Rodgers & Hammerstein

By Ethan Mordden

Book Overview

Now in paperback, this profusely illustrated volume celebrates the legendary collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Filled with original performance photographs, set and costume designs, backstage candids, and lively anecdotes, the book covers the team's complete works including Oklahoma!, State Fair, Carousel, South Pacific, Flower Drum Song, and The Sound of Music. Ethan Mordden analyzes every one of the shows -- detailing the plots, exploring the musical and lyrical ideas, and examining casting and directing choices. Rodgers & Hammerstein is an work in the history of American musical theater

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810915677
• ISBN13: 9780810915671
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Abrams
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 3.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.7" x 1.0" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Great reading and viewing

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. Being a Rodgers and Hammerstein fan, anyway, I was interested to see how this author evaluated their work. I especially liked some of the inside about their working relationship and their different personalities. Happily, Mordden was not content to write about just R & H shows, but to make comparisons to others of their era. The pictures accompanying the text simply added to the appeal. Not only pictures taken for publicity purposes, but set designs, album covers, etc. I do not agree with all of Mordden's conclusions; but he supported his thoughts well. After all, critics do not have to agree. I am anxious now to read and look at his series of the decades of the Broadway musical.

A beautiful and fascinating book for those who love R & H

This could have just been a coffee-table book with beautiful photos but a negligible text. Fortunately, someone had the excellent idea of asking Ethan Mordden to write the text. The result is that a very informative, insightful, well-written text accompanies the beautiful photos. If you love Rodgers and Hammerstein, you probably will get great pleasure from this book. One tiny quibble: Mordden is wrong when he says that Hammerstein invented the lyric form used in "I Am Going to Like It Here." Hammerstein used a Malayan poetic form called the pantoum.