Episodes
Monday Oct 30, 2017
8. Annie Get Your Gun
Monday Oct 30, 2017
Monday Oct 30, 2017
This week, we cover Annie Get Your Gun, composer and lyricist Irving Berlin's 1946 response to the new Rodgers and Hammerstein formula, with book by Dorothy and Herbert Fields. Unlike R+H's serious musical plays, Annie Get Your Gun is a comedy, and quite a funny one at that! We also go over Irving Berlin's biography and play some of his older songs, as he is probably the greatest songwriter in American history.
We talk about how expressive Betty Hutton is in the Annie Get Your Gun movie, so if you'd like to see it in video and not just hear the audio, here is her rendition of You Can't Get a Man with a Gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGB7yTZEZE4
Monday Oct 16, 2017
7. Carousel
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Carousel is just the worst. But luckily for you, Hannah and Jeremy come into this one hot, and you'll hear what they really think about Rodgers and Hammerstein's second musical. There is some explicit language in this episode, so keep that in mind.
Monday Oct 09, 2017
6. On the Town
Monday Oct 09, 2017
Monday Oct 09, 2017
On the Town marked the very first Broadway musical for Leonard Bernstein (music), Jerome Robbins (choreography), and Betty Comden & Adolph Green (book and lyrics). On the Town was loosely based on a ballet by Robbins and Bernstein called Fancy Free which had opened in April 1944, and they completely made On the Town from scratch by December 1944! Fancy Free itself was inspired by Paul Cadmus' painting "The Fleet's In" from 1934, seen below.
Tuesday Oct 03, 2017
5. Oklahoma!
Tuesday Oct 03, 2017
Tuesday Oct 03, 2017
At last, we talk about the most important musical of all time, Oklahoma! The first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma! was the start of the golden age of musical theatre, and every musical since then exists in the genre Oklahoma crystalized. We'll talk about why the show was so important, play you some clips, read you some scholarly quotes, and talk about how well it holds up. And we'll rank it alongside the other musicals we've reviewed!