Rodgers and Hammerstein to the musical-play form – with such masterworks as "Carousel", "The King and I" and "South Pacific". The examples they set in creating vital plays, often rich with social thought, provided the necessary encouragement for other gifted writers to create musical plays of their own." In 1950, the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." They were also honored in 1999 with a United States Postal Service stamp commemorating their partnership. The Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City is
Rodgers and Hammerstein was one of the first musicals to contain a tragic plot about an antihero; it also contained an extended ballet that was crucial to the plot, and several extended musical scenes containing both sung and spoken material, as well as dance. The 1956 film version of "Carousel", made in CinemaScope 55, again starred Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, the same leads as the film version of "Oklahoma!" "Carousel" is also unique among the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals for not having an overture; both the stage and film versions began with the familiar "Carousel Waltz". This music was included in John