The 1940’s and 50’s were seen as the Golden Age of the musical and central to that fame were the combined talents of Rodgers & Hammerstein, who in 1943 had a smash hit with Oklahoma! and in 1945 capped that with Carousel and the movie score for State Fair. They also produced such hits as Annie Get Your Gun and Showboat.
In 1949 they had a worldwide hit with South Pacific, in 1951 with The King And I and in ’59 The Sound of Music. In 1957 over 100 million saw the TV success of their Cinderella.
But in 1947 they had a flop by their standards with Allegro (in ’53 me and Juliet also flopped).
