The sophisticated critics and creative forces that came to dominate Broadway in the late 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s increasingly looked askance at Dick and Oscar’s achievements. A combination of factors was in play: the too often second-rate, middlebrow film versions that minimized their shows’ sophistication and maximized their schmaltz; the rise of “concept” musicals that emphasized style over plot; and, of course, The Sound of Music.
