Rodgers and Hammerstein It was a great success, winning Rodgers and Hammerstein their lone Oscar, for the song "It Might as Well Be Spring", but it was also unadventurous material for them, compared with several of their Broadway shows. In 1962, an unsuccessful remake of the musical film was released. In 1969, the St. Louis Municipal Opera presented the world stage premiere of "State Fair" starring Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. The production was directed by James Hammerstein, supervised by Richard Rodgers and choreographed by Tommy Tune. "State Fair" finally arrived on Broadway on March 27, 1996, with Donna McKechnie and Andrea McArdle, produced
Oscar Hammerstein II Kern, with whom Hammerstein enjoyed a highly successful collaboration. In 1927, Kern and Hammerstein had their biggest hit, "Show Boat", which is often revived and is still considered one of the masterpieces of the American musical theatre. "Here we come to a completely new genre — the musical play as distinguished from musical comedy. Now ... the play was the thing, and everything else was subservient to that play. Now ... came complete integration of song, humor and production numbers into a single and inextricable artistic entity." Many years later, Hammerstein's wife Dorothy bristled when she heard a remark that