Sometimes in art there are times when culture, timing, talent, and teamwork combine to produce a magic that is eternal and beyond measure. For Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, that time occurred from 1943 to 1959, when these two men created a string of musicals so grand that each

would become not just familiar but universally beloved, played over and over again until the words and melodies had become meshed, it seemed, with one’s very existence. To have one’s complete score memorized by a whole population would, it would seem for a composer, to have been all that life has to offer.

This quote comes from Meryle Secrest’s fine 2001 biography of Richard Rodgers, Somewhere for me: a biography of Richard Rodgers. It tells a story of a man who from childhood was obsessed with writing music, who struggled for decades to write musicals where the music and song flowed naturally from the plot and characters, and who changed with time as time changed him. Outside of his music and his commitment to it, he was however a very normal man, with a marriage that at times was stormy but held together despite those storms.

But it is Rodgers’ best music — written for the lovely words of Oscar Hammerstein — for which we most remember him. I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, so I lived at a time when these Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals were being memorized by a whole population. As a child my parents subscribed to a musical record club, which sent them a new album every month. I would spend hours listening to the songs from Oklahoma, South Pacific, The Sound of Music, the King and I, and Carousel. And on television I got to see Julie Andrews in a live production of Cinderella.

In listening to these songs, I quickly realized, even as a child, that there was something deeply profound in those words and music, touching something deeper than mere beauty, a more fundamental but utterly inexplicable aspect of our existence. As I wrote in 2018 when I posted an evening pause of Juanita Hall singing Bali Ha’i from South Pacific,

The song is about the draw of love and desire, which is what Bali Ha’i partly represents. However, Hammerstein’s lyrics refer to more, to the greater magic hidden in life everywhere, the mystery that lies behind the black, you might say. It is a theme he repeated in many of the songs he wrote for Richard Rodgers.

Both Rodgers and Hammerstein had been in the musical theater business for decades, though until Oklahoma had almost never worked together. Both had created numerous successful musicals, some of which were turned into movies in the 1930s. Yet none of these earlier works carried this deeper meaning, represented by Bali Ha’i, which was fundamentally typical of everything they created as a team.

What made the music so popular and profound? First it was the team itself. Hammerstein produced lyrical poetry focused on love and existence, a perfect match for the romantic beauty of Rodgers’ musical style. Before, both could create great work, but only together could the best parts of each man’s talents be augmented by the other. It was as if 2 plus 2 now equaled 6.

Second, their choice of subject matter was deeper and more profound that their earlier work. True they still wrote musicals about love stories, with plots as simple as “boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-wins-girl,” but they now placed every story in a larger historical and cultural context. Oklahoma’s love story captured the changing American west, shifting from wild cowboys, saloons, and cattle drives to towns, farms, and families. South Pacific and The Sound of Music both told their love stories in the context of World War II and the moral dilemmas it forced every person to face. And The King and I was about the clash of cultures as western civilization began to force its influence globally in the 1800s.

Julie Andrews as Cinderella, making her grand entrance
in the live 1957 television production. Click for movie.

Carousel meanwhile told a dark story about failed love, but with a hope that even in failure there is a greater God overlooking all life, whilc Cinderella reminded us that we must never let the nay-sayers crush our spirit.

For the world is full of zanies and fools
Who don’t believe in sensible rules
And won’t believe what sensible people say
And because these daft and dewey-eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes
Impossible things are happening every day!

Finally, their choices of subject matter fit perfectly with their time. People after World War II had learned to see their lives in the greater context of world history, and wanted their art to reflect that profound experience. Rodgers and Hammerstein recognized this, felt it themselves, and thus gave the public what it wanted.

Such art is rare in life. When it arrives we should never dismiss it, but enjoy it to the fullest. Sadly, modern culture too often now treats the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein as passe and overly sentimental, a very unfair criticism illustrating more the ignorance and close-mindedness of the critic than anything about the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

I say, enjoy these masterpieces as often as you can, because greatness comes your way only rarely in life.