Composer, Oklahoma!
Richard Rodgers’s contributions to the musical theatre of his day and his influence on the musical theatre ever since is legendary. Rodgers and his first partner, lyricist Lorenz Hart, were responsible for On Your Toes, Babes in Arms, I Married an Angel, The Boys from Syracuse, Pal Joey and A Connecticut Yankee. In 1943, Rodgers collaborated with librettist Oscar Hammerstein II on Oklahoma!. For the next two decades, Rodgers and Hammerstein penned such hit musicals as Carousel, Allegro, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. Collectively, their musicals have garnered dozens of awards including Pulitzer Prizes, Tonys, Oscars, Emmys and Grammys. After Hammerstein’s death in 1960, Rodgers collaborated with Martin Charnin, Stephen Sondheim and Sheldon Harnick. His final musical, I Remember Mama, opened on Broadway less than eight months before his death on December 30, 1979. He was the recipient of countless awards, including Pulitzers, Tonys, Oscars, Grammys and Emmys. He wrote more than 900 published songs and 40 Broadway musicals. The Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway was renamed in his honor.