Kerrytown Concert House is honored to bring back the enormously popular lecture series, The Great American Songbook: What Makes it Great? featuring the incomparable Brent Wagner (University of Michigan Emeritus Professor of Musical Theatre) with pianist Tyler Driskill (U-M Asst. Prof of Musical Theatre).

This installment of the 2025-26 lecture series centers around the writing team of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II. For decades, R & H shows were practically a way of life. In some years, for example, over 500 productions of Oklahoma alone were produced worldwide. Still, few people today know the real impact of Rodgers and Hammerstein: They transformed musical comedy into musical theatre, creating a national phenomenon and a cultural explosion. In fact, without Oscar Hammerstein in particular, we might not have the field of musical theatre today. Thanks to them, we not only have South Pacific, The King and I, Carousel, and The Sound of Music, but we have Sweeney Todd, Rent, Hamilton, The Light in the Piazza – and almost anything else you can name. Hyperbole? Find out today!