SynopsisFor More Information
OKLAHOMA! on DVD: 1955 motion picture; Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones: Fox Home Entertainment Order OKLAHOMA! on Amazon.com
OKLAHOMA! on DVD: 1998 film of the Royal National Theatre of Great Britan production: Hugh Jackman, Josefina Gabriele; Image Entertainment Order OKLAHOMA! on Amazon.com
Show History
OKLAHOMA! Background
OKLAHOMA! launched a new era in the American musical. It also began the most successful songwriting partnership in Broadway history.
Two landmark musicals of the century, OKLAHOMA! (1943) and SHOW BOAT (1927), were both written by Oscar Hammerstein II. They share an honor as well: both musicals more...
OKLAHOMA! Facts and Figures
The Original Production of OKLAHOMA! opened at the St. James Theatre, New York, on Wednesday March 31, 1943, in the middle of a raging snowstorm. more...
OKLAHOMA! Timeline
January 26, 1931—The Theatre Guild presents Lynn Riggs' play GREEN GROW THE LILACS on Broadway, where it runs for 64 performances...A more...
Recommended Bibliography
OKLAHOMA!
Block, Geoffrey. The Richard Rodgers Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture),Robert Russell Bennett, Jay Blackton, Adolph Deutsch
Sound Recording, Todd-AO Sound Department, Fred Hynes, Sound Director
2002 Tony Awards
1 Award for Best Actor (Featured Role—Musical), Shuler Hensley
7 Nominations including Best Revival (Musical), Best Actor (Musical)
Special Tony Award for the OKLAHOMA! 50th Anniversary
1999 Laurence Olivier Awards (London)
4 Awards including Best Musical Production
1900 New York Drama League
"Best Musical of the Century"
1999 Emmy Awards
International Emmy Award
1998 London Evening Standard Awards
Best Musical, London Evening Standard Award
Articles & Interviews
10/1/2005 Volume 13, Issue 1, Fall A GUIDE TO THE DVD SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION - OKLAHOMA! The first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical was also their first stage vehicle transferred to the big screen. more...
5/1/2007 Volume 14, Issue 1, Spring BRINGING OKLAHOMA! INTO OKLAHOMA CLASSROOMS As part of its State's 2007 Centennial Celebrations, the Lyric Theater of Oklahoma has developed a dynamic and entertaining school program called Oklahoma! Interactive. more...
5/1/2007 Volume 14, Issue 1, Spring HOMECOMING QUEEN: Kelli O'Hara Returns Home to Oklahoma to Star in Summer 2007 Centennial Production Two time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara (The Light In The Piazza, THE PAJAMA GAME) will return to her home state of Oklahoma this summer to star as Laurey in the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma's production of the classic R&H musical. more...
10/1/1998 Volume 6, Issue 1, Fall LONDON WELCOMES A PERFECT OKLAHOMA! napshots of London, Summer 1998: Tourists flock to Buckingham Palace and Harrod's, the Millennial Dome begins to rise in nearby Greenwich, and at the austere Royal National Theatre on the South Bank, the corn is as high as a elephant's eye. more...
7/1/2002 Volume 9, Issue 3, Summer "OUR GREATEST MUSICAL"" RETURNS TO BROADWAY" Eight times a week, thousands of theatergoers stream out of the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, having just spent a couple of hours amidst the cornfields and blue skies of turn-of-the-century Oklahoma. more...
1/1/2004 Volume 11, Issue 2, Winter SPELLBINDING OKLAHOMA! COMES TO THE HOME SCREEN Five years after it took London by storm, Trevor Nunn’s original award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s OKLAHOMA! made its American small screen debut in November more...
10/1/1993 Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall STAMP OF APPROVAL ast March, the United States Postal Service made history when it issued the first U.S. postage stamp commemorating a Broadway musical. more...
5/1/2007 Volume 14, Issue 1, Spring YOU'RE DOIN' FINE OKLAHOMA! In a poll taken by Zogby International in February, Americans con-firmed that when they think of the State of Oklahoma, they first recall the classic R&H musical that shares the state's name and spirit. more...
Articles & Interviews
Critic Quotes"Still the Great American Musical!"
New York Times, 2002
"If ever a show earned its exclamation point, it's this one!"
Wall Street Journal, 2002
"A masterpiece...Rodgers and Hammerstein are truly up there with Eugene O'Neill as the great American theatre creators."
New York Post, 1999
"There's nothing corny about this wonderful, fresh show. It's not just a classic American musical but—and this is the real surprise—a truthful, touching and gripping drama about growing up and falling in love, about dreams and nightmares."
