Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart was the
songwriting team consisting of
Richard Rodgers and
Lorenz Hart. They worked together on about thirty musicals from
1919 until Hart's death in
1943. Their breakthrough came in
1925 with
The Garrick Gaieties.
The musicals themselves belong to the era when musicals were revue-like and librettos were silly, forgettable hooks onto which to hang songs; they are rarely revived (and seldom with much success; the
2002 revival of
The Boys from Syracuse closed after 29 performances). Their songs, however, include dozens of the great standards of the American popular repertoire.
Comparisons between Rodgers and Hart and the successor team of
Rodgers and Hammerstein are inevitable. Hammerstein's lyrics project warmth, sincere optimism, and occasional corniness. Hart's lyrics showed greater sophistication, more use of verbal cleverness, and more of a "New York" or "Broadway" sensibility. The archetypal Rodgers and Hart song, "Manhattan," rhymes "The great big city's a wondrous toy/Just made for a girl and boy" in the first stanza, then reprises with "The city's glamor can never spoil/The dreams of a boy and goil" in the last. Many of the songs ("Falling in Love with Love", "Little Girl Blue", "My Funny Valentine") are wistful or sad, and emotional ambivalence seems to be perceptible in the background of even the sunnier songs. For example, "You Took Advantage of Me" appears to be an evocation of amorous joy, but the very title suggests some doubt as to whether the relationship is mutual or exploitative.
*(1925)
The Garrick Gaieties*(1925)
Dearest Enemy*(1926)
The Girl Friend*(1927)
A Connecticut Yankee*(1928)
Present Arms*(1935)
Jumbo *(1936)
On Your Toes *(1937)
Babes in Arms *(1937)
I'd Rather Be Right *(1938)
The Boys from Syracuse *(1938)
I Married an Angel *(1939)
Too Many Girls*(1940)
Higher and Higher*(1940)
Pal Joey*(1942)
By Jupiter*(1943)
A Connecticut Yankee (revised, with additional songs, their last collaboration)
*(1925) "
Manhattan", "
Mountain Greenery" (from
The Garrick Gaieties)
*(1927) "
Thou Swell" (from
A Connecticut Yankee)
*(1928) "
You Took Advantage of Me" (from
Present Arms)
*(1929) "
With a Song in My Heart" (from
Spring Is Here)
*(1932) "
Lover" (from
Love Me Tonight)
*(1934) "
Blue Moon" (not from a show)
*(1935) "
My Romance", "
Little Girl Blue", "
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" (from
Jumbo)
*(1936) "
There's a Small Hotel" (from
On Your Toes)
*(1937) "
Where or When",
I Wish I Were In Love Again", "
My Funny Valentine", "
Johnny One-Note", "
The Lady Is a Tramp" (from
Babes in Arms)
*(1938) "
This Can't Be Love", "
Falling in Love with Love" (from
The Boys from Syracuse)
*(1940) "
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", "
I Could Write a Book" (from
Pal Joey)
