Rodgers & Hammerstein Revue

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Rodgers & Hammerstein Revue

Written by Dean Beedell (webmaster)

	Rodgers & Hammerstein Revue Fri 7th, Sat 8th October 2011 - 7:30pm, Sunday 9th October Matinee performance only, 3.00pm An original Revue following the story of the lives of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein through some of their most memorable songs - Ol'Man River, Manhattan, Oklahoma!, Edelweiss. Booking Camberley Theatre Box Office Order tickets here at our advance booking Box Office (01276) 707600
Click on the poster for more show information

An Original Revue

Rodgers & Hammerstein - Their Story in Song

Cast of our

Rodgers & Hammerstein

Revue

Programme

ACT ONE COLLABORATIONS

“Tony” Award Ceremony

Opening Medley - It’s a Grand Night for Singing Full Chorus

· With a Song in My Heart (Rodgers and Hart, Spring is Here)

· It’s a Grand Night for Singing (Rodgers and Hammerstein, State Fair)

Richard Rodgers reminisces

Rosemarie (1924) Oscar Hammerstein and Rudolf Friml

· Rose Marie I Love You Soloist Geoff Vivian

· Indian Love Song duet Soloist Lori Tingay-Weber,

The Garrick Gaieties (1925) Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

· Manhattan Soloists Rachael Jones, Alastair Douglas

Max Dreyfus eats crow. Meanwhile Oscar...

Desert Song (1926) Oscar Hammerstein and Sigmund Romberg

· Riff’s Song Men’s Chorus, Soloist Alan Hilliar

A Telephone Call from Jerome Kern

Show Boat (1927) Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern

Ol' Man River Soloist Ian Henderson

Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man ‘O’ Mine Ladies Chorus

New Moon (1927 and revised in 1928) Oscar Hammerstein and Sigmund Romberg

Stouthearted Men Full Chorus Soloists Geoff Vivian, Alan Hilliar

A brush with the underworld

The Hollywood Years (1931-1935) Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

· Blue Moon Full Chorus

Rodgers and Hart Medley Full Chorus

· This Can’t Be Love (Boys from Syracuse, 1938 movie)

· Thou Swell (A Connecticut Yankee, 1927)

· I Wish I were in Love Again (Babes in Arms, 1937)

· Bewitched (Pal Joey, 1940)

· My Funny Valentine (Babes in Arms, 1937)

· The Lady is a Tramp (Babes in Arms, 1937)

· Johnny One Note (Babes in Arms, 1937)

A new partnership

Oklahoma (1943) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

· Oklahoma Chorus Full Chorus

INTERVAL

ACT TWO THE PARTNERSHIP

Oklahoma (1943) Rodgers and Hammerstein

· Oh What a Beautiful Morning

· The Surrey With The Fringe on Top Soloist Alastair Douglas

· I Cain’t Say No Soloist Sam Johnson

· People Will Say We’re In Love Soloists Rachael Jones, David Bowie

· Oklahoma Chorus Reprise

Oscar’s best libretto ever!

Carmen Jones (1943) Oscar Hammerstein and Bizet

· Love’s a baby dat grows up wild (Habanera) Soloist Lori Tingay-Weber

Oscar dislikes writing for the movies

State Fair (1945 Film) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

· Spring Fever Full Chorus

Follow that!

Carousel ( 1945) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

· June is Bustin’ Out All Over Soloists Sam Johnson, Charlotte Fi ncken

· If I Loved You Soloist Lori Tingay-Weber

· You’ll Never Walk Alone Full Chorus arrangement

A Song for Mary

South Pacific (1949) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

· I’m as corny as Kansas in August Soloist/Mary Martin Sarah Wenban

· Some Enchanted Evening Soloist Ian Henderson

· I’m Goin’ to Wash that Man Right Out of My Hair Ladies’ Chorus

· There is Nothing Like a Dame Men’s Chorus

Dorothy recommends and Gertrude is the star!

