Word: hammerstein
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...Gold Dust Twins--Rodgers and Hammerstein--haven't done it again. "The King and I" is billed as a "musical play," but actually it is a slick production and very little more. Most of the trouble centers around Hammerstein's handling of the plot and dialogue. The plot, a warmed-over version of "Anna and the King of Siam," concerns the efforts of an English school-mistress to educate the King of Siam and his 77 children; it may have been all right for the novel and movie, but it is completely sterile for Rodgers and Hammerstein...
Richard Rodgers' music is pleasant, but there is surprisingly little of it, and only two songs are outstanding--"I Whistle a Happy Tune" and "Let's Dance." Although the score isn't anywhere near Rodgers' best, it is easy to listen to. On the other hand, Oscar Hammerstein's book is not always easy to listen to. Anyone who has watched Hammerstein's tendency toward quasi-profound sentimentality and gratutitous moralizing will not be surprised at the failings of "The King and I." Occasional bright and witty scenes are not enough to overcome the humorlessness of most of the dialogue...
Wise producers as they are, Rodgers and Hammerstein have put their work in a theatrical iron lung. They have assembled a fine cast, topped by the magnificent Gertrude Lawrence, and given the scenes and costumes designers full rein. Miss Lawrence understands what entertainment is, even if Mr. Hammerstein does not. As Anna, she sweeps across the stage with more charm and grace than it seems possible for a woman to command. Her voice is thin, but it is clear and sweet. And, as always, her high-comedy acting is a sheer delight, Yul Brynner, a veteran of "Lute Song," plays...
Married. Henry (Mr. Roberts) Fonda, 45, actor; and Susan Blanchard, 22,cinema starlet, stepdaughter of Producer-Songwriter Oscar (South Pacific) Hammerstein 2nd; he for the third time, she for the first; in Manhattan...
Theatre Guild on the Air (Sun. 8:30 p.m., NBC). Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, with Patrice Munsel and Cornel Wilde...