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[Interview with Andy Hammerstein : raw footage]

Title: [Interview with Andy Hammerstein : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]
Publication: New York, 2003.

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Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Videocassette 2	Moving image	Restricted use	NCOX 2160 Videocassette 2	Performing Arts Research Collections - TOFT
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Videocassette 1	Moving image	Restricted use	NCOX 2160 Videocassette 1	Performing Arts Research Collections - TOFT

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Description

2 videocassettes (VHS) (42 min.) : sd., col. SP; 1/2 in.

Summary

Raw interview footage used for the documentary Broadway, the American musical. Andy Hammerstein, grandson of the late lyricist Oscar Hammerstein, discusses Oscar's work in the musical theater. Andy begins with 1942, when Oscar's career was in the doldrums, and he was at work alone on Carmen Jones, a musical adaptation of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. Andy describes how at that point, Oscar and composer Richard Rodgers decided to collaborate on a musical version of the western-themed play Green Grow the Lilacs. The show intrigued both creators, who had been unable to interest their current collaborators in it. Andy speaks about Oscar's objectives as a librettist and lyricist, and then discusses Rodgers & Hammerstein 1945 hit show Carousel. The show's post-war audience identified with its theme of making amends with the past, and a decade later, the audience for the film version found meaning in its theme of conformity. Carousel was, according to Andy, his grandfather's favorite show. He discusses how Oscar, as librettist, "welded" the plot to his music and the lyrics in that show, and speaks in depth about the song My boy Bill. The song illustrates the difference between a show tune and a popular song, in that the former drives the action of the play forward, and the latter expresses generic emotion. Andy speaks about Oscar's ability to write his songs so that they would forward the plot, and how in his best shows Oscar worked the libretto as well as the score to create works that convey emotional depth, and address love and also death and danger. He discusses Oscar's childhood and upbringing as part of a theatrical family; his old-fashioned romantic values, his attitude toward children, the respective roles of women and men, and how these views were reflected in his songwriting. Andy speaks about the song You've got to be carefully taught, which Oscar wrote for the musical The king and I. The song addresses predjudice, and reflects Oscar's strongly held belief in religious, racial and social tolerance. Oscar's interest in racism was first expressed in his songwriting in the 1927 musical Show boat, and in his political activities which included his founding in the 1930s of the Anti-Nazi League in California, and his frequent writing of editorials decrying social injustice. Andy speaks about how Oscar's background in the diverse and tolerant world of the theater fostered his belief in human equality. He goes on to discuss Oscar's last show, the 1959 musical The sound of music. The show, and especially its movie version, were extremely popular and Oscar received two Academy Awards for it posthumously. In this show, Oscar returned to his favored themes of love, death and danger, and racism. The show concerns an Austrian officer who finds his beliefs incompatible with the Nazi regime, and it expresses Oscar's view that injustice must be addressed where it is found. Oscar's last song, Edelwiess, written for the show as he lay dying of cancer, is a simple lullaby about the a flower that constantly blooms. It reflects, Andy believes, Oscar's peaceful view that the "show would go on without him." Andy speaks about the Rodgers & Hammerstein collaboration, which spanned nine shows, five of which remain the "golden standard" of the Broadway musical; Oscar's dissatisfaction in writing for Hollywood movies; and his insistence in writing the libretto in order to bring the story to the forefront of his musicals. Oscar believed that without a good story, you didn't have a good show. He felt that the theater experience should be memorable, and that it should leave the audience member "satisfied, drained and uplifted." Andy speaks about the musical Show boat, which featured a well developed plot, and whose audiences found it a startling departure from the current theatrical fare. Discussion concludes on tape one with Oscar's interest in writing about monogamous, idealized romance; his liberal values; and his desire to write shows which addressed "real" issues, expressed simple, decent values, and portrayed the lives of everyday people.
Discussion resumes on tape two with Andy's memories of his grandfather, who died when he was four; more on the differences between a popular tune and a show tune; and Rodgers & Hammerstein's ability to successfully create tunes which moved their shows forward.

Alternative Title

Broadway, the American musical
Broadway: the American musical : Jerry Orbach; Andy Hammerstein
Broadway: the American musical : Andy Hammerstein; scenic footage

Subjects

Genre/Form

Documentaries and factual works.
Musicals.
Unedited footage.

Note

This interview is one of a group of interviews with 90 individuals used in making the documentary Broadway, the American musical. The completed production is available on NCOX 2058.
Credits for completed production from pbs.org: A film by Michael Kantor ; produced by Jeff Dupre, Michael Kantor and Sally Rosenthal ; written by Marc Fields, Michael Kantor, Laurence Maslon, and JoAnne Young ; directed by Michael Kantor.
Time code on frame.
Contains various takes, at occasional brief intervals, audio continues without sound.

Credits (note)

Cameraman: Buddy Squires.

Performer (note)

Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Andy Hammerstein.

Event (note)

Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on July 29, 2003.

Biography (note)

Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.

Call Number

NCOX 2160

OCLC

145571849

Title

[Interview with Andy Hammerstein : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]

Imprint

New York, 2003.

Credits

Cameraman: Buddy Squires.

Performer

Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Andy Hammerstein.

Event

Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on July 29, 2003.

Biography

Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.

Local Note

Gift of Broadway Film Project, Inc. and Thirteen/WNET, 2005.

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Added Author

Hammerstein, Andy, interviewee.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- interviewer.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- director.

Squires, Buddy, cameraman.

Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.

Thirteen/WNET, donor.

Research Call Number

NCOX 2160

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