Music