Notable Shows and Their Creators

Beginning on Nov. 8, 2020, the UkeQuestors in their weekly Zoom get-together sang songs from "Broadway and the Movies." Several shows and one remarkable team are frequently mentioned. Because of the length of these summaries, they are on a separate page.

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) were an influential, innovative and successful American musical theatre writing team. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, initiating what is considered the "golden age" of musical theatre. Five of their Broadway shows, "Oklahoma!," "Carousel," "South Pacific", "The King and I" and "The Sound of Music," were outstanding successes, as was the television broadcast of "Cinderella" (1957). Of the other four shows that the team produced on Broadway during their lifetimes, "Flower Drum Song" was well-received, and none was an outright flop. They received thirty-four Tony Awards, fifteen Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes (for "Oklahoma!," 1944, and "South Pacific," 1950) and two Grammy Awards. While Rodgers and Hammerstein's work contains cheerful and often uplifting songs, they departed from the comic and sentimental tone of early 20th century musicals by seriously addressing issues such as racism, sexism and classism in many of their works.
Their musical theatre writing partnership was the greatest of the 20th century according to Mark Lubbock, "American Musical Theatre: An Introduction", theatrehistory.com, republished from "The Complete Book of Light Opera" (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962).
Rodgers had collaborated for more than two decades with Lorenz Hart, while Hammerstein had collaborated with Jerome Kern, Rudolf Frimi, Sigmund Romberg, Vincent Youmans and Richard A. Whiting, among others.
Rodgers is credited with 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs. Hammerstein co-wrote 850 songs.
Rodgers was the first person to win all of the top American entertainment awards in theater, film, recording, and television – a Tony, an Oscar, a Grammy, and an Emmy. In addition, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, making him one of only two people to receive all five awards (Marvin Hamlisch is the other).
Rodgers and Hammerstein, Wikipedia; Richard Rodgers, Wikipedia; Oscar Hammerstein II, Wikipedia.

The Sound of Music (Rodgers and Hammerstein, 1959)

"The Sound of Music" was based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers."  Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children.

Many songs from the musical have become standards. The original Broadway production, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, won five Tony Awards. It was adapted as a 1965 film musical starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, winning five Academy Awards. "The Sound of Music" was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein; Oscar Hammerstein died of stomach cancer nine months after the Broadway premiere. The Sound of Music, Wikipedia; The Sound of Music (film), Wikipedia.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

One reviewer at Rotten Tomatoes aptly described this movie as "quirky Coen Brothers film with a phenomenal soundtrack." The film is set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression. Its story is a modern satire loosely based on Homer's epic Greek poem The Odyssey that incorporates social features of the American South. The title of the film is a reference to the Preston Sturges 1941 film Sullivan's Travels, in which the protagonist is a director who wants to film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a fictional book about the Great Depression. Much of the music used in the film is period folk music, including that of Virginia bluegrass singer Ralph Stanley. the soundtrack won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. Musicians who were dubbed into the film included John Hartford, Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Chris Sharp, Patty Loveless, and others.

The film starred George Clooney (as Ulysses Everett McGill), John Turturro (as Pete), and Tim Blake Nelson (as Delmar), and features John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. The voices of the Soggy Bottom Boys were provided by Dan Tyminski, Nashville songwriter Harley Allen, and the Nashville Bluegrass Band's Pat Enright. The three won a CMA Award for Single of the Year and a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, both for the song "Man of Constant Sorrow". The name "Soggy Bottom Boys" is in homage to the Foggy Mountain Boys, a bluegrass band led by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

The soundtrack was reissued on August 23, 2011, with 14 new tracks that were not included in the original album, "including 12 previously unreleased cuts from music producer T-Bone Burnett's O Brother sessions." It won three Grammy awards and Album of the Year by the Country Music Association - (only the second soundtrack to ever do so - among other awards. The album charted at No. 1 on Billboard 200 in 2001, and spent over 20 weeks on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart. The soundtrack CD also became a best seller. Over 8 million copies have been sold.

It was filmed near locations in Canton, Mississippi, and Florence, South Carolina, in the summer of 1999. O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Wikipedia; O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack), Wikipedia; O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Rotten Tomatoes.

Frank Loesser

Frank Henry Loesser (June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for Hollywood and for the Broadway musicals - notably "Guys and Dolls" and "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying." He won Tony Awards for the music and lyrics of these two Broadway productions, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the latter. He also wrote songs for over 60 Hollywood films and for Tin Pan Alley, and was nominated for five Academy Awards for best song, winning once for "Baby, It's Cold Outside". Loesser was the lyricist of over 700 songs, many of which have become standards. Frank Loesser, Wikipedia; Biography, FrankLoesser.com.

Go To Top

Return to Broadway and the Movies

Return to Zoom Jam Main Page

Return to UkeQuestors Main Page

Return to Music And More Main Page