“RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN: THE SOUND OF AMERICAN...

“RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN: THE SOUND OF AMERICAN MUSIC,” Wednesday 8 p.m. (28) (15)--Teen-agers may be shocked to learn that there’s more to American music than Cyndi Lauper, heavy metal and MTV.

As part of its “Festival” subscription drive, KCET is presenting a host of musical programs that includes Wednesday night’s two-hour retrospective on the songwriting team responsible for some of our most enduring and best-loved contemporary music.

Richard Rodgers, who wrote the music, and Oscar Hammerstein II, who wrote the words, began their collaboration in 1943 on a show that became a Broadway classic, the musical comedy “Oklahoma.” They went on to create a slew of popular musicals, many of which were translated into movies.

Appropriately, Mary Martin, who starred in the Rodgers and Hammerstein original productions of “South Pacific” and “The Sound of Music,” is the host of this program. It features interviews with Alfred Drake, Shirley Jones, Yul Brynner and Gordon MacRae, the widows of the two songwriters and composers Martin Charnin (“Annie”) and Andrew Lloyd Webber (“Evita” and “Cats”).

The musical celebration also includes numerous movie clips, stills and TV performances with Martin, Ezio Pinza and John Raitt. (It will be repeated Saturday at 5:20 p.m. on Channel 28.)

Following at 10 p.m. on Channel 28 is music with a humorous twist, “The L.P. Show With Victor Borge,” an hour with the Danish pianist-comic and some surprise guests.

It promises to be . . . some enchanting evening.