Social Issues
While Rodgers and Hammerstein's work contains cheerful and oftentimes uplifting songs, they departed from the comic and sentimental tone of early 20th century musicals by seriously addressing issues such as racism, sexism and classism in many of their works. For example, Carousel concerns domestic violence, while South Pacific addresses racist views by westerners of Pacific islanders, and racism generally. Based on the true story of the von Trapp family, The Sound of Music explores the views of Austrians to the takeover of Austria by the Third Reich.
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Famous quotes containing the words social and/or issues:
“...I remembered the rose bush that had reached a thorny branch out through the ragged fence, and caught my dress, detaining me when I would have passed on. And again the symbolism of it all came over me. These memories and visions of the poor—they were the clutch of the thorns. Social workers have all felt it. It holds them to their work, because the thorns curve backward, and one cannot pull away.”
—Albion Fellows Bacon (1865–1933)
“Cynicism formulates issues clearly, but only to dismiss them.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)