During June, the Utah Theatre will screen a film festival of movies based on the musicals of Broadway team Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
LOGAN – To help get local audiences in the mood for the opening of the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre in July, the Utah Theatre is presenting a Rodgers and Hammerstein film fest starting tonight (June 3).
As everybody knows, Richard Rodgers (1902 to 1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895 to 1960) were members of a composer-lyricist team that revolutionized American musical theatre in the 1940s and 1950s.
Five of their Broadway shows were outstanding successes, especially when adapted as movies, and the bill of fare at the Utah Theatre in June will include those films and others representing the full breath of their careers.
Their musical theater writing partnership has been called the greatest of the 20th century and the film versions of their works garnered a total of 15 Oscars.
The film fest will open tonight with Oklahoma!, the 1955 film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1943 musical of the same name.
Filmed in the Todd-AO 70 widescreen process, Oklahoma! captured scenic vistas that are literally breathtaking.
The movie stars Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Rod Steiger, James Whitmore, Eddie Albert and Shirley Jones in her film debut.
On Wednesday, June 7, the Utah will screen the wartime musical drama South Pacific.
Based on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1949 stage triumph, the 1958 film is loosely based on James A. Mitchner’s post-war short-story collection Tales of the South Pacific.
The movie stars Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr and Ray Walston.
The highlight of South Pacific, however, is opera star Geogio Tossi dubbed in for Brazzi’s singing voice.
Next up on the Utah Theatre schedule for June is The King and I.
The sumptuous 1958 film by 20th Century Fox featured all the glamour of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1951 musical.
The movie stars Deborah Kerr as the reluctant governess to the king of Siam’s children in the 1860s. But Ms. Kerr’s singing was performed by Hollywood’s go-to girl for dubbing, Marnie Nixon.
The real highlight of The King and I is watching a largely unknown Yul Brynner in the Academy Award-winning role that made him a star.
The King and I will be screened at the Utah Theatre on Friday, June 9.
One of the Broadway team’s lesser lights, one of several film remakes of their State Fair, will appear at the Utah Theater the following night on Saturday, June 10.
The only musical that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote specifically for Hollywood’s big screen, this 1962 film reprises previous movie releases in 1933 and 1945 with less success.
The film stars Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Ann-Margaret, Tom Ewell and Pamela Tiffin.
Cinderella was another departure for the Broadway team, the only musical they wrote specifically to be performed on television in 1957.
The fairy tale adaptation was intended to be a vehicle for a young Julie Andrews, but has since been performed on Broadway and in other TV versions starring Leslie Ann Warren and Brandy Norwood.
The Utah Theatre will screen Cinderella on Friday, June 16.
But the best of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s work will be on display the following night, a sing-along version of their beloved The Sound of Music.
The 1965 film was an adaptation of their 1959 musical. It was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s last effort together prior to Hammerstein death in 1960 and is generally acknowledged was one of their best.
The movie, staring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, will be screened at the Utah Theatre in a rare matinee at 3 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 17.
On Wednesday, June 21, the Utah Theatre will present Carousel, the 1956 fantasy drama film based on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1945 stage musical.
Starring Gordon McRae was the film’s anti-hero opposite Shirley Jones, the film explores relatively dark themes for a musical. But the music is simply beautiful.
Toward the end of the month, the Utah Theatre will reprise some of the aforementioned films, with South Pacific slated on Friday, June 23; Oklahoma! on Saturday, June 24; and The King and I on Wednesday, June 28.
Finally, the Rodgers and Hammerstein film fest will close on Friday, June 30 with Flower Drum Song.
Although not as successful at the box office or with critics as their previous efforts, Flower Drum Song was notable as the first Hollywood feature film with a majority Asian-American cast and the last film to do so for more than 30 years.
The movie stars Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta and Jack Soo.
Curtain times for most performances of the Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musical will be 7 p.m.
The Utah Theatre is located at 18 West Center Street in downtown Logan.