Hooray for Hollywood Twelve films included music by Rodgers and Hart.What were the most and least popular of their works? Analyze one musical by learning its plot, setting, characters and musical score. Broadway Bound Rodgers and Hart worked on more than two dozen Broadway musicals.What ended their professional partnership? What characterized their music? Rodgers and Hart Discover the personal and professional details of both Rodgers and Hart that led to their 24-year partnership.Utilizing one or more curriculum framework, students can perform Rodgers and Hart’s music or create a project or make a presentation that focuses on one or more Rodgers and Hart musical using tenets of the Multiple Intelligences, habits of mind, learning styles or interdisciplinary learning. The following learning scenarios address Rodgers and Hart’s collaborations. See the sidebar “Rodgers and Hart Interesting Facts” for career highlights. Examples of the pair’s musicals include On Your Toes, Jumbo, The Boys from Syracuse, Babes in Arms, and Pal Joey, the last having the longest run at 542 performances. Their first song “Any Old Place with You” was sung in the Broadway musical A Lonely Romeo in late 1919. Traditionally, composers received top billing over lyricists but Rodgers and Hart were the first team to receive equal recognition. A mutual friend Philip Leavitt introduced Rodgers and Hart to each other, believing they would make an ideal song writing team. Rodgers met both Lorenz Hart and his second partner Oscar Hammerstein II at Columbia, the latter collaborator working with Rodgers from 1943 through 1960 on 11 works. He later studied at The Juilliard School. Rodgers enrolled at Columbia but did not complete a degree. Rodgers’ older brother Morty attended Columbia University and Rodgers would join his brother there. He began playing by picking out tunes on the piano at age 4 and could play piano with both hands at age 6. He was particularly influenced by composer Jerome Kern’s music. Rodgers was interested in music and theatre from an early age. Famous theatre producer Richard Rodgers was born in New York on June 28, 1902. He left school after three years to work as a play translator for the Shubert Brothers. Hart studied at Columbia University and became active in creating the varsity shows. He regularly attended plays throughout his life. He was an avid reader, especially interested in classical literature and classical theatre. Celebrate the pair’s 100 th anniversary with learning scenarios that highlight Rodgers and Hart’s collaborations and expose students to these two great musicians that are still influential today. Nevertheless, 12 films featuring their scores were made. Several Rodgers and Hart musicals were staged before the advent of talky films. The integration included subject- specific projects as well as an ornate lobby and cafeteria display. I had the privilege of directing a curricular integration of the pair’s The Boys from Syracuse at a New Jersey high school. Indeed, Rodgers and Hart’s songs are ever present in cabarets, revivals of their musicals, school musical productions, and audio recordings. Their song “Blue Moon” is cited as the only song that was not written for one of their musicals. Songs found mainly in their stage musicals are popular standards of the 20th century: “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Isn’t It Romantic?,” “Spring Is Here,” “Where or When,” “This Can’t Be Love,” “Falling in Love with Love,” “Sing for Your Supper,” and “With a Song in My Heart,” the last inspiring this article’s subtitle. Their songs are worth including in student learning. Rodgers and Hart’s musicals have become a permanent part of the Great American Songbook. This article celebrates the 100 th anniversary of their partnership that lasted 24 years until Hart’s death in 1943. The first professional collaboration between composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart began in December 1919.
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