Richard Rodgers

Ed Siegel

Hyland has written a biography of America's great composer of Broadway melodies that any Rodgers aficionado should have on hand. It is loaded with good, interesting information about the tunesmith's progress over the years with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein 2d and does a good job of explaining why he and his partners were so important to the history of musical comedy. -- Boston Globe

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Richard Rodgers "became extraordinarily successful in his work, enjoyed a privileged life, and shared two Pulitzer Prizes. He was also unhappy and depressed much of the time," says Hyland (The Song Is Ended: Songwriters and American Music, 1900-1950) in the preface to his thoroughly researched, if rather ploddingly explicatory, biography. Born in 1902 into a well-to-do New York Jewish family, Rodgers was musically gifted and gravitated to the theater, attending the "subway circuit" of successful Broadway shows at West Side theaters. There he heard Jerome Kern and, like George Gershwin, was inspired to write songs for Broadway. Fate seemed to agree with his career choice, throwing him into contact with his two greatest collaborators very early: 1919 saw Rodgers's first collaborative efforts with both Oscar Hammerstein and Lorenz Hart. Although charming (particularly with women) and thoroughly professional, Rodgers did suffer from bouts of depression and occasional alcoholism and he was thought by some to be distant and even difficult. After more than two decades with Hart, Rodgers severed their relationship and turned to Hammerstein, with whom he would write Oklahoma!, South Pacific and The Sound of Music, among others. Examining these two great teams as well as Rodgers collaborations with Sheldon Harnick, Martin Charnin and Stephen Sondheim, Hyland provides his most valuable insights, showing how teams draw on each other's strengths to create great work, but also how often unrealized weaknesses undermine a partnership. 17 b&w photos. (May)

Library Journal

During his 20-year partnership with Lorenz Hart, composer Richard Rodgers produced an unprecedented number of hit songs for such shows as Pal Joey, On Your Toes, and Babes in Arms. The depression and alcoholism that caused Hart's early death ended their successful collaboration and sent Rodgers in search of a new writing partner. Over the next 17 years, Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein changed the American musical forever. Oklahoma and South Pacific won Pulitzer Prizes for drama, and The King and I, Carousel, and Sound of Music have had enduring success both as Broadway shows and films. After Hammerstein's death in 1960, Rodgers went on to collaborate with a new generation of writers, although he would never equal his earlier successes. In the first biography since the composer's death, Hyland (The Song Is Ended: Songwriters and American Music, 1900-1950, Oxford Univ., 1995) examines his music and his life, both personal and professional, with a sure hand, balancing anecdote with analysis. The result is a refreshingly readable lesson in the history of American musical theater. Recommended for public and academic libraries.Kate McCaffrey, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, NY

Ben Brantley

"[This] is a useful, well-organized book....[A] lucid analysis of the evolving technique of Rodgers's music, with its increasingly sophisticated manipulation of forms like the waltz and of stretched scales, and in asessing the symbiosis of composer and lyricist." -- New York Times Book Review

Book World Washington Post

"Hyland... has scoured every scrap of published and archival material in pursuit of his subject. Richard Rogers, the result of his labors, assembles a mountain of factual information about the songwriter."

Kirkus Reviews

Hyland, former editor of Foreign Affairs, continues his exploration of the giants of American popular song, begun in The Song Is Ended (1995), with a biography of the man who may have been the greatest of them all. Richard Rodgers was in many ways unique among the great composers of American theater music. He enjoyed lengthy partnerships with two very different lyricists of the first caliber, Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein. He established himself not only as a great songwriter but as a highly regarded composer of soundtrack music, winning awards for his scores for Victory at Sea and The Valiant Years. His careerþafter some inconclusive noodling around after collegeþconsisted of an ever-upward trajectory with few bumps along the way until he was well into his 50s. And unlike the other great Jewish tunesmiths who dominated the Broadway stage in the golden era of musical theater, he was the product of a well-to-do family, never experiencing poverty, never struggling for his next dollar. The last two facts may go some way in explaining why Hyland's new biography of Rodgers is such a dull read: There just isn't much drama in this life. On the other hand, Hyland doesn't help himself with his approach, an awkward veering between biographical detail and musical analysis that is too perfunctory with both. As a result, one never has much sense of Rodgers as a personality, despite lengthy descriptions of his behavior and attitude toward colleagues and friends, nor much understanding of what made him such a fine composer. Nor does Hyland really give much context for the innovations of Rodgers's work with each of his great partners. The book is constructed entirely out of libraryresearch, with no interviewing, and it has the musty air of the library throughout. Intelligent, but utterly lifeless. (17 illustrations, not seen)