EDGE Interview: Ben & Brad & Cynthia Celebrate Rodgers & Hart & Hammerstein
"I felt like they've just always been there," muses cabaret singer Ben Sears about Great American Songbook, Broadway, and film composer Richard Rodgers and his two most famous lyricists, Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. Sears' husband and longtime musical partner Brad Conner echoes, "They were always there. That says something about their music." Sears recalls seeing a community chorus production of "Oklahoma" (Rodgers & Hammerstein) and his parents had some Broadway records they would play. He also would hear American standards sung by Dinah Shore, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra on the radio stations played at home.
Conner, who grew up in rural West Virginia, where live musical theater was rare, noted "My first memory of Rodgers & Hammerstein was 'The Sound of Music' and "The King and I" films, which I would watch on TV. There wasn't much exposure to live musical theater. There was a light opera guild in Charleston, West Virginia where I heard some of Rodgers & Hammerstein's music. And for the Rodgers & Hart songs, I would hear them on TV variety shows."
Sears and Conner have not only been a cabaret performing duo since 1989, but they are also considered preeminent scholars on the history of the Great American Songbook. Any conversation with them, however casual, and no matter the subject, will likely glide into a discussion or debate as to who wrote what when, what the original title was, when it changed, and how to correctly pronounce it.
Both have researched, written, edited works, and lectured extensively on the Great American Songbook and have performed its vast repertoire around the country and internationally. They have released thirteen CDs of songs by not only Rodgers and Hart and Hammerstein, but also by Irving Berlin, George & Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and E. Y. Harburg. The Boston Globe has called them "Boston's favorite song duo."
More recently, they have teamed with versatile soprano Cynthia Mork, who has toured with Sears and Conner on various shows including the show "Rodgers & Hart & Hammerstein," performed first in Bedford, MA, then Jefferson, NH, then on a further extended tour. Sears, Conner, and Mork will reprise "Rodgers & Hart & Hammerstein on Saturday, December 7, at Club Café's Napoleon Room.
Whenever the subject of the Great American Songbook or the Golden Age of Broadway comes up, one of the first songwriting duos that come to mind are either Rodgers & Hammerstein or Rodgers & Hart. Rodgers' work with Hart spanned the 1920s and '30s, churning out hit musicals like "Pal Joey," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," "On Your Toes," "The Boys from Syracuse," and "Babes in Arms."
Later, in the 1940s and '50s, Rodgers worked with Hammerstein, and together they wrote some of the most popular and iconic works in musical theatre history, beginning with the landmark show "Oklahoma" in 1943, considered to be the first fully integrated book musical, where the songs and dances were fully incorporated into the plot and helped tell the story. They continued with "Carousel" (1945), "South Pacific" (1949), "The King and I (1951), and "The Sound of Music (1959). It is no wonder that Sears and Conner would want to explore, dissect, and perform such a rich canon of material.
"Hart didn't write with many other composers besides Rodgers," notes Conner, "though he did write a song with Arthur Schwartz (of Dietz & Schwartz fame). But when Dietz came along, Schwartz dropped the Hart lyrics and the song became 'I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans.' The one big thing that Hart did separately from Rodgers was the film 'The Merry Widow,' which he wrote with Franz Lehár, and which starred Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier. Hart wrote English lyrics to the Lehár operetta, translating the German lyrics into English." Sears, Conner, and Mork will feature a song from "The Merry Widow" in their show. Conner then switched to Hammerstein saying, "Hammerstein wrote more songs with Jerome Kern than he did with Rodgers, including 'All the Things You Are,'" which the trio will also feature in their show.
About that last song, Sears remarks, "'The dearest things I know are what you are' by Hammerstein is one of the most beautiful lyrics ever written." Sears then adds, "Hart wrote 'Lock the doors and call me yours,' one of the most brilliant lyrics (from 'You Took Advantage of Me'). You can only imagine all the different things that would happen behind those doors." Sears and Mork will duet on "You Took Advantage of Me," as well as on duets from "The Boys from Syracuse" and "Oklahoma."
Sears and Conner together and individually revel in getting deep into their research of the Great American Songbook. To listen to them speak about it is the equivalent of taking a college-level course in the history of American songwriting. In every show of theirs, one can count on there being at least one moment where one will learn something new about a song, its writer, or the show/film it is from.
For example, Sears shares this nugget, "I do the song 'Isn't It Romantic,' [a classic Rodgers & Hart standard from the 1932 film 'Love Me Tonight']. When the song was published, Hart wrote another set of lyrics that weren't tied to the movie, and those are the commonly sung lyrics. But we've gone back to the lyrics from the movie, and we contrast it with 'Hello, Young Lovers.' The film lyrics for 'Isn't It Romantic" aren't sung outside the film mostly because they are all about the singer. It's a very selfish song, but 'Hello, Young Lovers' is the most unselfish song, which makes for an interesting pairing. We have a well-thumbed book of the complete lyrics of Rodgers & Hart as well as several other composers, which is how we got the alternate film lyric to 'Isn't It Romantic.'"
Getting further into Hammerstein's lyric prowess, Sears has a favorite anecdote attributed to Hammerstein's wife Dorothy. "During an extravagant New York gala Dorothy overheard a man effusively praising the song 'Ol' Man River,'" begins Sears. "The man's remarks concluded with acclaim for the genius of Jerome Kern. Dorothy stepped forward and responded energetically, 'Jerome Kern wrote 'dum, dum, dum-dum'. My husband wrote 'Ol' Man River.'"
But Sears & Conner have plenty of love for composers, too. Conner, who is the pianist of the Sears & Conner duo (and the Sears, Conner, and Mork trio) waxes effusive over Rodgers' music exclaiming, "Rodgers' music is astounding! With Hart, he can be bouncy, and lush, and romantic. Then with Hammerstien, his music shifted to something more like an operetta-like sound. That goes to the way they worked together. With Hart, Rodgers wrote the music first and Hart put the lyrics to the melody. With Hammerstein it was the opposite." Sears jumps in with another amusing anecdote, "When someone asked Rodgers how long it took to compose a melody, he would quip, 'How long does it take to play it?'"
When asked to identify their favorite Rodgers & Hammerstein or Rodgers & Hart moment, Sears grumbles, "That's not a fair question. There are just too many. My favorite Hart song is the one I'm singing at the moment. They are all so amazing. Even the ones that aren't as good are still amazing." Conner adds, "In rehearsal, after we sing a song we exclaim, 'That is the best song ever,' and we say that after every song!"
Sears says he never stops learning more about each of their songs, because the next time he sings it, he is older and has more life experience to bring to it. "In 2002, we were celebrating Richard Rodgers' Centennial, and I sang 'Surrey with the Fringe on Top,' and twenty-plus years later, I'm still finding new things in the song."
Conner contemplates why standards from the Great American Songbook have had so much staying power nearly a century since the earliest of these were written. "The Great American Songbook is still expanding, still happening. Rodgers and Hart and Hammerstein were finding a way to express themselves in a poetic, concise way.
Where we are now is not so concise," muses Conner. "It is the evolution of how writing goes, and people have a lot more to say these days. In the golden age of the Great American Songbook, they all knew each other, and they would challenge each other to find out how many ways you could say 'I love you' without saying 'I love you.'"
Ben Sears, Brad Conner, and Cynthia Mork perform "Rodgers & Hart & Hammerstein on Saturday, December 7, 2024, 4 PM at the Club Café's Napoleon Room, 209 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02116. No Cover, but $20 donation recommended. For reservations, click here.