Post Messenger Recorder -

It’s easy to think of the Broadway songwriting team of Rodgers and Hammerstein as “classic” or “old-fashioned,” but when Rodgers and Hammerstein began to work together in 1943, they were radical. Together, they revolutionized what a Broadway musical could be.

On Wednesday, April 29th, Belleville Public Library and Four Seasons Theatre presents “Rodgers and Hammerstein: From Book to Broadway” at 7:00 p.m., at the Belleville High School Auditorium. The free, family-friendly performance will explore the development of the “book” musical and how Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted books into musical plays. 

This hour-long program features a quartet of some of the best local singers bringing you songs from such well-loved musicals as Oklahoma!, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. Audiences will not only enjoy wonderful music, they will learn about how Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted novels, short stories, and autobiographies into Broadway entertainment. For those in the audience who like to sing, there will even be an opportunity to join the performers in belting out a familiar R&H tune. 

Developed by Four Seasons Theatre http://fourseasonstheatre.com/ as part of their ongoing community outreach efforts, this program is produced with support from the Beyond the Page program http://www.beyondthepage.info/, a joint effort of the Dane County Library Service and the Madison Community Foundation to create a permanent endowment that will support expanded humanities programming in all 28 public libraries in Dane County.