Music of Rogers and Hammerstein in the Movies
The musical movies created by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein have delighted audiences for many years. Musical scores composed by Rogers coupled with lyrics created by Hammerstein resulted in some of the most memorable songs and musical productions of all time. Few people realize the collaboration of these two very gifted artists happened by accident.
Rogers originally worked with Lorenzo Hart in the early 1940s. Perhaps their most memorable production is Pal Joey. Around the same time period, Hammerstein partnered with another musical giant, Jerome Kern. Unknown to each other, Rogers and Hammerstein shared an idea or a musical based on the same stage drama but when their partner expressed no interest, these two men teamed up to combine musical comedy and operetta style staging in a new musical genre with their first production being the long-remembered and still popular ‘Oklahoma’.
Aside from their only musical movie, State Fair, the most popular musical of all time, The Sound of Music, created by this team continues to delight audiences even today.
Julie Andrews and the original cast members,who were still passing through childhood when this beautiful production was born, continue to get together for reunions at the von Trappe family home.
