Biography
Rodgers and Hammerstein were an American songwriting duo consisting of Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960). They are most famous for creating a string of immensely popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, during what is considered the golden age of the medium. Five of their shows were outstanding successes: Oklahoma! (their first collaboration); Carousel; South Pacific; The King and I; and The Sound of Music. Among the many accolades they garnered were thirty-four Tony Awards; fifteen Academy Awards; two Pulitzer Prizes; two Grammy Awards; and two Emmy Awards.
The pair wrote nine musicals together and collaborated on a musical film, State Fair. As producers, they also brought Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun to the stage, leaving an indelible mark on American musical theater and a legacy of successes that has never been equaled.
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Our greatest living Broadway composer, Steven Sondheim, spent summers with Oscar Hammerstein during his formative adoplescent years. The legacy lives on.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.