THE BIG PICTURE Pays Tribute To Rodgers & Hammerstein 9/6 At The Hollywood Bowl

The Big Picture, one of the Hollywood Bowl's most popular annual programs, pays tribute this year to the extraordinary legacy of Rodgers & Hammerstein on Sunday, September 6, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. Turner Classic Movies' primetime anchor Robert Osborne hosts the evening, with conductor David Newman leading the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in an evening of orchestral film music performed live with popular scenes projected on the big screen. The Big Picture: Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies will celebrate the work of Rodgers & Hammerstein with this program featuring music and clips from all of the duo's movie musicals -- Oklahoma! (1955) and Carousel (1956) starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, South Pacific (1958) starring Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi, The King and I (1956) starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner, State Fair (1945 & 1962) starring Jeanne Crain and Dick Haymes in 1945 and Ann-Margret and Pat Boone in 1962, The Sound of Music (1965) starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, as well as Flower Drum Song (1961), which receives its Bowl premiere on this concert.

In the early 1940s Richard Rodgers (composer) and Oscar Hammerstein II (librettist/lyricist) joined forces to create the most consistently fruitful and successful partnership in American musical theatre. Oklahoma!, the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, was also the first of a new genre, the musical play, representing a unique fusion of Rodgers' musical comedy and Hammerstein's operetta. The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical was followed by Carousel, Allegro, South Pacific, The King and I, Me and Juliet, Pipe Dream, Flower Drum Song and The Sound of Music. Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote one musical specifically for the big screen, State Fair, and one for television, Cinderella. Collectively, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals earned 35 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, two Grammys and 2 Emmy Awards. In 1998 Rodgers & Hammerstein were cited by Time Magazine and CBS News as among the 20 most influential artists of the 20th century and in 1999 they were jointly commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp.

David Newman has scored over 100 films in the 24 years of his career, ranging from films such as War of the Roses, Hoffa, Galaxy Quest, Bowfinger and Heathers, to the more recent The Spirit, Serenity and Ice Age. He has an Academy Award nomination for his score to the animated feature, Anastasia and was also the first composer to have his piece, 1001 Nights, performed in the Los Angeles Philharmonic's FILMHARMONIC Series, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 1987, Robert Redford selected Newman as musical director of The Sundance Institute. During his tenure he wrote an original score and conducted the Utah Symphony Orchestra for the classic silent motion picture, Sunrise, which opened the Sundance Film Festival in 1989. Newman is part of a Film Music Family that included his father Alfred Newman, who ran the music department at 20th Century Fox for 20 years from 1940-1960, as well as recording artist and film composer, Randy Newman, and his brother, film composer, Thomas Newman.

As primetime host and anchor of Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Robert Osborne brings viewers out of their living rooms and into the world of classic Hollywood, providing insider information, facts and trivia on TCM movie presentations. Osborne is also a columnist-critic for The Hollywood Reporter. He is known as the official biographer of Oscar, thanks to a series of books he's written on the subject of Hollywood's annual Academy Awards. His latest book, 80 Years Of the Oscar, written at the request of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has been called "the most comprehensive and definitive book ever done on the subject."

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One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and is home to the best and brightest in all genres of music. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 42nd season. In January 2009, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the fifth year in a row at the 20th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards; the Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.

Tickets ($10 - $116) are on sale now at HollywoodBowl.com, at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office (Tuesday-Sunday, noon-6 p.m.), by phone 323.850.2000 or by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, and at all Ticketmaster outlets. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details.

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