At Once, the Word 'Prolific' Seems Fittingly Appropriate, Yet Grossly
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by Nick Zegarac The word ‘prolific’ seems at once both fittingly appropriate, yet grossly inadequate in summarizing the masterworks of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Although both men were well established in their respective crafts by the time they collaborated on their seminal work, Oklahoma!, arguably it remains their greatest contribution to the American theater. In the decades that followed, Rodgers and Hammerstein became synonymous with provocative musical theater. In fact, in reflecting on their careers today, it seems impossible to mention one without immediately conjuring to mind the other. It has often been said that good musical partnerships are very much like the ideal marriage. Certainly, that seems to have been the case for both Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, whose symbiotic union generated a creative flurry of stage successes into the most socially aware trend-setting tapestry of American stage classics – and later, of course, in films. Throughout this tenure, Hammerstein would wax affectionately to the press how he toiled for weeks on a lyric, only to have Rodgers sit as his piano and perfectly realize his words in musical notes in a mere few hours or days. In point of fact, it is rumored that Rodgers wrote ‘June is Bustin’ Out All Over’ for Carousel in the time it took his wife and daughter to attend a Saturday matinee. Rodgers always protested the insinuation that the musical portion of their songs came easily to him, citing that by the time he actually sat in front of his piano to tickle the ivories, several months of intense discussion about character design and motivation between he and Hammerstein had facilitated a good solid template in understanding and anticipating mood, tempo and pacing of the musical moment. 1 “I think the moment of creation should be a spontaneous one,” Rodgers would clarify years later in an interview, “But I have to do an awful lot of thinking for an awful lot of time before I actually do a few notes.” Together, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote a staggering nine musical shows (five; Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music considered legendary today and instant classics when they first debuted on Broadway)– a tally made even more impressive when one stops to consider that from 1943 to 1959 they produced one new hit musical for the stage every other season and, in between, managed to pen a memorable film score for the 1945 remake of State Fair. They also create a musical for television; Cinderella starring, then relative unknown, Julie Andrews. Cumulatively, these efforts earned the duo 35 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards and a pair of Pulitzers – along with a host of Grammy and Emmy Awards; a formidable tally in accolades by any stretch of critical assessment. Savvy businessmen as well as syncopated creative colleagues, from the onset Rodgers and Hammerstein were attuned to the need for complete creative control; a legacy achieved only after they became their own producers and established their own music publishing apparatus, responsible for producing their own, as well as other hit shows. The impact that Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics had on Richard Rodgers composition cannot be underestimated. For just as Rodgers collaborations with composer Lorenzo Hart (1895-1943) had yielded a particular light touch of frothy favorites; exemplified by a quick pleasant tempo and melodic lilt with overtones of pop culture for their time, so did Rodgers musical contribution to Hammerstein’s lyrics illustrate a distinct, almost polar opposite mantel of quality, best exemplified by the duo’s tackling of more weighty social issues. 2 After Hammerstein’s death from cancer in 1960, Rodgers attempted to ‘link up’ with other major talents, but these associations proved less than stellar, despite such luminaries as Stephen Sondheim and Alan Jay Lerner as his partners. Simply stated; the post-Hammerstein works by Rodgers lacked that spark of effervescence and ingenuity that so completely invigorated all of their shows together. In hindsight, they also attest to the importance of both kismet and chemistry in the musical theater. Hence, theirs’ can truly be said to have been a 50/50 partnership of equals: Rodgers and Hammerstein – organic in fruition, dramatic on stage, the longevity of which it is unlikely to be surpassed any time soon. TTHHEEIIRR VVOOIICCEESS RRAAIISSEEDD IINN SSOONNGG Born on June 28, 1902 in New York, Richard Charles Rodgers (whose real family name - ‘Rojazinsky’ - was Americanized by his father in the 1880s), began his prolific career writing variety and charity shows along side Lorenzo Hart while the two were still students at Columbia University. In 1919, the team of Rodgers and Hart had their big break with ‘Any Old Place With You’ a song purchased and inserted into the 1919 Broadway musical, A Lonely Romeo. Though