Staging by Roy Casstevens
Musical Director: Michael Horsley
Playbill Notes
Oscar Hammerstein II: America's Poet Laureate
For many people the lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II are America. From the era of reconstruction depicted in Showboat to the settlement of Oklahoma territory in Oklahoma! to the naval battles of World War II in South Pacific, Hammerstein's musicals represent our natural history. As idealistic as he was about his native country, he also was not afraid to act as its social conscience, dealing with racism and social inequity. The lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein remain a childhood memory for millions of Americans that eventually became identified and interwoven with the moral fabric of America.
As an artist, Hammerstein was interested in the values that bound a community together. It is popular to bemoan Hammerstein's lack of sophistication, but it was a selective artistic process that led Hammerstein to pare down his words-and ideas. He was interested in reaching a larger audience than the elite New York theatregoer. a friend once stated, "Hammerstein was interested in writing for all 50 stages," he succeeded brilliantly. His belief in the goodness of people, in their ability to rise above hatred and fear to achieve freedom and equality represented the best of his country's ideals.
Hammerstein seemd predestined to enter the theater. Born into a New York theatrical dynasty, he sudied law at Columbia university for a short while before the lure of the theater pulled him away. He soon embarked on a prolific series of musicals that placed him at the very top of his profession. With Jerome Kern, he wrote classic scores for Music in the Air, Three Sisters, Very Warm for May, Sweet Adeline, and what many consider the greatest musical of all, Show Boat.
During the 1920's and 1930's, Hammerstein's work with Kern, Romberg, Youmans, Gershwin, and others solidified his standing as one of the great lyricists and librettists of the musical theater. His interest in the musical book led to cohesive dramatic plots and scores that served to forward the action and make commentary on the themes of the play. His constant experimentation with form and content still reverberate in the groundbreaking musicals written today by his protege, Stephen Sondheim.
In 1943, he teamed with Richard Rodgers to write the ground-breaking Oklahoma! After the phenomenal success of their first collaboration, Rodgers and Hammerstein went onto create some of the most beloved musicals in American history: Carousel, State Fair, South Pacific, The King & I all seemed to burst from the same cross-pollination of musical comedy and operetta that made Oklahoma! a mile-stone in the evolution of the American musical theater.
This was no accident. Hammerstein's philosophy spilled over in to his work, informing ever piece with the same questions of community and individual responsibility. A constant fighter of injustice, he railed against the House of Un-American Activities Committee and his interest in civil right never ceased until his death in 1960. For all his "simplicity," he was not interested in writing platitudes on the greatness of American society. His examination of racism in Show Boat and South Pacific, domestic violence in Carousel, and slavery in The King and I, are all examples of his willingness to engage his audiences in debate over the conscience of America and its ideals. In many way, Oscar Hammerstein II was our true poet laureate, as sentimental, self-critical, and idealistic as America itself.
