Rodgers Hammerstein

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II helped change the face of American musical comedy with five blockbuster musicals several decades ago. When these shows began bounding off the stage to the movies in the '50s and '60s, they all enjoyed full-scale, wide-screen treatment with lush color and full stereophonic sound.

Joan Roberts, who originated the female lead role of Laurey in the 1943 Broadway production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's long-running hit musical "Oklahoma!" and made a final return to Broadway after a more than five-decade absence in a 2001 revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies," has died. She was 95. Roberts died Monday of congestive heart failure at her home in Stamford, Conn., said her son, John Donlon. A New York native with a strong, distinctive soprano voice, Roberts was 25 when Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II cast her as Laurey, the high-spirited young farm girl in "Oklahoma!

Surely, any fan of Rodgers & Hammerstein would welcome a more authentic reinterpretation of the stage version of "The Sound of Music," which director Susan Schulman only halfway promises, although I anxiously await her Salzburg orchestrations, period-piece sets andominous Nazi banners ("Making a New List of Favorite Things," by Scarlet Cheng, Feb. 27). She counters her stated goal, I fear, by importing two second-rate songs written by Richard Rodgers himself for the movie when Oscar Hammerstein was no longer around to supply inspired lyrics or counter the criminal deletion of the show's two darkest numbers, "No Way to Stop It" and "How Can Love Survive?"

Some enchanted evenings call for two strangers. Rod Gilfry and David Pittsinger, baritones from the world of opera, will tag-team the role of dashing Emile de Becque in the revival of "South Pacific" that opens this week at the Ahmanson Theatre. The blond, buff Gilfry and the tall, intense Pittsinger may be unfamiliar to musical theater audiences, but they are big names on the international opera circuit. Los Angeles Opera General Director Plácido Domingo, who has worked with both men, says Gilfry and Pittsinger embody the best of contemporary opera, offering "superb vocalism and dramatic insights matched with the right looks for the roles they perform."

For two weeks in a row, your writers have missed the perfect chance to review a great new CD. Both Don Heckman ("Versatile Vocalists Who Shouldn't Be Overlooked," Feb. 24) and Don Shirley ("Sometimes, the Good Songs Are Preserved," March 3) should have got their hands on Susan Egan's new CD. Titled "So Far . . ." and packed with show tunes, Egan's premiere solo disc is breathtaking. Notwithstanding that I have no connection to Egan, and even though the official release date was March 5, I was able to get an advance copy of the album via her Web site.

It was great to see Julie Andrews as the subject of a cover article in Calendar ("Mary Poppins Gets Gnarly," March 14). I was amused, however, that even now, Rodgers & Hammerstein is viewed as her forte, while the Darker Side of Sondheim is considered a surprising stretch in a new direction. Twenty-five years ago Julie followed up her hugely successful romp in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" with a dazzling exercise in versatility: Robert Wise's "Star!" When American Movie Classics recently unearthed "Star!

Dan Sullivan's review of "South Pacific" (May 18) is the crowning insult; an unfounded bitter attack. This production is definitely not the "low-budget, flat-floor road show" Sullivan described. To say that this classic Rodgers & Hammerstein score "remains serviceable" is quite simply absurd. I think we can all agree that these songs will still be around long after Dan Sullivan is gone. At last the CLO has given us a show to be proud of, and anyone who is interested in a lovely, rewarding evening at the theater should ignore Sullivan's pompous remarks and get to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion before July 6. A. DUDLEY JOHNSON JR. Los Angeles

Charles Hirschhorn's citing the enormous numbers the recent TV remake of "Cinderella" garnered as proof of Disney's dedication to "high-quality musical entertainment" gave the whole argument away (Letters, July 11). Two years ago, I was one of the 50 million-plus who tuned in, and as a sometime musical theater professional and longtime Rodgers & Hammerstein devotee, I was appalled. In place of Richard Rodgers' specific and sophisticated melodies and harmonies and Oscar Hammerstein II's deliberately timeless fairy-tale libretto and Broadway-cum-television construction, one was subjected to watered-down chord changes, pointless interpolations, self-serving rewritten lyrics, '90s-style R&B back-beats and a cast whose legitimate Broadway performers took second place and worse to two pop divas.

Yikes! What demonic force has taken control of the Tonys, my favorite awards show (" 'Contact,' 'Copenhagen' Big Winners at Tonys," June 5)? These awards used to be in good taste, a real class act! Now we have to endure Rosie O'Donnell screeching the opening number, a shame with all the musical talent on Broadway. Silly me, I know TV is all about ratings and not good taste! And though I adore Nathan Lane, why did he constantly make snide remarks about so many of the actors presenting awards as well as Hillary Clinton, who may be an actress but wasn't at the ceremony?