The King and I (1951) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

· Getting to Know You Ladies’ Chorus, Soloist Rachael Jones

· We Kiss in a Shadow Soloists Charlotte Fincken and David Bowie

· Shall We Dance Full Chorus

“Victory at Sea” tango leads to “No Other Love”

Me and Juliet (1953) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

· No Other Love Soloist Sarah Wenban

Chinese Crackers

Flower Drum Song (1958) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

· I Enjoy Being a Girl Soloists Sara Cromwell, Charlotte Fincken,

Jane Flood, Penny Hanlon,

Sam Johnson, Rachael Jones

The sound of dollar bills

Sound of Music (1960) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

· The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music Full Chorus

· Do-Re-Mi Full Chorus

· Maria Ladies’ Chorus, Soloist Yvonne Tozer

· Edelweiss Full Chorus, Soloist David Bowie

Finale - Reprise of Medley “It’s a Grand Night for Singing” Full Chorus

THE END

RUPERT GARDNER - Musical Director Having studied music at Leeds College of Music, and jazz and contemporary composition at Middlesex University, Rupert has had an eclectic musical background, writing, performing and directing in many different styles. He has been working in music education for many years and is now Director of Music at Frensham Heights School in Farnham. Rupert has been musical direcotr and arranger for productions of Godspell, The Blues Brothers, Calamity Jane, Oklahoma!, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bugsy Malone, Oh What a Lovely War and My Fair Lady. He has forged a strong musical partnership with Kasia Sikora-Black, a fellow musician and orchestrator, with whom he is working on a new project to write a show based on the Greek tragedy The Bacchae.

MARGARET WALKER - Stage Director

Originally from Yorkshire, Margaret has played most of the main Gilbert & Sullivan contralto roles since joining the Society in 1980. Having retired from teaching, in recent years she has directed our productions of Patience (which won a NODA Accolade of Excellence), Ruddigore, White Horse Inn, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore.

MELISSA TIMMS - Specialist Choreography

Melissa is a professionally trained dancer, teacher and choreographer and runs Lorna Timms Theatre Arts with her mother Lorna, holding classes in Camberley, Bagshot and Owlsmoor. She trained in Londonat one of the top theatre schoools, London Studio Centre, and has been busy ever since performing and teaching, and also working with local societies.

The Production Team

Stage Director Margaret Walker

Musical Director Rupert Gardner

Orchestrations Kasia Sikora-Black

Specialist Choreography Melissa Timms

Assistant Musical Directors Roy Woodhams, Harriet Oughton

Reheasal Accompanists Roy Woodhams, Lee Dewsnap, Zoe Hardy

Stage Manager and Scenery John Pibworth

New York Cloth Scenic & Property Hire, South Wales

Script Consultant and Loan of Properties Wally Walters

Prompt Viv Andrews

Lighting Design John Coman, The Camberley Theatre

Lighting and Sound The Camberley Theatre

Wardrobe Jane Clifford

Programme Ann Cousins, Philip Barton

Front of House Kathryn Barton

The Ensemble

Flute and Tenor Sax Kasia Sikora-Black

Clarinet Simon Collins

Alto Sax James Collymore

Trumpets Ben Bowles, Alastair Steel

Trombone Dom Clarke

Drum Kit Mune Sugiuama

Double Bass Emma Wyld

Piano Rupert Gardner, Lee Dewsnap

Director's Notes

The Savoy Singers' October Production is a Revue. How very natural for an amateur operatic society, specialising in the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan to explore the music of another amazing collaboration - that of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Gilbert & Sullivan's collaboration lasted from 1875 to 1898 (28 years) whilst that of Rodgers & Hammerstein from 1942 - 1960 (18 years). Rodgers & Hammerstein took the American musical and rebuilt it. Following the model of the Savoy Operas they, like W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, gave priority to the words. The musicals of the 1920s and 1930s had sandwiched thin, improbable stories between pretty girls and bursts of singing, but Rodgers and Hammerstein tried to develop characters and depth in their stories and use the music and singing as integral to carry the story forward.

It isn't enough to look solely at their collaboration, but to explore their earlier work with other partners.

Richard Rodgers, while still a teenager, was introduced to Lorenz (Larry) Hart and they worked together writing songs for the musical theatre of the 20s and 30s, from 1918 until Hart's death in 1943. Amazingly, Richard Rodgers wrote the melodies first and then persuaded Larry Hart to put pen to paper and write the words. Songs such as "With a Song in My Heart", "Funny Valentine", "The Lady is a Tramp", "This Can't be Love", "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and the never to be forgotten, "Manhatten" are the result of this partnership. It is said that "If one song can be said to have "made" Rodgers and Hart, it is surely "Manhatten"(from Garrick Gaieties, 1925)

Between 1930 and 1935, the hardest years of the Depression in the USA, Rodgers and Hart went to Hollywood. It was not the happiest of times for them but as Richard Rodgers said, "I would gladly have chucked it all had it not been for the strongest of all chains that bind a man to a life he finds unrewarding: money". A man with a family to support had to acknowledge the importance of a contract with a major studio during these precarious times. Their only successful song not associated with a stage show was "Blue Moon" (1935) written during their time in Hollywood, while under contract to MGM and also its music publishing company.

