Description
A revelatory portrait of the inventive partnership that remodeled musical theater and supplied the soundtrack to the American Century
They stand on the apex of the good age of songwriting, the creators of the vintage Broadway musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, whose songs have by no means misplaced their reputation or emotional energy. Even earlier than they joined forces, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written dozens of Broadway displays, However in combination they pioneered a brand new artwork shape: the intense musical play. Their songs and dance numbers served to enhance the drama and monitor persona, a pointy holiday from the earlier and the template on which all long term musicals could be constructed.
Though different in character and regularly emotionally far away from each and every different, Rodgers and Hammerstein offered an unbroken entrance to the arena and solid a lot more than a songwriting group; their partnership was once additionally one of the vital winning and strong leisure companies in their technology. They have been cultural powerhouses whose paintings got here to outline postwar The us on degree, monitor, tv, and radio. However {they additionally they|in addition they} had their disasters and flops, and greater than after they feared they’d misplaced their contact.
Todd S. Purdum’s portrait of those males, their inventive procedure, and their groundbreaking inventions will captivate fanatics of musical theater, fanatics of the vintage American songbook, and younger fanatics anywhere they’re. He displays that what Rodgers and Hammerstein wrought was once in reality one thing glorious.
