Richard Rodgers, (born June 28, 1902, New York City died Dec. 30, 1979, New York City), one of the dominant composers of American musical comedy, known especially for his works in collaboration with the librettists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II.
As a youth Rodgers composed songs for amateur boys’ club shows. In 1918 he entered Columbia University. There he met Hart, with whom he collaborated on Columbia’s varsity show of 1919,
Fly with Me. After a year and a half he left Columbia, intending to work full time composing for the musical theatre. He studied composition for two years at the Institute of Musical Art (now Juilliard School of Music), New York City, and produced several amateur shows with Hart.
The unlikeliest hit film, Fisherman s Friends, has set a course for the West End, and is getting ready to sail into the sometimes choppy seas of musical theatre.
It is based on the true story of the shanty singing fishermen, from the Cornish village of Port Isaac, who found fame after being snapped up by Universal Music. Their debut album was a Top Ten hit.
Ian Brown, who signed the a capella group and now manages them, said Fisherman s Friends: The Musical is an extension of the magic of sea shanties .
His words are shored up by the success of Nathan Evans, the 26-year-old postman from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, whose TikTok videos of centuries old seafaring songs attracted millions of views and a record contract.
Unexpected gifts
By Jeff Gilliland - jgilliland@timesgazette.com
Seven-year-old Paisley Flora is pictured in front of the booth she set up last weekend at the Greene Countrie Towne Holiday Fest in Greenfield.
Submitted photo
Christmas gifts can come from the most unlikely places, even from a little girl who did not intend her gift to be one. This week, 7-year-old Paisley Flora turned what she hoped would be a bag of dog food into a $135 armload of gifts for the Highland County Humane Society Animal Shelter, even though they were not meant to be for Christmas.
And it all happened because of the Greene Countrie Towne Holiday Fest held last weekend in Greenfield, even though the festival was not part of Paisley’s original plan either.