An Introduction to America’s Music

372 PART 3 | FROM WORLD WAR I THROUGH WORLD WAR II

Rodgers had had a troubled partnership with Hart, whose alcoholism and

chaotic personal life led to his death in 1943. In the second phase of his career

Rodgers teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein II, a veteran creator of books and

lyrics both operettas, by Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml, and musical com-

edies, most notably Show Boat, with Jerome Kern. Most of the musicals created by

the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein in the 1940s and 1950s enjoyed long runs

on Broadway, successful fi lm adaptations, and frequent revivals, both amateur

and professional.

The shows of this second partnership, including Carousel (1945), South Pacifi c

(1949), The King and I (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959), like all successful musi-

cals before them, contain memorable songs that stand on their own as popular

standards, such as “If I Loved You,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Hello Young

Lovers,” and “My Favorite Things.” But for many listeners, the songs of Rodgers

and Hammerstein remain strongly tied to the characters and dramatic situa-

tions that gave them life. The reason lies in the new aesthetic that these musicals

embodied, an aesthetic sometimes summed up in the term integrated musi-

cal. In an integrated musical, songs are not mere distractions from the advance-

ment of the plot but rather grow out of and further the dramatic situation, at the

same time shedding light on the characters’ inner lives. Ideally, all of a show’s

elements—song, dance, acting, costumes, set design, lighting—work together to

create a unifi ed artistic whole. Kern and Hammerstein had already taken a giant

step in that direction with Show Boat (1927; see chapter 11).

All of the features of the integrated musical are

evident in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s very fi rst

collaboration: Oklahoma! (1943). Based on a play from

the 1930s and set on a farm in the wide-open spaces

of Oklahoma Territory just after 1900 (the territory

would not become a state until 1907), Oklahoma!

explored the old-fashioned virtues of country folk,

with melodramatic touches added. Curly, a cowboy,

is in love with Laurey, a virtuous young woman.

Wanting to make Curly jealous, Laurey attends a

box-lunch social with Jud, a brooding ranch hand.

But Curly bids everything he owns in an auction

for  Laurey’s picnic basket, and she marries him.

Picking a fi ght with Curly, Jud is killed by accident,

and the bride and groom ride off to begin their life

together.

Oklahoma! ran on Broadway for 2,248 perfor-

mances, surpassing all box-offi ce records. Why it had

such extraordinary success has been the subject of

much speculation. But for Rodgers, the key was that

“everything in the production was made to conform

to the simple open-air spirit of the story.” By working

forward from the setting and story rather than back-

ward from standard musical comedy ingredients,

Rodgers, Hammerstein, and the other Oklahoma! col-

laborators, including choreographer Agnes de Mille,

played with convention in a way that gave the show

an atmosphere all its own.

Rodgers and

Hammerstein

the integrated musical

K Original theater poster

for Oklahoma! (19 4 3).

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