London Daily Mail, 1998
"Forget baseball, hot dogs and apple pie. Nothing is more American than OKLAHOMA!...One of the landmarks of 20th century theater, it remains a defining event of American culture."
Houston Chronicle, 2004
"Calling Rodgers and Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA! a classic American musical is an understatement. Like Grant Wood's 'American Gothic' and Mark Twain's novels, or George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' and Chuck Berry's rock 'n' roll, OKLAHOMA! is firmly embedded in the canon of America's greatest cultural creations."
Wichita Eagle, 2003
Facts & Figures
April 29, 1919 Celest Holm is born in New York City. The original Ado Annie in OKLAHOMA!, she also stars in THE KING AND I on Broadway (replacing Gertrude Lawrence for two weeks in 1952) and plays the Fairy Godmother in the 1965 television remake of CINDERELLA.
July 15, 1922 Joan Roberts, the original Laurey in OKLAHOMA! (1943), is born in New York City.
April 14, 1925 Rod Steiger is born in Westhampton, New York. Plays Jud Fry in the movie version of OKLAHOMA! (1955).
January 26, 1931 Lynn Riggs' folk-play GREEN GROW THE LILACS, the inspiration for OKLAHOMA!, opens at the Guild Theatre, New York, where it runs for 64 performances.
July 23, 1942 In the first public announcement of a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, The New York Times reports: "The Theatre Guild announced yesterday that Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II will soon begin work on a musical version of Lynn Riggs' folk-play GREEN GROW THE LILACS."
October 15, 1943 The National Tour of Oklahoma! opens at the Shubert Theatre, New Haven.
December 2, 1943 Decca releases the original cast album of OKLAHOMA! the first comprehensive original Broadway cast album.
May 2, 1944 OKLAHOMA! is awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
February 26, 1945 USO Camp Shows Inc., under the direction of Reginald and Ted Hammerstein (respectively, brother and cousin to lyricist Oscar), launches a nine-month tour of OKLAHOMA! for members of the US Armed Forces stationed in the Pacific theater.
July 1, 1946 OKLAHOMA! surpasses Hellzpoppin's run of 1,404 performances to become the longest running show in Broadway history, a record it holds until MY FAIR LADY surpasses it fifteen years later.
November 25, 1946 The first performance of OKLAHOMA! in the state of Oklahoma is presented at the Municipal Auditorium in Oklahoma City. Governor Robert S. Kerr presides over several days of state-wide celebrations, joined by Rodgers, Hammerstein, their wives, and members of the musical's creative team. Rodgers & Hammerstein are made honorary members of the Kiowa Indian tribe.
April 29, 1947 OkLAHOMA! opens at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, with Harold (later Howard) Keel as Curly.
December 2, 1947 OKLAHOMA! gives its 2,000th performance on Broadway, Composer Richard Rodgers is on hand to conduct the second act.
May 29, 1948 OKLAHOMA! closes on Broadway after a marathon five-year run of 2,212 performances.
May 31, 1948 The Broadway company of OKLAHOMA! opens at the Boston Opera House at the start of its year-long 67-city national tour.
October 21, 1950 OKLAHOMA! closes at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, after 1,548 performances, making it then the longest-running show in the 287-year history of the Drury Lane.
December 23, 1950 The national tour of OKLAHOMA! in its seventh year, opens in Cheyenne, Wyoming - thereby achieving the feat of having perfofmed in every state in the union.
September 12, 1951 The national tour of OKLAHOMA! goes international with a two-week engagement at the Berlin International Theater Festival's Titania Palast.
May 6, 1953 The Oklahoma State Senate ratifies House Bill #1094 declaring "Oklahoma" to be "the official song and anthem of the state of Oklahoma."
August 31, 1953 The national tour of OKLAHOMA! begins a week of performances at the New York City Center, joining SOUTH PACIFIC, THE KING AND I, and JULIET already running on Broadway, and prompting New York City Mayor Vincent R. Impelliteri to proclaim "Rodgers & Hammerstein Week."
May 1, 1954 After ten-and-a-half years on the road, the national tour of OKLAHOMA! gives its final performance at the Shubert Theatre in Philadephia, thereby bringing to a close the longest Broadway road tour in U.S. theatrical history. In its decade-plus run, the tour visits every state in the union and plays before a combined audience of ten million.
July 14, 1954 Location shooting for the movie version of OKLAHOMA! begins in Nogales, Arizona.
