The Bowry Boys Episode 247, Rogers and Hammerstein, the golden age of Broadway.

Hey, it's the Bowry Boys.

Hey.

Support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners.

Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.

Hi there, welcome to the Bowry Boys. This is Greg Young.

And this is Tom Myers.

You know how we love our Broadway history on this show?

So today we're going to just jump right into the golden age of the Broadway musical in the mid 20th century

to discuss certainly the most famous and successful songwriting team in the history of Broadway.

The gentleman, Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein.

These two men both had really successful theater careers even before they started collaborating with each other.

So their partnership was really like their second act.

But what a second act because from 1943 to 1959, that is from Oklahoma to the sound of music,

Rogers and Hammerstein wrote and produced hit after hit on Broadway, nearly all of which are still produced today.

These two men are among the most important cultural forces in America, in the mid 20th century.

And of course we're incredibly influential here in New York City, which is why we're folding them in here as a story of New York City history.

But who were these guys and how did they even manage to keep cranking out these hands?

I know, I mean hits like South Pacific, the King and I, and on and on.

Well, we'll try to answer that question today.

So take your seats and silence your phones as we raise the curtain on Rogers and Hammerstein

and the golden age of the Broadway musical.

...