Biography
Oscar Hammerstein II was born in 1895 in New York City and revolutionised the American musical together with Richard Rodgers. Their collaboration produced classics like Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, which established the book musical as a serious art form. Hammerstein was the first to understand song lyrics as an integral part of the dramaturgy and not as interchangeable numbers. His humanistic worldview and his commitment against racism run through his entire work. Already before the partnership with Rodgers, he had created with Show Boat a groundbreaking musical that was the first to address social themes on the musical stage. Hammerstein won two Academy Awards and numerous Tony Awards. He died in 1960 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
On Stagelog
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