Hum along with Purdue Orchestra at Richard Rodgers
Centennial
Known
for writing tunes you could leave the theater humming, Richard Rodgers, with
his partner Oscar Hammerstein, wrote some of the great Broadway music of all
time. On Sunday, Oct. 13, Purdue Symphony conductor Jay S. Gephart fully expects
the Long Center audience to be humming along with a hit parade of songs from
Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, South Pacific and other Broadway blockbusters
at the “Richard Rodgers Centennial Celebration.”
University
Choir from Purdue Musical Organizations, and two guest soloists join the symphony
for the 2:30 p.m. Oct. 13 concert at the Long Center, 111 N. Sixth St. General
admission tickets are $6 at the door or in advance from the Purdue box offices,
494-3933.
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Richard Rodgers birth
seemed like a natural for Gephart who, like generations of students, participated
in several Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals in high school. “I know this music
inside out,” he admits. “I sing along at every rehearsal. I just sing the
words and hum along.”
Richard Rodgers, he says, “is
one of America’s icons. His music represents everything that’s good about
this country.” That kind of familiarity made doing an entire show of Richard
Rodgers hits – including several from his partnership with Lorenz Hart – an
easy choice when PMO director Jonathan Swoboda approached Gephart in the summer
of 2002 about doing a joint performance.
Two guest soloists – mezzo soprano Katherine Burke from the Purdue
Theatre faculty and tenor Dan Andersen, choral director at Center Grove Middle
School in Greenwood- were invited to join in the centennial celebration.
Perhaps the biggest challenge
lay in picking from the vast number of hummable Rodgers songs, Gephart says.
“The challenge became whittling the list down to what would be a really good
program. We took the whole list and picked our favorite things – things the
community would enjoy, songs from shows they’ve seen on stage or at the movies.”
Concert-goers will hear two
sides of Rodgers. They’ll hear the composer who wrote more complex music with
Lorenz Hart in the 1930s, as well as the Rodgers who combined in a more fundamental,
down-to-earth way with Hammerstein to create the most successful partnership
in the history of musical theater.
“As we got into the music,
we realized Rodgers writing style was different when he collaborated with
Hammerstein, rather than Hart,” Gephart says. Writing with Hart, Rodgers music
was more thickly scored, the harmonies more complex. In the musicals he wrote
in the 1930s with Hart – Babes in Arms, The Boys from Syracuse, Pal Joey
– songs often had more importance than the story.
Historically, what set the
team of Rodgers and Hammerstein apart during their long partnership, was the
intricate way they wove the music into the plot line. Beginning with Oklahoma!,
which opened in New York City on March 31, 1943, the musical no longer came
to a halt for a song that had limited connection to the plot. Instead, under
Rodgers and Hammerstein, the song advanced the plot and delineated the characters
in a way the Broadway stage had never seen before.
With Hammerstein, Rodgers used
“a more traditional, classical style of writing,” says Gephart. “The harmonies
and beautiful melodies in his Broadway music captivated audiences. People
related to the music and it drew you into the story.”
Rodgers’ earlier compositional
style will be represented by tunes like “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”
and “With a Song in My Heart,” both sung by Burke. “She has a wonderful voice
that’s perfect for this music,” Gephart says.
Among the many selections from
his collaboration with Hammerstein are “Climb Every Mountain” and “The Sound
of Music” from The Sound of Music; “There is Nothing Like a Dame” from
South Pacific, “June is Bustin’ Out All Over” from Carousel;
and “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” and “Oklahoma!” from Oklahoma!.
The
“Richard Rodgers Centennial Celebration” is sponsored by Purdue University
Bands. For more information on this and other Purdue jazz, concert band and
orchestra events call (765) 496-6785.