[Dixielandjazz] Oscar Hammerstein documentary reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

"Oscar Hammerstein II -- Out of My Dreams." Saturday, March 3, 8 p.m. on PBS. Check
local listings.
by Dorothy Rabinowitz
Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2012
An hourlong documentary on Oscar Hammerstein -- lyricist and librettist for the most
enduringly glorious musicals ever produced -- can only feel dreadfully short. And
this one does. That's true though "Oscar Hammerstein II -- Out of My Dreams" is packed
with information, biographical and professional, including the story of his breakup
with his first wife in order to marry the woman he would love for the rest of his
life, his involvement with social causes. Not to mention all the music: The hour
is generously stuffed with segments from Rodgers and Hammerstein classics -- among
them "Oklahoma," "Carousel," "South Pacific" -- and from Mr. Hammerstein and Jerome
Kern's "Showboat." He was a highly disciplined writer, his assorted relatives and
other witnesses testify.
Between the biographical detail -- fascinating and complicated in its large tangle
of relations -- and the kind involving his lyrics, a picture of the man emerges,
and it's a moving one, particularly in the manner in which he faced the illness that
would kill him, in 1960 at the age of 65. He was extraordinarily generous, as Stephen
Sondheim is on hand to testify in a revealing story of the relationship that began
with Mr. Sondheim's visit to the Hammerstein house when he was a boy -- a talented
boy with an evident interest in music. The pictures of Mr. Hammerstein at home, playing
with his children, arm in arm with his wife, are all the more compelling for their
rarity -- there isn't a lot of footage of him. There is, on the other hand, the work
-- he wrote the lyrics for more than a thousand songs, all the libretti for those
Broadway musicals, in the course of a 40-year career.
One of the documentary's more striking moments comes with an interview in which Mr.
Hammerstein recalls his anguish at the news of Nazi Germany's invasion of France.
In response he composed "The Last Time I Saw Paris," that haunting evocation of loss
and grief, played here along with grim footage of the invaders marching through the
city. All too short, yes, but an hour not to be missed.
___________________________________
Dreaming of More Hammerstein
by Verne Gay
Newsday, March 4, 2012
The Show: "Oscar Hammerstein II: Out of My Dreams"
When/Where: Tuesday at 8 on WNET/13
Reason to Watch: Portrait of Broadway's greatest librettist and lyricist.
What It's About: Oscar Hammerstein II was born in New York in 1895 and died in Pennsylvania
in 1960, and over those 65 years wrote around 1,000 songs via a handful of collaborations
-- most notably with Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers -- that yielded the best loved
and most influential musicals in Broadway history ("South Pacific," "Show Boat,"
"Oklahoma!").
This special includes clips from some of the films, original interviews with Stephen
Sondheim, Harold Prince, Mitzi Gaynor and Shirley Jones, as well as family members.
(Outtakes of an old interview with son James, who died in 1999, are also included.)
Hammerstein also had a huge impact on that other giant of musical theater, Sondheim
-- a close friend of James in childhood, and effectively apprenticed by Hammerstein
-- who says that as a boy and musical theater aspirant, "he treated me like an adult...
so the result was that I came away with dignity and a feeling like I was worth paying
attention to."
My Say: Beware any special that lands on the PBS lineup during a pledge month that
has either or both of the names "Rodgers" or "Hammerstein" in the title. A considerable
amount of tub-thumping is certain to ensue as the local station fills its coffers
while viewers patiently await that can't-miss clip of "Getting to Know You."
The special does, in fact, do an adequate job of positioning Hammerstein's legacy
within musical theater, but it also feels hasty and incomplete. There's almost nothing
about his early life, even less about the Kern collaboration (no mention at all of
Vincent Youmans), while the discussion about Rodgers is fleeting. Some of this may
be of necessity -- figure about a half-hour of this 90-minute special will be devoted
to the pledge drive -- but musical theater buffs may still be disappointed.
However, what's especially good here, besides the Sondheim asides, is the focus on
Hammerstein's politics, which his best work reflected.
Bottom Line: Hammerstein gets his due here -- just not enough is given.
Grade: B-


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
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