Richard Rodgers (1902–1979)
American composer of some of the most famous musicals in the
history of
American theater. In 1943 he joined with
American lyricist Oscar Hammerstein
II (1895–1960) and as a
team (Rodgers and Hammerstein) became internationally famous. Their initial collaboration,
Oklahoma! was one of the first musicals to successfully blend music, dancing and story into a unified
production. They went on to
produce other wellknown musicals such as
Carousel (1945),
South Pacific (1949), The
King and I (1951) and The
Sound of Music (1959).