IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Richard Rodgers

A young whippersnapper determined to redfine the sound of Broadway.

Richard Charles Rodgers watching auditions towards the end of his career, image c/o Wikimedia Commons

Richard Charles Rodgers was born in 1902 to an affluent family in Manhattan. He was ambitious from an early age, with two musician parents to introduce him to the world of musical entertainment.

"I hand him a lyric and get out of his way." —Hammerstein on Rodgers

Always thin and of average height, Rodgers was physically attractive. His personality and quirks, though, often made him a difficult person to live with. He had a tendency to hypochondria and drink excessively, and he dealt increasingly with mental breakdowns as his career went on. Despite his unhappiness, he was widely regarded in the professional theater world as “humorous and quick with a quip.” Rodgers’s talent was well-respected and regarded with a certain awe. Knowing his abilities, Rodgers was never prone to a particularly competitive or envious approach to art.

Early Career

By the age of 15, Rodgers had discovered musical theater, and was determined to make it his profession. A visit to Columbia for the Varsity show (coincidentally written by Hammerstein that year) resulted in his firm resolution to follow the same path. He did, indeed, end up at Columbia writing a Varsity Show, but later decided to transfer to the Institute of Musical Art (later renamed the Julliard School of Music). He kept in touch with fellow Columbian Lorenz Hart, with whom he began to work professionally. Together, they wrote over 500 songs in two decades. But, being at different stages in their respective lives, Rodgers want to branch out into new and different styles of musical theater, while Hart’s health was deteriorating. Their parting ways coincided with the opportunity to work on Green Grow the Lilacs, a play by Lynn Riggs in 1942. Here, the story only just begins...