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IT'S A

The Stratford Season

FOR SINGING

Across the border,
this year's Stratford and
Shaw festivals feature
musical productions
by Jewish composers.

.

FRAN HELLER
Special to the Jewish News

T

his season, Canada's
Stratford and Shaw fes-
tivals are alive with the
sound of music from
composers south of the border.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The
King and I and Lerner and
Loewe's Gigi will take to the stage
in Stratford; Comden, Green and
Coleman's On The Twentieth
Century and Brecht and Weill's
Happy End can be seenat the
Shaw.
Mostly originating in the
United States, modern musical
theater was largely created by
Jewish writers and composers,
whose contributions to the genre
remain legendary. Of the nine
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II:
librettists, lyricists and composers
Celebrating differences.
who gave us these four musicals,
eight are Jewish.
In addition, the nonmusical
writing team of George S.
Kaufman and Edna Ferber are represented
at the Shaw with their play A Royal Family.
The Stratford Festival runs in repertory
April 10-Nov. 9 in Stratford, Ontario. The
Shaw Festival runs in repertory April 3-
Nov. 23 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
In the following stories, meet some of
the creative geniuses behind this year's
Stratford and Shaw productions, as well as
some of the actors who bring their works
for theater to life.

3/28
2003

66

R

ichard Rodgers (1902-1979) was one of
the greatest theatrical composers of all
time, and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-
1960) was one of the most successful
lyricists of his generation.
After joining forces in 1943, Rodgers and
Hammerstein went on to create such immortal
masterpieces as Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific
and the 1951 Tony Award winner for Best
Musical, The King and I. The Sound of Music was
their last collaboration. After Hammerstein's death
in 1960, Rodgers continued to compose fine
music, but it would never be the same.
The King and I, one of two musicals staged at
Stratford this year, is the story of two strong char-
acters from very different cultures — English
teacher Anna Leonowens and the King of Siam —
who learn to respect each other.
Rodgers' magnificent score, coupled with
Hammerstein's lyrics, made almost every song a
classic, including "I Whistle a Happy Tune,"
"Getting To Know You," "Shall We Dance?" and
"Hello, Young Lovers."
New York award-winning director Susan H.
Schulman, who is directing The King and I at
Stratford, feels the musical is Rodgers and
Hammerstein's finest work.
Its timeless message of tolerance and respect for
other cultures takes on an even greater urgency
today, says Schulman, who is Jewish.
"If we could only learn that lesson. We're not all
the same, and we should celebrate our differences.
That's why I feel the show resonates for today. We
still have to learn this lesson."

Next Stop• •
Niagara-On-The-Lake

o theatrical writing team has worked more
closely and over a longer period of time
than Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
Their musical On The Twentieth Century
brings a lot of charm and a little chutzpah to the
2003 Shaw Festival at scenic Niagara-On-The-Lake.
Comden and Green spent 50 years writing libret-
tos, lyrics and screenplays • together, until Green's
death last year. Amazingly, they never worked with
anyone but each other. Their composers and collab-
orators changed, but the words were always by
Comden and Green.
They wrote together, performed together and were
almost always interviewed together. Small wonder so
many theatergoers thought they were married to
each other. They weren't. In 1942, Comden married
Stephen Kyle, a businessman; they had a son and a
daughter. In 1960, Green married actress Phyllis
Newman. They, too, had a son and a daughter.
Betty Comden entered the world as Elizabeth
Cohen in Brooklyn in 1915. Adolph Green arrived
by way of the Bronx that same year.

N