popular, the team struggled for the next few years to find their niche, finally launched with their hit single ‘Manhattan’. The song debuted in The Garrick Gaities (1925). At the height of their popularity, Rodgers and Hart were writing four shows a year – an output not lost on the fledgling motion picture business, and by 1930 the two men made the move to Hollywood. Though their tenure proved superficially successful, Rodgers did not care for the constant meddling of producers and studio heads which, in later years, he would reflect upon as both stifling and crippling to his creative energies. A scant five years later, Rodgers and Hart left films for Broadway impresario Billy Rose circus spectacular, Jumbo (1935) contributing the sublime, My Romance, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, and Little Girl Blue. It was the beginning of another unprecedented run on Broadway. Each new show seemed to top its predecessor, and between 1936 and 1943 the music of Rodgers and Hart was beloved across the country. In 1943, their 25 year association came to a sudden and tragic end when Lorenzo Hart became ill and died, leaving Rodgers momentarily without a partner for future collaborations. The stalemate would not last very long. 3 Throughout this same tenure, Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (foreshortened to Oscar Hammerstein) had managed a minor artistic coup by revitalizing, Americanizing and re-popularizing the stage operetta on Broadway. Affixing his rising star to already established composers in the stage firmament; Rudolf Friml, Sigmund Romberg and Vincent Youman, Hammerstein aggressively pursued and made stunning contributions to a series of hit revivals including The Desert Song, New Moon and Rose-Marie (all eventually turned into major motions pictures). More popular with Hollywood contemporaries, Hammerstein’s best known collaboration from this vintage was with Jerome Kern for Show Boat (1927) – a milestone in American theater and a show that hinted at Hammerstein’s own social conscience that was to find full flourish afterward in the R&H shows. A self professed cockeyed optimist, Hammerstein’s lyrics were all about extolling the strengths and attributes of mankind – a belief in humanity he carried faithfully over into his new partnership with Richard Rodgers. TTHHEE PPLLAAYY IISS TTHHEE TTHHIINNGG – the stage works of Rodgers & Hammerstein The first of many seminal works to emerge from Rodgers and Hammerstein; Oklahoma! had its Broadway debut on March 31, 1943. With its instantly recognizable score, stirring choreography by Agnes De Mille and effortless integration of music and plot, the play was an instant critical and financial success, disembarking from the conventional Broadway show format and shattering both audiences’ and the critics’ preconceived notions and expectations about what musical theater could be. Based on Lynn Rigg’s, Green Grows the Lilac, (and original titled by R&H as Away We Go! Oklahoma!), the play’s most notable departure from then standard musicals was its first act finale – a lavish dream sequence stemming from the lead female protagonist’s longing for clarity in her romantic choices. In Hollywood, Oklahoma!’s overwhelming success did not go unnoticed. 20th Century-Fox studio mogul, Darryl F. Zanuck had for some time been contemplating a musical remake of one of his studio’s biggest moneymakers from the 1930s; State Fair (1933). The novel by Philip Stong had translated into a winning melodrama for Will Rogers and then, Fox ingénue Janet Gaynor. The remake would add a lush score to the folksy ornamentation that was the film’s coup de grace. Though Rodgers and Hammerstein had not yet been established as a team, on the strength of Oklahoma! alone Zanuck felt strongly about employing them to write the score for his new film. 4 (Top left: Darryl F. Zanuck – studio portrait. Clockwise: the many faces of State Fair. Jeanne Crain as Margie Frake lip-syncing to Louanne Hogan’s recording of ‘It Might As Well Be Spring.’ Initially, Hammerstein ha d begun writing a ballad about having Spring fever. Having nearly completed his lyric, he was horrified to learn that virtually all state fairs take place in the Fall – hence, ‘It Might As Well Be...’. Top right: An emotional Charles Winninger as Abel Frake, having just learned his prize boar, Blue Boy has take the blue ribbon. Right: Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain indulge in a verse of ‘It’s A Grand Night For Singing’ against a blue screen backdrop. Right below: the judges three make their final decision on Mrs. Frake’s mince meat. The unintentional over application of alcohol to the recipe became a running gag that ultimately won Ma Frake first prize. Below: Louanne Hogan – a 24 year old contract singer. Her successful dubbing of Crain’s vocals paved the way for a lucrative career as Crain’s voice in several other musical outings.) With their previous less than stellar experiences in Hollywood behind them, neither Rodgers nor Hammerstein were particularly keen on returning to film work.