Making a splash with its Broadway debut on November 30, 1955, Pipe Dream played its premiere performance at the Shubert Theatre to an audience ready to experience Rodgers & Hammerstein’s latest creation. Based on Steinbeck’s novel Sweet Thursday, a follow-up with the characters of his previously known book Cannery Row, Pipe Dream transported audiences to the world of postwar Monterey, … Read More
2014 Classic Stage Company
Allegro returned to the New York stage, this time off-Broadway at the distinguished Classic Stage Company, where it opened a limited run on November 19, 2014. Deemed “newly glowing” by Ben Brantley of The New York Times, this production, directed by John Doyle, featured a cast of 12 actors who doubled as the production’s orchestra; each performer acted, sang and … Read More
1994 City Center
As a part of New York City Center’s concert series Encores!, Allegro was revived under the direction of Tony Award nominee Susan H. Schulman in a brief four-performance run. Led by Stephen Bogardus as Joseph Taylor, Jr., the cast also featured Karen Ziemba, Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Hadary and, known for originating the role of Ado Annie in the original production … Read More
1947 Original Broadway Production
In 1946, after their massive success with Oklahoma! and Carousel, Hammerstein approached Rodgers with an idea for a different kind of musical that would focus on an ordinary person struggling to uphold his principles in the face of success in his field. As he wrote the book for Allegro for over a year, Hammerstein was pioneering new territory for American … Read More
2002 Broadway Revival
In 2001, Flower Drum Song was the first show ever to extend its scheduled run at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The following year, the production made its way to the Broadway stage at the Virginia Theatre (now August Wilson Theatre), opening on October 17, 2002, featuring a revised book by widely acclaimed, Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry … Read More
1961 Motion Picture
On November 9, 1961, the musical event of the season took place at New York’s historic Radio City Musical Hall: the highly anticipated big-screen premiere of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song starring Nancy Kwan and James Shigeta. A week later, a three-day festival in the film’s honor was held in San Francisco’s Chinatown. At the festival, San Francisco Mayor … Read More
1960 West End Premiere
With its original Broadway run underway at the St. James, Flower Drum Song made its London debut at the illustrious Palace Theatre on the West End on March 24, 1960 where the show would go on to run 464 performances. This was the first time Rodgers & Hammerstein ever opened a show at the Palace Theatre together, having made the … Read More
1958 Original Broadway Production
In the summer of 1957, Oscar Hammerstein II found delight in a new novel suggested to him by longtime family friend Joseph Fields. The Flower Drum Song by Chinese American writer C.Y. Lee had been released earlier that year. Newly inspired after wrapping the filming of the motion picture adaptation of South Pacific, Rodgers & Hammerstein quickly got to work … Read More
2018 Broadway Revival
In a stunning return to Broadway, this monumental revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, directed by Jack O’Brien, opened on April 12, 2018. O’Brien’s gorgeous production boasted the best performing talent in New York– and not just from Broadway! Choreographer Justin Peck, a rising star of the ballet world, assembled dancers from the New York City Ballet, and straight from … Read More
1994 Broadway Revival
After a tremendous return to the West End, Nicholas Hytner’s National Theatre production of Carousel made its way to Broadway under the auspices of Lincoln Center Theatre at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, starring Sally Murphy as Julie Jordan, Michael Hayden reprising his role as Billy from the previous London run, and Audra McDonald, who won her first Tony Award for … Read More