Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Great Musicals | London Concert Choir

The most successful partnership in American musical theatre began 80 years ago when composer Richard Rodgers and writer Oscar Hammerstein II joined forces to create Oklahoma! – the first of a new kind of musical, in which drama, music and dance were given equal importance in telling a thought-provoking story. This celebration presents highlights from Oklahoma! and four more of their best-loved musicals from the 1940s and ’50s: Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music.

All are full of memorable songs and choruses in which the wit of the lyrics is matched by the inspiration of the music. The mood ranges from the exuberant – ‘Oklahoma’, ‘June is bustin’ out all over’, to the uplifting – ‘Oh, what a beautiful mornin’’, ‘You’ll never walk alone’; and from the positive – ‘I whistle a happy tune’, ‘The Lonely Goatherd’, to the defiant – ‘Many a New Day’, ‘I’m gonna wash that man right outa my hair’, and the romantic – ‘If I loved you’, ‘I have dreamed’ and ‘Some enchanted evening’.