They returned to Broadway in 1935 and continued to write very successfully for the Broadway stage until 1943 when Lorenz Hart's drinking problem gave rise to his death in 1943.

Oscar Hammerstein meanwhile had been writing with many different partners. In 1924 he was one of the lyricists working with Rudolf Friml writing Rose Marie. In 1925 he and Jerome Kern took Broadway by storm with Show Boat. This was a turning point in musical theatre on Broadway. Show Boat, like the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein to come later, gave priority to the words and characters and was the trailblazing musical of the decade. Hammerstein had also been working on The Desert Song (1926), and a reworked version of New Moon (1928). Both of these were collaborations with Sigmund Romberg. In fact when Richard Rodgers was faced with the problem of replacing Lorenz Hart, he returned again and again to Oscar Hammerstein. Hammerstein had been more part of the operetta theatre scene than musical comedy and had written his best lyrics with men of traditional, classical European backgrounds or training, such as Rudolf Friml, Sigmund Romberg and Jerome Kern.

In 1942, shortly before Hart's death, Richard Rodgers found a play called "Green Grow the Lilacs", by Lynn Riggs, which he was convinced would make an enchanting musical. Larry Hart, a gifted lyricist and delightful personality, whose drinking bouts had increased to the point that he would disappear for long periods of time and could not be relied upon to keep appointments or meet deadlines refused to express any interest and insisted on going to Mexico. Richard Rodgers was deeply saddened by this and by Hart's condition, as they had worked together since College days in a close and friendly partnership. It was at this point that Richard Rodgers approached Oscar Hammerstein to work on this new project, which eventually became known as "Oklahoma!" The partnership of Rodgers and Hammerstein had begun.

Their approach to writing was very different from the one Richard Rodgers had been used to with Larry Hart. Oscar Hammerstein had written lyrics with many different songwriters and disliked writing ‘the book' i.e. the dialogue so frequently another writer would come in and write ‘the book'. Richard Rodgers had been used to writing the music for the songs first and then playing it for Larry Hart who would then write the lyrics which Larry did very quickly and spontaneously, once he could be found and ‘pinned' down to do it.

Rodgers and Hammerstein adopted a different approach. They used already written plays or books but chose ones with stories of real human emotion and depth. They then adapted them for the musical. They worked very closely initially drawing up the blueprint as to how much of the story would be told in dialogue and how much in song. They discussed characters, mood and plot; relevance of the songs and where they should be placed. They were very careful with the appropriateness of the placing of the songs in the story. Sometimes Rodgers would contribute a lyric idea and Hammerstein a musical one. Once this careful preparation was done they went back to their respective homes and worked separately, very like W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Oscar Hammestein wrote the dialogue and lyrics for the songs and then passed them on to Richard Rodgers who with great focus and remarkable speed composed the music.

They felt that this resulted in an integration of words and music taking account of the story, characters and mood to move the whole show forward in a fusion of words and music. They tried to be true to the story, to let the original book dictate the form of the musical, so that totally new approaches were used, like the opening of Oklahoma with only Aunt Eller on stage, churning butter, while the voice of Curly is heard off stage. Not revolutionary but certainly a break away from the traditional big chorus start of the Broadway Musical of the 20s and 30s. In some ways this reminds me of the opening of Yeomen of the Guard. As the curtains open, we find Phoebe alone on stage, singing as she spins.

Of the shows that followed Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music were the great successes and lesser known and of limited success were Allegro, State Fair (a film), Me and Juliet and Flower Drum Song. There is no doubt that this proved to be the greatest partnership of the forties and fifties and that lyrics and melodies from all these shows, made even more popular by the film industry, will be sung for decades to come.

Richard Rodgers went on to collaborate with other lyricists after Oscar Hammerstein's death in 1960. Steven Sondheim, who had been like a son to Oscar Hammerstein, Alan Jay Lerner and Sheldon Harnick worked with him and he even tried lyric writing himself, but times in America were changing and the melodious romanticism of Richard Rodgers music was being superceded by a harsher, upbeat musical show reflecting the changing times.

Richard Rodgers died in 1979, four months after the closing of his 39^th musical I Remember Mama.

Our Revue tries in some measure to tell the story of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein; of their struggles and successes; of their writing separately and together and a selection of some of their most memorable songs. It can only ever be a snapshot of the writing of two men whose work dominated forty years of musical theatre both in America, Britain and the rest of the world.