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Born in New York City, Rodgers attended the same public school as Bennett Cerf, and studied at Columbia University where he met the lyricist, Lorenz Hart. In the 1920s and 1930s, Rodgers & Hart produced numerous successful musical comedies, including: The Garrick Gaieties (1925-26), Dearest Enemy (1925), A Connecticut Yankee (1927), On Your Toes (1936), Babes in Arms (1937), I'd Rather Be Right (1937), I Married an Angel (1938), The Boys From Syracuse (1938), Too Many Girls (1939), Higher and Higher (1940), and Pal Joey (1940). Their partnership came to an end with the death of Lorenz Hart in 1943.
Rodgers, who had anticipated the end of the partnership, then began working with Oscar Hammerstein II, already a successful lyricist who had worked with Jerome KernJerome David Kern ( January 27, 1885 November 11, 1945) was an American popular composer. He wrote around 700 songs and more than 100 complete scores for shows and films in a career lasting from 1902 until his death. Jerome Kern was born in New York City. and others. Their first musical, Oklahoma!Oklahoma ( 1943) was the first musical play written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II, working together. Some argue that it marked a revolution in musical drama: While it was hardly the first time a play with music t (1943), was ground-breaking, and marked the beginning of the most successful partnership in Broadway musical history. This was followed by CarouselRodgers and Hammerstein's 1945 stage musical Carousel adapted Ferenc Molnar's play Liliom to 1870s New England. Plot Synopsis Act I Two young millworkers in freshly industrialized 1870s New England visit the town's carousel after work. One of them--demure (1945), Allegro (1947), South PacificSouth Pacific is a musical play by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, which opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949. The musical is based on some short stories by James A. Michener, entitled Tales of the South Pacific''. It was awarded the Pulitzer Pri (1949), The King and IThe King and I is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, with a script based on Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. The plot comes from the autobiographical story of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mo (1951), Me and Juliet (1953), Pipe Dream (1955), Flower Drum SongFlower Drum Song is a Broadway musical with a score by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, and a book by Hammerstein and Joseph Fields, based on the novel by C. The original production opened in 1958 and starred Miyoshi Umeki, Pat Suzuki, Juanita Hall, (1958) and The Sound of MusicThe Sound of Music is a Broadway musical and movie based on a true story. It contains many hit songs, including "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and "The Lonely Goatherd", as well as the title song. Julie Andrews as Maria, seeks g (1959). The Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals earned a total of 34 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, two Grammy Awards and 2 Emmy Awards. During this period, Rodgers also had one major solo project, writing the score to the NBC TV documentary series Victory at Sea.
After Hammerstein's death in 1960, Rodgers continued to write music for Broadway. His solo career includes the music for No Strings (1962), Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965), Two By Two (1970), Rex (1976) and I Remember Mama (1979). For the film version of The Sound of Music, he solo-wrote two songs that had not appeared in the stage show.
Richard Rodgers died at his home in New York City at the age of 77. In 1990 he was honored posthumously when the 46th Street Theatre was renamed The Richard Rodgers Theatre.
Rodgers was an abrasive personality, not universally popular. Stephen Sondheim, who had worked separately with both Rodgers and Hammerstein, described Hammerstein as "a man of limited ability and infinite soul" and Rodgers as "a man of infinite ability and limited soul".
Rodgers' daughter, Mary, became a musical theater composer and an author of children's books: her son (Richard Rodgers' grandson), Adam Guettel, is a musical theater composer.