June 20, 1955 OKLAHOMA! is presented at Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris as party of the American National Theatre Academy ""Salute to France"" festival, with a cast headed by Jack Cassidy as Curly and Shirley Jones as Laurey.
July 9, 1955 Following its appearance in Paris, the ANTA-sponsored tour of OKLAHOMA! is presented at the Teatro Quattro Fontanne in Rome, followed by engagements in Milan, Naples and Venice.
October 11, 1955 The movie version of OKLAHOMA! is released, presented by Rodgers & Hammerstein, directed by Fred Zinneman, and starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Gloria Grahame, and Rod Steiger.
March 31, 1957 OKLAHOMA! opens at the St. James Theatre, New York.
September 2, 1967 OKLAHOMA! opens at the Takarazuka Theatre, Tokyo, with an all-female cast.
March 26, 1968 At Philharmonic (now Avery Fisher) Hall in New York, Skitch Henderson and Richard Rodgers conduct the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and an all-star cast in the silver aniversery concert of OKLAHOMA!
February 19, 1976 At the 18th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, the original 1943 Broadway cast album of OKLAHOMA! Is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
December 13, 1979 With Governor George Nigh of Oklahoma among the dignitaries in attendance, a revival of OKLAHOMA! directed by Hammerstein's son, William, opens at Broadway's Palace Theatre. Preceded by a six-month tour, it plays on Broadway for 293 performances before going out on another national tour.
1 CLARINET I-II (Clarinet I doubles Bass Clarinet)
1 BASSOON
1 HORN I-II
1 TRUMPET I-II
1 TROMBONE
1 PERCUSSION
2 VIOLIN A-B (Divisi)
1 VIOLA (Divisi)
1 CELLO
1 BASS
1 GUITAR (Doubling Banjo)
1 HARP
Two Piano Arrangement (2 Act I, 2 Act II)
2 TWO PIANO ARRANGMENT - Act I
2 TWO PIANO ARRANGMENT - Act II
Libretto/Vocal Books 10 pack
10 Libretto-Vocal Books
Rehearsal Set Bandstration (22 Books, 1 Logo CD)
20 Libretto-Vocal Books
2 Piano Conductor Score, Bandstration
Bandstration Books (21 Books)
1 Piano Conductor Score, Bandstration
1 FLUTE I-II (Both Doubling Piccolo with Opt Flute III)
1 OBOE
1 CLARINET I
1 CLARINET II
1 CLARINET III
1 ALTO CLARINET
1 BASS CLARINET
1 BASSOON
1 ALTO SAX I-II
1 TENOR SAX
1 BARITONE SAX
1 TRUMPET I
1 TRUMPET II-III
1 HORN I-II
1 TROMBONE I-II
1 TROMBONE III
1 BARITONE HORN
1 TUBA (Optional Divisi for two players)
2 PERCUSSION
Production Notes
Writer's Notes1975, Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages
Our first meeting on the project that eventually became known as OKLAHOMA! took place at my home in Connecticut. We sat under the huge oak tree and tossed ideas around. What kind of songs were we going to write? Where would they go? Who would sing them? What special texture and mood should the show have?
We had many such sessions until we became thoroughly familiar not only with every aspect of the play but with each other's outlook and approach as well. Fortunately we were in agreement on all major issues, so that when we finally did begin putting words and notes on paper—which didn't occur until we'd gone through weeks of discussions—we each were able to move ahead at a steady pace.
The first problem was, appropriately, how to open the show. We didn't want to begin with anything obvious, such as a barn dance with everyone a-whoopin and a-hollerin'. After much thought and talk we simply went to the way Lynn Riggs had opened his play, with a woman seated alone on the stage churning butter. For the lyric of the first song, Oscar developed his theme from the description that Riggs had written as an introduction to the scene:
It is a radiant summer morning several years ago, the kind of morning which, enveloping the shape of earth—men, cattle in a meadow, blades of young corn, streams—makes them seem to exist now for the first time, their images giving off a visible golden emanation that is partly true and partly a trick of imagination focusing to keep alive a loveliness that may pass away...
This was all Oscar's poetic imagination needed to produce his lines about cattle standing like statues, the corn as high as an elephant's eye, and the bright golden haze on the meadow. When I read them for the first time I could see those cattle and that corn and bright golden haze vividly. How prophetic were Oscar's words I've got a beautiful feelin'/Everything's goin' my way.
By opening the show with the woman alone onstage and the cowboy beginning his song offstage, we did more than set a mood; we were, in fact, warning the audience, 'Watch out! This is a different kind of musical.'
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License this show
1. Overture (Curly)
3. Laurey's Entrance (Curly)
