People Whose Work I Admire

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Rodgers and Hammerstein, along with my mother are responsible for my love of Musical Theatre! I remember my Mum making me watch "Carousel" on TV when I was about five and I instantly fell in love with it.
Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers are, without a doubt, the most successful partnership in Musical Theatre and are responsible for some of the greatest musicals of the golden era.
The first musical they worked on together was "Oklahoma!”, and this began a new genre of musical. For a start it was the first musical ever to begin with a solo song and it was the start of moving musicals away from the farcical shows that had come before and into more serious plots. They concentrated on how each song would fit into the plot and what the style and context of each number was. For the first time in Musical history each song and dance was there for a reason and moved the story on. In all their musicals since, each song has a dramatic purpose and tells a story, as do all the dance routines. Rodgers's and Hammerstein's work is very distinct as they have certain character types, which appear in each of their musicals, for example the soprano leading lady, who’s usually involved in a love story. I admire them for being brave enough to be the first to use Musicals as a way of creating a thought-provoking piece of theatre.
The Sound of Music is another one of my favourites and was the first musical I ever performed on stage and it again has serious underlying issues about the Nazi’s and the war. I admire the duo a lot because, it turned Musical Theatre around to what it is today and there are still so many of their works being revived on the West End and Broadway.
I will always credit Rodgers and Hammerstein in inspiring me to do what I am doing today. In my opinion their musicals are what real musical theatre is all about and I still get a warm feeling whenever I watch a film by them or sing a Rodgers and Hammerstein song!