I had a long conversation today with a schoolfriend who I hadn't seen for, literally, fifty years. It was a bit weird to begin with, as you can imagine ("so, what have you been up to ...?") But we ended up agreeing that the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals were probably the greatest body of artistic work of the twentieth century. Discuss.
The question of which of them was the very best was left unresolved, but, just as a clue, I stuck on my DVD of "Carousel" this evening, and my many layers of tears of emotion and delight are still welling up.
What's your vote?
Carousel - unique in having no overture but I still have a very soft spot for Oklahoma, both of which starred Gordon MacRae if my memory serves me right. 'Oh what a beautiful mornin' was my early morning comment on facebook last week!
ReplyDeleteWell, you don't need an overture when you have that waltz, do you?
ReplyDeleteWhen I get back from Wales I'm off down HMV to get the box set (it does exist) of the entire filmed works.