Listen No 1 - No Strings - a musical by Richard Rodgers

Genre: Musical theatre

Context: The first musical Rodgers wrote without Hammerstein (who died in 1960). It opened in New York at the 54th Street Theatre on 15th March,1962 and ran for 580 performances. No Strings has its orchestra on stage, rather than in the pit, and Rodgers left out stringed instruments to echo the show’s title.

Notable facts: No Strings depicts an interracial love story (rarely seen on Broadway at that time), but the show itself never refers to colour. Lead Diahann Carroll won a Tony for her performance and went on to star in Dynasty. She was also the first black actress to have her own sitcom (Julia). The male lead in No Strings was Richard Kiley, who later played an evil police commissioner in an episode of Columbo (A Friend in Deed, 1974). Kiley is the only person to have narrated book, film and theme park versions of a story. In this case, the story is Jurassic Park.

What critics made of it: The New York Times said Rodgers ‘has taken on the challenge of being his own lyricist and met it like a professional.’ The Harvard Crimson commented that ‘No Strings’ is ‘drama without trauma, which may account for its success as entertainment. It is vivacious and sophisticated without being taxing.’ And a review of a rare revival of the show (in 2003) captured what I felt when listening to the soundtrack. ‘Tart, breezy and lovelorn’ wrote Ben Brantley.

My favourite track: Maybe ‘Nobody Told Me’, but it’s rather melancholy, so I’ll plump for the cheerier ‘Maine’.

Listening to this inspired me to: Find out more about the great Rodgers and Hammerstein partnership. I also plan to watch Carroll in Claudine, and Kiley in Columbo (both 1974).