Richard. 1902–79, US composer of musical comedies. He collaborated with the librettist Lorenz Hart on such musicals as A Connecticut Yankee (1927), On Your Toes (1936), and Pal Joey (1940). After Hart's death his librettist was Oscar Hammerstein II. Two of their musicals, Oklahoma ! (1943) and South Pacific (1949), received the Pulitzer Prize