History Creator / RodgersAndHammerstein

Rodgers and Hammerstein were an American songwriting team consisting of composer Richard Rodgers (June 28, 1902 -- December 30, 1979) and lyricist/scriptwriter Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 -- August 23, 1960). Together they earned 34 Tonys, 15 UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, a UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize and two [[UsefulNotes/GrammyAward Grammys]], making them [[UsefulNotes/TheEGOTs EGOTs (winners of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony)]]. Rodgers was ''the'' first-ever EGOT, and he, along with Music/MarvinHamlisch, have been the only [=EGOTs=] to win those 4 prizes and a Pulitzer. Hammerstein is also the only Oscar to ever win an Oscar.

Before their creative partnership began, both had been involved in earlier collaborations; Rodgers was acclaimed for his work with Lorenz Hart, while Hammerstein co-wrote ''Theatre/ShowBoat'' (arguably the first modern musical, and written in a style which foreshadowed the work of this duo) with composer Jerome Kern. Rodgers and Hammerstein also produced most of their own musicals and sometimes produced other people's work, including ''Theatre/AnnieGetYourGun''.

* ''Allegro''

As the quote above indicates, their shows are well on the idealistic end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism; despite often dealing with serious topics (racism in ''Theatre/SouthPacific'', sexual harassment in ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}'', spousal abuse in ''Theatre/{{Carousel}}''), they're a by-word for perky, heart-warming, optimistic musicals. However, at the time, their musicals were revolutionary for making sure all songs and dances were directly related to the plot, for having more in-depth character development than most of the musicals that preceded them, and for using scenic design as an integral part of the storytelling; they were so successful, and so widely imitated, that they are considered the [[TropeCodifier Trope Codifiers]] for modern musicals.

[[caption-width-right:240:Rodgers and Hammerstein on the left and right, respectively.]]