Film series: Rodgers & Hammerstein Musicals

Composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II – better known as Rodgers & Hammerstein – had arguably the most fruitful and consistently successful partnership in Broadway musical history. The pair began working together in 1942 on a stage adaptation of Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs that would become Oklahoma!, first performed on Broadway in 1943. The success of the project, which seamlessly wove together story, song, and dance, helped usher in a genre of stage musical and a Golden Age for musicals that would last more than 30 years.

Rodgers & Hammerstein would go on to write more than nine additional musicals together, including Carousel, Allegro, South Pacific, The King And I, Me and Juliet, Pipe Dream, Flower Drum Song , and The Sound Of Music, which was finished just before Hammerstein’s death in 1960. Collectively, their musicals earned 42 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, two Grammy Awards and 2 Emmy Awards.  

Though Rodgers & Hammerstein only wrote one film musical, State Fair (1945), and one for television, Cinderella (1957), several of their musicals were adapted for the big screen. This February, Cornell Cinema will feature three movie musicals from the iconic composing duo, inviting you to be swept away by some of the most beloved and enduring soundtracks of 20th century cinema. 

Featuring:
 
The King and I     
Directed by Walter Lang, 1956 
Sunday, February 4 at 2:30pm 
 
The Sound of Music 
Directed by Robert Wise, 1965 
Saturday, February 10 at 5pm 
Sunday, February 11 at 2:30pm 
 
Carousel 
Directed by Henry King    1956 
Sunday, February 18 at 2:30pm