Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music.
I'd Rather Be Right is a 1937 musical with a book by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and music by Richard Rodgers. The story is a Depression-era political satire set in New York City about Washington politics and political figures such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The plot centers on Peggy Jones and her boyfriend Phil, who needs a raise in order for them to get married. The President steps in and solves their dilemma.
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs's 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLain and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry. A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancée, Ado Annie.
Raymond Wallace Bolger was an American actor, dancer, singer, vaudevillian, and stage performer who started his movie career in the silent-film era.
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and the lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943). They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart's death in 1943.
Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their musical theater writing partnership has been called the greatest of the 20th century.
Bullets Over Broadway is a 1994 American black comedy crime film directed by Woody Allen, written by Allen and Douglas McGrath and starring an ensemble cast including John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Chazz Palminteri, and Jennifer Tilly.
On Your Toes (1936) is a musical with a book by Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, and Lorenz Hart, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. It was adapted into a film in 1939.
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is a ballet with music by Richard Rodgers and choreography by George Balanchine. It occurs near the end of Rodgers and Hart's 1936 Broadway musical comedy On Your Toes. Slaughter is the story of a hoofer who falls in love with a dance hall girl who is then shot and killed by her jealous boyfriend. The hoofer then shoots the boyfriend.
Benay Venuta was an American actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for her work in the mid and late 1930s, in which she parlayed her success on Broadway into star treatment on network radio. After World War II, she developed an enduring career as a supporting actress in musicals on stage and in Hollywood, interspersed with work on television.
"Ev'rything I've Got" is a show tune from the Rodgers and Hart musical By Jupiter (1942), in which it was introduced by Ray Bolger and Benay Venuta.
Robert Alton was an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in dance choreography of Broadway and Hollywood musicals from the 1930s through to the early 1950s. He is principally remembered today as the discoverer of Gene Kelly, for his collaborations with Fred Astaire, and for choreographic sequences he designed for Hollywood musicals such as The Harvey Girls (1946), Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), Show Boat (1951), and White Christmas (1954).
Josefina Gabrielle Holmes, professionally known as Josefina Gabrielle, is a British actress, and former ballet dancer, best known for her performances in West End musicals and plays.
Klea Blackhurst is an American actress. She is best known for Everything the Traffic Will Allow, her tribute to Ethel Merman that debuted in New York in 2001. Among many accolades, this production earned her the inaugural Special Achievement Award from Time Out New York magazine. The recording of Everything the Traffic Will Allow was named one of the top ten show albums of 2002 by Talkin' Broadway.com.
Best Foot Forward is a 1941 musical with songs by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and a book by John Cecil Holm. Produced by George Abbott, after an out-of-town tryout, the production opened on Broadway on October 1, 1941 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, where it ran for 326 performances. It was directed by Abbott, with choreography by Gene Kelly, and starred Rosemary Lane. The show was Nancy Walker's Broadway debut and also launched June Allyson to stardom. Sets and lighting were by Jo Mielziner, and costumes were by Miles White.
Ruth Tester was a singer and dancer in Broadway musicals of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Warrior's Husband is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Walter Lang and starring Elissa Landi, David Manners, and Ernest Truex. It tells the story of the Amazons, who ruled over men thanks to the sacred girdle of Diana, and Hercules who came to steal it. The film is based on a 1932 Broadway production of Julian Thompson's 1924 play that starred Katharine Hepburn in the lead role.
Chee-Chee is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart based on the 1927 book, The Son of the Grand Eunuch, by Charles Pettit. Chee-Chee opened on Broadway September 25, 1928, and the show closed after 31 performances.
Ronald Graham was a Scottish born actor and singer who had a career performing in American radio, film, and theater from the early 1930s until his death in 1950. After winning a national singing competition, he became a regular performer on the radio program Blue Monday Jamboree from 1931 to 1935. He is best remembered for his many appearances in Broadway musicals from 1937 to 1944; notably creating roles in the original productions of works by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Cole Porter, and Arthur Schwartz.
