Composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart helped invent the sound of modern Broadway. The two moved musical theatre away from the stuffiness of the classical tradition and found poetry and humour in everyday American language and the rhythms of popular music. Writing hundreds of songs for dozens of shows from the ‘20s through the early '40s, the two were both versatile and prolific, turning out dance numbers as easily as heartfelt ballads. The duo's songs would transcend their Broadway origins to enter the pop canon, recorded by everyone from Miles Davis to Elvis Presley.