Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein refers to composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together were an influential, innovative and successful American musical theatre writing team. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, initiating what is considered the "golden age" of musical theatre. Five of their Broadway shows, "Oklahoma!", "Carousel", "South Pacific", "The King and I" and "The Sound of Music", were outstanding successes, as was the television broadcast of "Cinderella" (1957). Of the other four that the team produced on Broadway during their lifetimes, "Flower Drum Song" was
Rex (musical) the early Broadway appearances of actress Glenn Close, her first in a musical. Until the Canadian premiere of "Rex" in 2010, this show was the only Richard Rodgers work since the 1940s not available for performance from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. Clive Barnes, reviewing for "The New York Times", wrote that it was "one of the most interminable musicals in years." Andrew Lloyd Webber persuaded his then-wife, Sarah Brightman to record the ballad "Away From You", the only song from the musical that has been separately released. Years after the show closed, and after Rodgers's death, Sheldon Harnick and