AOf all the Broadway musicals written between the consolidation of the genre in the early \u201920s and the start of its decline in the mid-\u201960s, only 20 or so are now revived regularly. Five of them\u2014Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959)\u2014feature lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and music by Richard Rodgers, while a sixth, Show Boat (1927), was written by Hammerstein and Jerome Kern. Hammerstein also wrote the books for five of these shows (the exception is The Sound of Music), and those librettos define to this day how a \u201cnormal\u201d musical is constructed. He is thus by definition the most important and influential figure in the history of musical comedy.<\/p>\n
No one questions Hammerstein\u2019s historical significance, nor does the popularity of these six musicals show any sign of diminishing. But there is a gap between that popularity and the esteem in which he is held by many critics. Kenneth Tynan summed up the conventional wisdom about the alleged sentimentality and naivet\u00e9 of Hammerstein\u2019s work when he dismissed The Sound of Music as \u201ca show for children of all ages, from six to about eleven and a half.\u201d Stephen Sondheim, Hammerstein\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9, put it more forgivingly when he described him as \u201ceasy to make fun of because he is so earnest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hammerstein affected to be unfazed by such criticisms. \u201cIn my book,\u201d he told Mike Wallace in a 1958 TV interview, \u201cthere\u2019s nothing wrong with sentiment because the things we\u2019re sentimental about are the fundamental things in life, the birth of a child, the death of a child or of anybody, falling in love….\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n A few thoughts prompted by @terryteachout<\/a>\u2019s lovely appreciation of Oscar Hammerstein. https:\/\/t.co\/57mQ8tfF0g<\/a><\/p>\n — Douglas Ipson (@DougIpson) May 17, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n