Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1958)
: , they light Mhe musical stage ''ft by JosePh N-Be" Jv Once in a cheat while, someone JLI' ( f yvt f comes along so attuned to the Xtr people of his age, so sympa- J$ Xlj f thetic with their joys and problems, so steeped in plain ordinary decency II 1 v (p I "f- that he establishes immediate rap- I J port with almost everyone. Only a y--iffi" ' " of t y ?a?-f-j 1 stars later," says Dick Rodgers, "but there haven't been many Mary Mar tins or Gertrude Lawrences in our shows when they first came to Broad way. It's exciting to work with new people as we're doing with 'Flower Drum Song. Yul Brynner is a good example. "He came in cold to audition for 'The King and I' just like any chorus boy," Rodgers recalls. "I'll never for get : him sitting cross-legged on the floor of an empty stage, strumming a guitar and singing some gibberish I couldn't understand. He was perfect and we signed him on the spot." Breaking theatrical rules is an old story to R & H. They've done it many times and not always successfully, as witness "Allegro" but the results have always been provocative and ex citing. I visited with them at a back stage party given to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the opening of "Okla homa!" which was revived on Broad way this Spring. Both R & H watched the performance that night even though they have seen the show sev eral hundred times. Afterward, Dick Rodgers was thinking back to the March night in 1943 whenjthe first Rodgers and Ham- Theatrical geniuses Richard Rodgers (left) and Oscar Hammerstein. Since "Oklahoma!" first burst upon Broadway, no two men have given America more sheer enjoyment than Rodgers and Hammerstein. few times in the history of the enter tainment profession have a pair men so endowed appeared. Such a pair is Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. They have probably brought more genuine pleas ure to more people than any two men alive today. Yet they never do it self consciously or with any thought that they are contributing to humanity. They're just good guys with tremen dous talents which they enjoy sharing. Next November, Rodgers and Ham merstein's 10th collaboration, "The Flower Drum Song," will open on Broadway. As in so many other R & H operettas, "Flower Drum Song" will break with theatrical convention in several ways. This warm story of the efforts of a Chinese family to adjust to a new life in contemporary San Fran cisco is certainly a long way from the experience of most theater-going Americans. The show is being cast al most entirely with real Chinese Americans, and there will be no stars. "A lot of our people have become merstein show burst upon Broadway. 'Oklahoma!' broke all the conven tions," he mused. "It opened with an off-stage song; we didn't bring any girls on for 40 minutes, and when we did they were wearing high-necked dresses; we had a villain who was motivated and we killed him which just wasn't done in musical plays." One reason that R & H have been able to get away with this sort of thing is that they are professionals through and through competent, thorough, sensitive, sympathetic, and wonder fully gifted. There isn't a neurotic or temperamental impulse in either man; yet they are decidedly different. D ick Rodgers is the businessman of the team. Rather short, broad of shoulder, slightly paunchy, with thinning gray hair carefully combed, he is genial, considerate, polite, and dapper. He keeps regular hours in a mid-town New York office and handles the team's business affairs. When Hammerstein was asked to describe how the team collaborated on a song, he answered: "I labor for weeks over a lyric, deliver it to Dick then get out of the way." Rodgers' speed with melodies is legendary. ( "This makes for good conversation, 6 Family Week I u, August 24, 195S
