LISTEN TO CHILDREN THROUGH HAMMERSTEIN AND SONDHEIM
“Has anyone noticed how many R&H works have kids in them?” Ethan Mordden asked that question in his 1992 book Rodgers & Hammerstein. “The answer,” he then told us, “is nine out of eleven.” True. Only OKLAHOMA! and ME AND JULIET don’t feature children. You might argue that ALLEGRO doesn’t, either, but it does start […]
MARRIAGE TYPE LOVE – AND HATE By Peter Filichia
For the past weeks, I’ve been hypothesizing that Stephen Sondheim consciously or unconsciously reworked the musicals that his mentor Oscar Hammerstein wrote with Richard Rodgers. Some changes were due to changing mores. More, however, had to do with Sondheim’s differing worldview. Note how both wrote about marriage. Granted, their own personal experiences must have influenced […]
HAMMERSTEIN AND SONDHEIM: YESTERDAY ISN’T GONE By Peter Filichia
I asked the question last week, and I’ll ask it again. Have you ever noticed that Stephen Sondheim wound up writing new and edgier versions of the musicals that his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, wrote with Richard Rodgers? Last week, I compared what the two did with a famous fairy tale: Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA and Sondheim’s […]
TWO FAIRY TALES: HAMMERSTEIN’S AND SONDHEIM’S By Peter Filichia
The front cover of Christopher Anderson’s 1983 book Father: The Figure and the Force says: Father. He was once the most important man in your life. He still is. On the other hand, Sigmund Freud said that aboy does not become a man until he kills his father – or at least replaces him. That […]
PURLIE’S BACK AND RAHWAY’S GOT IT By Peter Filichia
It was heard so many times last season as people were leaving the revival of PURLIE VICTORIOUS. “Now I’d like to see the musical version!” And now they can. PURLIE, the 1970 musical adapted from Ossie Davis’ 1961 play, will run March 6-23 at the American Theater Group in Rahway, New Jersey. This comes courtesy […]