No need for clever titles when you're bringing on the theatrical heat. "An Evening With Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin" wisely puts its headliners first. And these two musical theater legends deliver a sparely elegant master class in the art of conjuring emotional truth in dramatic song. The show, which runs through Monday at the Ahmanson Theatre, makes for a nonpareil middle-age date night. Married couples and domestic partners who worry that they've fallen into a rut shouldn't miss an opportunity to let these two Broadway veterans revive the old passion with their inimitable mix of spring freshness and autumn color.

Film music/orchestra division makes its way up Cahuenga Pass each season, a natural alliance in the Hollywood Bowl concert season. Sunday's "The Big Picture: Rodgers and Hammerstein at the Movies" extended a real-time-meets-reel-time twist, showcasing the duo's musicals that made the transition from Broadway to Hollywood. Unlike other more instrumental movie music-focused Bowl shows, the concert linked and synced the live -- and reliably solid -- Hollywood Bowl Orchestra with archival on-screen singing, framed by the composer-lyricist team's first collaboration, "Oklahoma!

No need for clever titles when you're bringing on the theatrical heat. "An Evening With Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin" wisely puts its headliners first. And these two musical theater legends deliver a sparely elegant master class in the art of conjuring emotional truth in dramatic song. The show, which runs through Monday at the Ahmanson Theatre, makes for a nonpareil middle-age date night. Married couples and domestic partners who worry that they've fallen into a rut shouldn't miss an opportunity to let these two Broadway veterans revive the old passion with their inimitable mix of spring freshness and autumn color.

RICHARD Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were the most successful team on the Great White Way from 1943, when their first collaboration, "Oklahoma!," premiered on Broadway, until their last show, "The Sound of Music," opened in 1959.

Hugh Jackman must be feeling a little time-warped these days as he sits in his dressing room inside Broadway's Imperial Theatre. Each night, the 35-year-old actor revives the glorious, glittering excess that was flamboyant entertainer Peter Allen in the new musical "The Boy From Oz," which has earned Jackman ecstatic reviews.

For two weeks in a row, your writers have missed the perfect chance to review a great new CD. Both Don Heckman ("Versatile Vocalists Who Shouldn't Be Overlooked," Feb. 24) and Don Shirley ("Sometimes, the Good Songs Are Preserved," March 3) should have got their hands on Susan Egan's new CD. Titled "So Far . . ." and packed with show tunes, Egan's premiere solo disc is breathtaking. Notwithstanding that I have no connection to Egan, and even though the official release date was March 5, I was able to get an advance copy of the album via her Web site.

Yikes! What demonic force has taken control of the Tonys, my favorite awards show (" 'Contact,' 'Copenhagen' Big Winners at Tonys," June 5)? These awards used to be in good taste, a real class act! Now we have to endure Rosie O'Donnell screeching the opening number, a shame with all the musical talent on Broadway. Silly me, I know TV is all about ratings and not good taste! And though I adore Nathan Lane, why did he constantly make snide remarks about so many of the actors presenting awards as well as Hillary Clinton, who may be an actress but wasn't at the ceremony?

Normally Rodgers & Hammerstein Night at Hollywood Bowl is a signal for everyone to go on automatic pilot, as the Los Angeles Philharmonic listlessly cranks out the big tunes for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. But this year's edition reached for something extra--no Master Chorale, a pops conductor (Erich Kunzel) who knows and apparently enjoys his business, and two bona-fide Broadway belters, Mandy Patinkin and Barbara Cook.

The musical distance between Bach's B-minor Mass and Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" can be measured in light years, but Maurice Allard, leader of the Orange County Master Chorale, traverses the distance with apparent ease. "I believe I'm a communicator," Allard declared. "Whether it's the emotional outpouring of the B-minor's 'Crucifixus' or the uninhibited joy of 'Younger Than Springtime,' you are still communicating something."

Surely, any fan of Rodgers & Hammerstein would welcome a more authentic reinterpretation of the stage version of "The Sound of Music," which director Susan Schulman only halfway promises, although I anxiously await her Salzburg orchestrations, period-piece sets andominous Nazi banners ("Making a New List of Favorite Things," by Scarlet Cheng, Feb. 27). She counters her stated goal, I fear, by importing two second-rate songs written by Richard Rodgers himself for the movie when Oscar Hammerstein was no longer around to supply inspired lyrics or counter the criminal deletion of the show's two darkest numbers, "No Way to Stop It" and "How Can Love Survive?"

Charles Hirschhorn's citing the enormous numbers the recent TV remake of "Cinderella" garnered as proof of Disney's dedication to "high-quality musical entertainment" gave the whole argument away (Letters, July 11). Two years ago, I was one of the 50 million-plus who tuned in, and as a sometime musical theater professional and longtime Rodgers & Hammerstein devotee, I was appalled. In place of Richard Rodgers' specific and sophisticated melodies and harmonies and Oscar Hammerstein II's deliberately timeless fairy-tale libretto and Broadway-cum-television construction, one was subjected to watered-down chord changes, pointless interpolations, self-serving rewritten lyrics, '90s-style R&B back-beats and a cast whose legitimate Broadway performers took second place and worse to two pop divas.