h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am in the early stages of writing an article about
the unique collaboration between composer Richard
Rodgers and lyricist/playwright Oscar Hammerstein II.
If someone else is working on the topic, I would like
to help in any way I can. If not, I am willing to
do the article myself. Next year (2002) will mark the
centennial of Rodgers' birth. Arts organizations
such as the Boston Pops have already begun gearing up
for the event. I would not want to see H2G2 have a gap
in this area. I have written articles on Rodgers and
Hammerstein before, and am familiar with all of their
shows.*

If R & H have already been spoken for, I can redirect
my focus to Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin,
and/or Jerome Kern, all of whom are absent from your
database.

*"Me and Juliet" is the show that I am least familiar with;
I have read the libretto, but have never heard any of the
songs. I have heard the songs from "Pipe Dream" and "Allegro,"
but have not seen the plays in performance. I suspect
that very few living people have seen any of these 3 plays.
My emphasis would be on the better-known shows, discovering
why they connected with audiences in the 1950s and 1960s,
and why the best of them still connect.

Comments, anyone?

Sounds a great idea. If you've done a power search in the Guide and not come up with anything, then there probably isn't anything there yet.

There's nothing to stop you from starting on the work until others sign up. I believe that Peta is in charge of the University projects, and I'm pretty sure that there is a music faculty. I'll have a root and see what I can find for you.

Okay, the University homepage is at article A339059 and goes on about how the University works and their admissions page is at /University-Recruit .

Between those you should get the information you need to get the project underway. Good luck with it

Researcher: U176638 – Paulh

Entry: A586578 Rodgers and Hammerstein

Are you still working on this? It looks very promising so far, and I'm happy to help you with GuideML if that's still something you want to tidy up.

It's the sort of thing I'd like to see in Peer Review!

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I don't have any links to other sites, if I remember correctly. I did find a library book with some info, but it might well have been withdrawn since I last saw it. For what it's worth, I wrote papers on R&H in high school, and have seen a large part of their work. I keep hoping that the material they wrote for their failed effort to musicalize "Shaw's Pygmalion" will be released someday -- Lerner and Loewe later did it successfully with "My fair Lady."

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Current University Projects' to 'Faculty of Arts and Entertainment'.

Well, that's fine – I found it a highly enjoyable read

I know how you feel about hoping their 'Pygmalion' will be published – it's frustrating that no trace of Gilbert & Sullivan's 'Thespis' survives...

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Knowing how I feel about *anything* by Rodgers or Hammerstein, let alone things by both of them, I can't imagine anything less than interesting about whatever material they came up with for "Pygmalion."

In the early 1950s, Rodgers wrote symphonic music for a fifty-episode documentary ["Victory at Sea"]. It blows me away when I hear it.

Some people scoff at "Sound of Music" as treacly, but it was not representative R & H stuff. They only wrote the songs, because Hammerstein was ill and was not thought up to doing the play as well.

'The Sound of Music' still saved 20th Century Fox – no 'Sound of Music', no 'Star Wars', 'The Simpsons', 'Family Guy' or an awful lot of the television and cinema of the last few decades. It was successful for a reason, and that reason is because it is a work of art and the unparalleled success of the soundtrack album (it was the biggest-selling album in the UK in 1965 and the second biggest of the 1960s behind 'Sgt Peppers') proves it. The proof that this wasn't a fluke can be proven by the 'South Pacific' soundtrack being the UK number 1 album for all of 1959.

I must admit I've not sat down to appreciate R&H since watching 'The King & I' on Boxing Day. I'll have to try and make up for that...

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I've seen the following in live stage productions: Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, and Sound of Music.

I've seen the movie versions for: Oklahoma, Carousel, State Fair, King and I, Flower Drum Song, and Sound of Music.

I've read "Six Plays by Rodgers and Hammerstein," which contains the librettos for: Oklahoma, Carousel, Allegro, South Pacific, King and I, and Me and Juliet.

I've heard original cast albums for everything except Me and Juliet. However, the tune for "No other love" [from me and Juliet] was used in "Victory at Sea."

I've seen "Cinderella" on TV, and have a soundtrack CD for the Juliet Andrews version.

