Doylestown’s Oscar Hammerstein Museum celebrates the musical theater legend’s 130th birthday

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On Saturday, the Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center kicked off a weekendlong celebration of the renowned lyricist’s 130th birthday, featuring concerts and tours of the Doylestown farmhouse where Hammerstein wrote the libretto for some of the world’s most famous musicals.

“We want to remind our community that perhaps the most famous lyricist in American history lived right here in the center of Bucks County,” said Chris Hutton, administrative coordinator at the Oscar Hammerstein Museum. “Not only lived but created his most important work here, and was inspired by this area.”

Organizers said they were expecting 160 people to attend the sold-out events this weekend.

Christine Junker, museum board secretary, said events help build awareness about the museum and its ongoing fundraising efforts to renovate the building where Hammerstein lived from 1940 to 1960. The nonprofit purchased Highland Farm in December 2023, and Junker said there are a “surprising” number of people who don’t know much about Hammerstein’s legacy in the area.

“We want people to be aware that we’re here,” Junker said. “We want to bring as many people through as we can. We want them to go out and tell their friends, and we have tours going through the fall. And so there’s going to be a lot more opportunity for people to come and see and realize the importance of this property, not only for Bucks County, but for Pennsylvania, and really for the world. ”

Junker said “the future of the organization” is a theatre education center for children, students and community members.

“Hammerstein not only lived here, but he also mentored Stephen Sondheim here, who lived in Doylestown, and was a friend of Hammerstein’s son, James,” she said. “So really, the whole future of the musical theater was built right here on this property, and we want to use that as an example for our Theater Education Center and build upon that mentoring aspect of Oscar’s personality, and mentor the future of the theatergoers and theater producers.”

While fundraising for the center, the organization is already providing courses to theater camp students in Bristol.

Local talent was well-represented in the musical lineup Saturday. Meredith Beck, a theater artist born and raised in the Doylestown area, regaled audience members with spirited renditions of some of the most famous songs Hammerstein penned — including “South Pacific,” “The King and I” and “The Sound of Music” — while providing insights into the history behind the seminal works.

Beck said it wasn’t until she became an adult that she began to appreciate the musical theater history that surrounded her as a child in Bucks County.

“We just get to relish in living in the same area that is the home of Oscar Hammerstein, and as I mentioned during my concert, too, Stephen Sondheim came here, and Oscar Hammerstein was his mentor and taught him so much,” Beck said. “He references him all the time, which has then also led to Lin-Manuel Miranda, who references Sondheim all the time. It all just keeps going and going and going.”

Beck said she values the emphasis on the arts and arts education in Doylestown and Bucks County as a whole.

“This area has always loved the arts so much and supported the arts and encouraged children to pursue the arts,” she said. “And when you grow up with that as a part of you, I think it also teaches you to be curious, like a lifelong learner, and gives you activities for the rest of your life that you get to enjoy, and you’re learning about history and these phenomenal artists and writers.”

Beck said she was “honored” to perform for Hammerstein’s 130th birthday celebration Saturday.

“It gives you chills, singing in that room and singing the songs that were written in that room,” she said. “This is an opportunity that I will remember for the rest of my life, and getting to sing ‘Edelweiss’ as a group, as a full room on Oscar Hammerstein’s birthday in his living room, is something I’ll never forget.”

Junker said the museum has a fundraising campaign to match funds for a $1 million state grant from the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. Donations will be used to renovate the house, which dates to 1840, including the second-floor balcony where Hammerstein often paced while writing his lyrics. At the time, she said, it overlooked a cornfield, a view which might have helped inspire the libretto for “Oklahoma!”.

“All those things are going to cost a lot of money, and we really do need donations,” she said.

Junker urged community members interested in learning more about museum tours and events to visit the organization’s website.