MEN-n-MUSIC PRESENTS
a special tribute to Richard Charles Rodgers

play time 6:19


born June 28, 1902, Arverne, Queens, New York
died December 30, 1979, New York, New York



Based on current performances and record sales, the world's most popular songs aren't
those of Schubert or Schumann or John Lennon. It is the works of Richard Rodgers; one
of the great composers of musical theater, best known for his song writing partnerships with
Lorenz "Larry" Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II.

When Rodgers was seventeen and Hart was twenty-four, they made their professional
debut with the song "Any Old Place With You," featured in the 1919 Broadway musical
comedy "A Lonely Romeo". Today, teenagers are big stars. Back then, the only
adolescents associated with the theater were ushers. The notion that a 17-year-old
could have a song performed on Broadway was the stuff of headlines. Like Rodgers,
Hart nourished dreams of glory - accomplishments in the theater that would win him
fame and wealth. That is where the similarity ended. Rodgers had a muscular work ethic;
music flowed out of him like conversation. Hart was an undisciplined man, whose
homosexual liaisons invariable ended in sorrow. Despite the differences, the team over
the next twenty years created some of the most memorable songs of the American stage,
guided by Hart's witty lyrics and rhymes and Rodgers' melodic style. The almost unbroken
string of hit shows, like "Connecticut Yankee (1927) and "Pal Joey" (1940), ended when
Hart, a troubled alcoholic, died in 1943 at the age of 48.

Anticipating the end of the partnership with Hart, Rodgers began working with Oscar
Hammerstein II. Their seventeen year partnership began in 1943 with the Pulitzer
Prize-winning "Oklahoma!" and continued through ten other musicals, including
"Carousel" (1945), "South Pacific" (1949), and "The King and I" (1951). Rodgers and
Hammerstein changed the face of American musical theater by integrating the elements
of drama, music and dance as never before. What was once a collection of songs,
dances and comic turns held together by a tenuous plot became an integrated work
of art. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals earned 35 Tony Awards, 15 Academy
Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, two Grammy Awards and two Emmy Awards.

As Hammerstein was diagnosed with cancer, the duo's final show, "The Sound of Music"
opened in 1959 and ran for 1443 performances. Listen to a Real Player broadcast of
"The Sound of Music - What makes it so great" (playtime 12:29).

Rodgers left behind a legacy of more than 900 published songs, forty musicals, and
numerous works for film and television. His career spanned more than six decades,
and his hits ranged from the silver screens of Hollywood to the bright lights of Broadway,
London, and beyond.

CHROME KNOWS WHAT YOU WANT come inside my CHROMIUM COLLECTION and have some fun.

      
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