Hammerstein, the grandson and namesake of an operatic impresario, also participated in the Varsity Show during his undergraduate years at Columbia College. Hart attended the opening of Oklahoma! on March 31, 1943, in New York, graciously telling Rodgers at the final curtain, 'This show of yours will run forever.' Eight months later, Hart died of pneumonia. Hart's deteriorating health led to the breakup of their partnership in 1940. The success of the show, Fly with Me, led to a twenty-year partnership between Rodgers and Hart, and to such classic songs as 'Manhattan,' 'Blue Moon,' and 'The Lady Is a Tramp' from shows including Connecticut Yankee (1927), The Boys from Syracuse (1938), and Pal Joey (1940). As a freshman student at Columbia College, he composed the music for the Varsity Show of 1920, with lyrics provided by a former Columbia journalism student named Lorenz Hart. Rodgers began his career collaborating with another Columbian. In all, the duo won 35 Tonys, 15 Oscars, two Grammys, two Pulitzers, and two Emmys.

Their 17-year partnership began in 1943 with Oklahoma! and continued through ten other musicals, including one motion picture ( State Fair, 1945) and one teleplay ( Cinderella, 1957), Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951) and The Sound of Music (1959). Rodgers and Hammerstein changed the face of American musical theater by integrating the elements of drama, music and dance as never before. 'He's a meticulously hard worker and yet he'll roam the grass of his farm for hours and sometimes for days before he can bring himself to put a word on paper.' 'I hand him a lyric and get out of his way.'

Oklahoma! by Richard Rodgers