Curtains for Rodgers
Over his decades-long career, Rodgers became one of the first to achieve the EGOT goal (those elite who earned awards in the four major performing arts realms, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards). By 1984, only Rodgers and actresses Rita Moreno and Helen Hayes had achieved all of those awards. Rodgers passed away at his New York City home on December 30, 1979. In March of 1990, the 46th Street Theater became the Richard Rodgers Theater, with gallery space dedicated to the influential composer and his partners. Rodger’s perspective on his impact on the performing arts can be summed up by his thoughts about his legacy. He once quipped, “If someone wants to sing something of min thirty years from now, no one will be happier than my dead body.”
Where Do We Find This Stuff? Here Are Our Sources:
Go behind the scenes of 9 Broadway dressing rooms. Hannah Vine, Playbill.com, 21 May 2017.
How Rodgers and Hammerstein revolutionized Broadway. Terry Gross, NPR, 28 May 2018.
Length of Broadway rehearsals. Robert Simonson, Playbill.com, 16 August, 2010.
Tech Rehearsals. Byron Mondahl, Royal Shakespeare Company Blog, (n.d.)
The real history behind ‘The Sound of Music.’ Christopher Klein, 1 June 2023.
Why Richard Rodgers matters. Laurence Masion, American Masters, 9 August 2022.