Richard Rodgers (1902-1979)
American composer of some of the most famous musicals in the
history of
American theater. In 1943 he joined with
American lyricist Oscar Hammerstein
II (1895-1960) and as a
team (Rodgers and Hammerstein) became internationally famous. Their initial collaboration,
Oklahoma! was one of the first musicals to successfully blend music, dancing and story into a unified
production. They went on to
produce other wellknown musicals such as
Carousel (1945),
South Pacific (1949), The
King and I (1951) and The
Sound of Music (1959).