Synopsis

Barry Manilow continues to look at the lives and works of his favourite composers, de-constructing their songs at his piano. This week he celebrates a songwriting duo - Rodgers and Hart.

Richard Rodgers wrote with Larry Hart for twenty years in one of the most successful of songwriting partnerships. He then went on to write with Oscar Hammerstein for another twenty years - a feat which no other composer has equalled. Tonight we begin a two part exploration of the work of Richard Rodgers, beginning with his relationship with Lorenz Hart.

The son of German immigrants, lyricist Lorenz Hart began his theatrical career by translating German plays, while the New York-born Richard Rodgers studied composition at the Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School), before their partnership began in 1919. After five years of failure Rodgers was about to give up and become a clothing salesman, when the two had a breakthrough hit - Manhattan.

From that point on Rodgers and Hart created an almost unbroken stream of hits, including the shows On Your Toes, A Connecticut Yankee and Pal Joey. Among the pair's songs: My Romance; The Lady Is a Tramp; and a song that started life as The Prayer, followed by The Bad in Every Man, before becoming a smash hit as - Blue Moon.