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During the dress rehearsals for "Carousel", which is based on Molnar's "Liliom", he entered the theater to watch. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were terrified that Molnar would be very disapproving of any changes they had made in the play, and especially of their new final scene. Instead, Molnár was ecstatic about the show and declared that he liked the new ending best of all.When composer Giacomo Puccini asked for Molnár's permission to turn his 1909 play "Liliom" into an opera, he refused, fearing that it would be remembered more as a Puccini opera than a Molnár play. But after seeing Richard Rodgers ' and Oscar Hammerstein II 's hit musical "Oklahoma!", he gave his consent for them to turn "Liliom" into a musical, and he presumably did not mind the fact that "Liliom" is now better-known as Rodgers' and Hammerstein's "Carousel", at least in the USA.World-famous Hungarian playwright, somewhat more popular during the first half of the 20th century than now, though with the recent videocassette and DVD release of the 1934 film version of "Liliom" he seems to be (as of 2004-2005) enjoying a resurgence. His most popular play, "Liliom", was popular both in Europe and the U.S. until 1945, when it was supplanted in the States by Richard Rodgers ' and Oscar Hammerstein II 's hit musical version, "Carousel", which has long since become a classic of the American musical stage. Over the past year, however, Molnar's original "Liliom" has been revived again in the U.S.Given name pronounced "FER-entz." (stress always falls on the first syllable in Hungarian)Lived the last years of his life in America as a refugee from the Nazis.