So many people chide Oscar Hammerstein, II for his Hallmark card-style lyrics of hope and strength that pepper his musicals written with Richard Rodgers (Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I, The Sound of Music and many others). They sum up Hammerstein in one broad stroke: sentimentality. I have always found this to be a wrong assessment of the man. Many of his lyrics have an edge, a slight darkness beneath the surface. "Carefully Taught" from South Pacific, "Love Look Away" from Flower Drum Song," "What's the Use of Wonder'n" from Carousel, "How Can Love Survive?" from The Sound of Music, "Lonely Room" from Oklahoma!, and "Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?" from The King and I debunk this theory. What I have always thought made his songs of hope and strength work within the context of these musicals is that they are anchored by the types of songs that I just mentioned. Something is always at stake in a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, a journey or life-changing decision that must be made and the music tells that story. This is why these shows work.
"To Keep My Love Alive" - Getting to the "Hart" of the Matter
There are many great lyricists to celebrate throughout the history of Broadway: Sondheim for his complexity and deep understanding of character development, Porter for his sparkling wit and his wizardry with internal rhyme, E.Y. Harburg with his subtly subversive whimsy, Ira Gershwin for his sophistication, and of course Dorothy Fields for her bold, realistic characterizations. Still, I have always been partial to Lorenz Hart who could marry all of the above with an ease and smoothness that elevate the song to greatness without drawing attention to itself. In other words, it is natural. A Hart lyric glides, flows and illuminates.
"Jubilation T. Cornpone" - Guilty Pleasure Thursday
"Jubilation T. Cornpone" may do nothing to further the plot or to give us a deeper understanding of a character, but you simply cannot hear this song without tapping your toes and getting caught up in the hillbilly hoopla of this guilty pleasure. It's showstopping fun and in the hands of showstopper extraordinaire Stubby Kaye, the number was the highlight of the 1956 musical Li'l Abner.
"You'd Be Surprised" - Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 - Lest We Forget
There are some things we tend to forget these days. Our past is one of them. We are so caught up in the modern musical theatre worlds of Sondheim, Wicked and The Book of Mormon that we sometimes forget the wealth of musical treasures that came in the early half of the last century. I don't mean the Rodgers and Hammerstein, post Oklahoma! era (after 1943), I mean even further back. Back to the days of operetta, silly musical comedy, and especially the musical revues that lit up the Great White Way. I am speaking of the George White's Scandals and Ziegfeld Follies installments of yesteryear. We do not speak of them much anymore. It is a shame when such a wealth of wonderful music and witty lyrics are just washed away in the gutters of Shubert Alley because we don't stop to embrace where we came from.