The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization is now home to a new podcast series. The Sweetest Sounds, hosted by R&H President Ted Chapin, and produced by NPR documentarian Jeff Lunden, will be an ongoing series of audio podcasts about Rodgers & Hammerstein and their music.

The first series features five programs focusing on four great musicals and one great musical composer:

• a history of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s first collaboration, OKLAHOMA!;
• the making of the first complete recording of the duo’s experimental musical, ALLEGRO;
• a look at the Tony Award winning Broadway hit, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA;
• the story of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” from song to screen to stage; and
• an in-depth interview with Williamson Music’s legendary composer, Charles Strouse.

“Putting together these podcasts has been a wonderful experience,” says R&H President Ted Chapin. “The idea is to entertain and enlighten at the same time. We’ve known Jeff Lunden for many years, and helped him connect with many of the people whose interviews provide an archival base for many of these programs. So when doing a program on OKLAHOMA!, for example, we can include the voices of many original collaborators who are no longer with us. Those interviews give these podcasts a scope that they wouldn’t have in other circumstances. And since Jeff is a wonderful composer in his own right—we represent his musical WINGS—he understands the combination of story and song.”

You can subscribe to The Sweetest Sounds by adding this RSS feed to your podcast client:
http://web.me.com/rnhweb/rsspodcast.xml