NAC Orchestra CTV Pops Series: Rodgers and Hammerstein at the Movies October 20-22
08.10.11
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered Broadway’s golden age. Their work was extraordinarily innovative for the period, thoroughly integrating all aspects of musical theatre, with songs and dances arising out of and further developing the plot and characters. With Rodgers composing the music and Hammerstein writing the lyrics, five of their shows, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music, were outstanding successes – and all five were made into films. State Fair was the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical written directly for film; it was based on a non-musical 1933 film of the same name. The 1945 version won an Academy Award for Best Song for “It Might As Well Be Spring.” Among the many accolades for the shows -- and the film versions – of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals were fifteen Academy Awards, thirty-four
Source: Ottawa Start (press release)