Your enthusiasm definitely shows, which probably is why I found reading this to be so enjoyable.

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See also: comment F72483?thread=8312755 on A594731 The Musical Play

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Hi, Bluebottle.

I've just created a Word file in my computer to begin work on the article. Reading what I had written, I realize that four shows are not even mentioned: State Fair [a film], Me and Juliet, Allegro, and Pipe Dream. I've seen an execrable remake of the film "State Fair" starring Pat Boone and Pamela Tiffin . I also have an original cast CD for a Broadway production based on the original 1943/54 film. I like that recording better, but I never actually saw the play onstage. The other three have not, to the best of my knowledge, been revived, except for one revival of "Allegro," for which I used to have a vinyl original cast recording, which of course has not been rereleased on CD . I believe that Arkivmusic.com has Original cast CDs for "Pipe Dream" and "Allegro." They are a classical music site, a division of Steinway Pianos, and they have taken on the responsibility of making obscure musical theater recordings available after the original vendors discontinued them.

I've also realized that "Six Plays by Rodgers and Hammerstein" could justifiably be included in my "CREDITS" section. One way or another, I think I've also read the libretto for "Sound of Music," which was *not* in the six plays collection.

All of my references to revivals of then plays are current as of 2001 or 2002, and might not reflect revivals since then. I think there might have been a recent "Cinderella" TV version in which Bernadette Peters plays the evil stepmother and sings "Falling in Love With Love," which was not by R&H [it was by Rodgers and Hart, for "The Boys from Syracuse"].

That's where I'm at right now.

Just for fun, I did Google searches for all of the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows. The results were eye-opening:

Sound of Music - 908,000 hits
King and I - 732,000 hits
Cinderella - 665,000 hits
Oklahoma - 446,000 hits
South Pacific - 342,000
Carousel - 291,000
State Fair - 148,000
Me and Juliet - 140,000
Allegro - 102,000
Flower Drum Song - 58,000
Pipe Dream - 36,000

The six most-searched shows are all covered in my article. Of the remaining five, only one [Flower Drum Song] is covered. No one knew, in the 1950s, that Flower Drum Song would not hold up well over time. It was regarded as a modest hit, and was honored with a well-made movie version.

State Fair could realistically have been covered in my article, though I didn't address it. It might not have been a stage musical in its initial format, but it was turned into one. However, its Broadway run in 1996 was short [118 performances], giving it the shortest run of any R&H musical.

I'm glad that I've inspired you to have a look into this, even if it involves a bit of an edit to update since 2001! Did you know back in 2006 there was a television talent show on BBC entitled 'How do you solve a problem like Maria?' in which Andrew Lloyd Webber tried to narrow down a range of potentials to find the star of his production of 'The Sound of Music', which generated a lot of publicity for the show.

I also enjoyed reading your Musical Play entry too.

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I've added a paragraph to explain why I had nothing for "State Fair," "Allegro," "Me and Juliet," and "Pipe Dream." In the progress of adding them to the entry, I found that the Captcha software erased the hole entry. I luckily had the whole thing in a Word file in my computer, so I was able to replace it.

Very little needs to be changed, actually. Thailand still doesn't want "King and I" to be performed there, and the film "Sound of Music" is still in third place in terms of inflation-adjusted box-office totals according to Amazon.com. The musicals that were being regularly performed anywhere in the world in 2001 are still being revived. What has changed is streaming video. I'd be very surprised if the classic R&H movies weren't being streamed.

"Sound of Music" is currently the subject of nostalgia this year, fifty years after its original release. You see references to it on the covers of magazines at the checkout aisles of supermarkets. I'
d rather see that than references to Bruce Jenner's wanting to become a woman, not that I begrudge him that if he wants it.

I'm glad it is coming along well and I look forward to seeing it when it is finished. You're right that Captcha is annoying – I always keep copies of my articles in Word, so definitely keep a back-up.

Can't say I've heard of Bruce Jenner, though.

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Bruce Jenner was a much-heralded Olympic athlete many years ago. His newly-divorced ex-wife is Kris Kardashian, with whom he has some kids as well as Kardashian stepchildren. Bruce took a wise step by dumping the Kardashians, but unfortunately as a woman she is now fodder for the tabloids.