Synopses & Reviews
No American composer has been more widely celebrated, nor so consistently misunderstood as Richard Rodgers. Although he was one of America's most brilliant and prolific composers, whose credits include more than 900 published songs, 40 Broadway musicals and numerous films, Rodgers is widely believed to be the almost stolid opposite of who he really was. Meryle Secrest shows us for the first time his complex nature and the inspiration for his art. Looking intensely at Rodger's unparalleled career, Secrest follows his close and fruitful working relationship with Lorenz Hart, a collaboration that resulted in more than thirty musicals but was ultimately undone by Hart's alcoholism.
Moving on to Rodger's second collaborator, Secrest records the triumphs with the gifted and more stable Oscar Hammerstein, including Carousel, South Pacific and The King and I, along with many more. Rodgers' personal life is explored, as well. Secrest writes about the composer's childhood, and how, from an early age, he used music to escape. And she explores Rodgers' own battle with alcohol, as well as the deep tensions in his 49-year marriage to Dorothy Feiner. Somewhere for Me is both a vivid portrait of American musical theatre, and an illuminating examination of one of its greatest artists.
Review
"Somewhere for Me is a thorough and scrupulously researched biography that is both welcome and necessary. . . . It is our most detailed portrait of a man whose compositions may have substantially changed the world for the better
Gerard Alessandrini, New York Times Book Review
Review
"How you managed to capture so contradictory a man so well, I don't know, but it's a feat you have brought off and should be proud of."
Arthur Laurents, author of Original Story
Review
Here are fascinating, warts-and-all portraits of the sad, self-destructive Hart; the shy workhorse Hammerstein; Rodgers' long-suffering, Demerol-addicted wife; and Rodgers himself....Secrest's detailed, well-researched accounts of the creation and rehearsal of his important shows make it clear: Rodgers was a cad and a gifted composer, a bad husband and father and a major artist. Jack Helbig, Booklist
Synopsis
SOMEWHERE FOR ME: A BIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD RODGERS
About the Author
Meryle Secrest was born and educated in Bath, England, and now lives in Washington, D.C. She has written biographies of Romaine Brooks, Bernard Berenson, Kenneth Clark, and Salvador Dalí, among others.