#oscar hammerstein

[denimbex1986]

"It's my second time working with him, and it's a movie called Blue Moon. It's about the late Broadway songwriter Lorenz Hart, who was Richard Rogers’ partner. Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart wrote a bunch of Broadway shows, Pal Joey and Boys from Syracuse, and a bunch of others before they broke up and Richard Rogers went and partnered up with Oscar Hammerstein. The rest is history. Lorenz Hart died in the street in New York; he was an alcoholic and he died pretty young. The movie takes place on the night that Oklahoma opens, and takes place at the bar at Sardi's in one night. Andrew Scott plays Oscar Hammerstein, Ethan Hawke plays Lorenz Hart, and it’s myself and Margaret Qualley."

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Groucho Marx and Mary Martin in rehearsal for a two-hour TV special celebrating the then ten-year partnership between composer Richard Rodgers and librettist-lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, March 28, 1954. Groucho hosted the show, which was broadcast live.

Photo: Lawrence Fried via Iconic Images Ltd.

[unwelcome-ephestion]

Here’s a forgotten woman of musical theatre - Joan McCracken. She’s now mainly remembered as the first wife of Bob Fosse, but her contributions to musical theatre are much greater than that.

Image ID: publicity shot of Joan McCracken

McCracken shot to fame in Oklahoma!, credited in the programme as The Girl Who Falls Down because of her pratfall during ‘Many A New Day’. This might sound silly, but it would take until West Side Story for all individual chorus members to be assigned characters. The individual standing out from the chorus was a great surprise and added to the humour of the moment, and was a key innovation of choreographer Agnes De Mille. Joan McCracken went on to have a good Broadway career and appear in several films, although her work was hampered by diabetes, which she hid from her colleagues despite fainting spells, and which ultimately killed her aged only 43.

McCracken’s impact in Oklahoma! should not be underestimated - putting character before aesthetic was the show’s revolution, and her role was a huge part of that. She is also said to have encouraged Fosse to be a choreographer - whether that is true or not, it’s interesting that, like Gwen Verdon (Fosse’s second wife and Broadway legend), she was trained by George Balanchine, whose influence is evident in Fosse’s work. She is also said to be the inspiration for Holly Golightly, at least in part, in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, whose author, Truman Capote, had an affair with her first husband, Jack Dunphy. However, we should recognise her influence as an acting dancer and comedienne just as much as her influence on male creatives!

[owlpuddle]

[raynbowclown]

I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy

Despite having promised in the previous number to ‘Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair‘, here Mitzi Gaynor’s character realizes that she has fallen head over heels in love. She’s “I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy“ Continue reading I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy

[carolearlycooney]

Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran

Hello Fellow Reader, How could I not read this book?  We have all been brought up with the von Trapp family, right?  Or does that just show my age?  Isn’t The Sound of Music a rite of passage?  In Maria, the prologue is a letter from Maria to Oscar Hammerstein imploring him to make changes to The Sound of Music so that it accurately reflects their lives.  Maria von Trapp requests a meeting so…

[lacephale]

Ol’ Man River

[oskarlevant]

c. late 1940s?

[feeling-and-form]

[wewriteletters]

Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

[pureanonofficial]

This is to highlight lyricists who pretty much solely did lyrics, not composer-lyricists! If there's another lyricist you love who isn't listed here, please leave that in the tags!

[denimbex1986]

'...CANNAVALE: "...it's a movie called Blue Moon. It's about the late Broadway songwriter Lorenz Hart, who was Richard Rogers’ partner. Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart wrote a bunch of Broadway shows, Pal Joey and Boys from Syracuse, and a bunch of others before they broke up and Richard Rogers went and partnered up with Oscar Hammerstein. The rest is history. Lorenz Hart died in the street in New York; he was an alcoholic and he died pretty young. The movie takes place on the night that Oklahoma opens, and takes place at the bar at Sardi's in one night. Andrew Scott plays Oscar Hammerstein, Ethan Hawke plays Lorenz Hart, and it’s myself and Margaret Qualley. I always joke, it's a great movie, and it's a very specific audience, let's put it that way. But then again, it is Richard Linklater. It's great performances and we shot it in Ireland and did that over the summer. I'm looking forward to it because he's a great director."...'

[citizenscreen]

Rodgers and Hammerstein watch Julie Andrews rehearsing in costume on set of the CBS Television program 'Cinderella,' New York, 1957.

[unwelcome-ephestion]

People don't know much about orchestration as a rule; it's one of the undersung aspects of the musical. But no musical had quite such a saga of orchestration as Annie Get Your Gun.

Irving Berlin wrote the score; Rodgers and Hammerstein produced, and Phil Lang was asked to orchestrate Berlin's music. He was reasonably early in his career and would go on to orchestrate hits like Hello, Dolly! and My Fair Lady - but here, he tried to create an orchestral sound where the melody was not given to the singers. Normally there is a line for the singers to hold to, often the clarinet in that era. Legend has it that the sitzprobe was a disaster; the cast was not used to music without the leading line and Rodgers and Hammerstein insisted that the orchestrations be rewritten from scratch before the impending opening.

Phil Lang still has the first credit, but he was fired from production. The other orchestrators credited are Robert Russell Bennett, arguably the most famous orchestrator of the time, and Ted Royal. However, extant scores show that as many as 25 orchestrators were called in to finish the job, "ghosting" as a favour as was not uncommon in that era. As a result, Annie Get Your Gun is possibly the musical where the finished product has been touched by the largest number of orchestrators - does this affect the style? Arguably not - ghosting was common in that era and most orchestrators were quite good at blending to the dominant sound. A side of musical theatre that few know about!

[owlpuddle]

Even at 18 he was already writing unhummable music, prodigy ♥️