Oklahoma.21 Rodgers and Hammerstein

independently of each other, rodgers , hammerstein had been attracted making musical based on lynn riggs stage play green grow lilacs. when jerome kern declined hammerstein s offer work on such project , hart refused rodgers offer same, rodgers , hammerstein began first collaboration. result, oklahoma! (1943), marked revolution in musical drama. although not first musical tell story of emotional depth , psychological complexity, oklahoma! introduced number of new storytelling elements , techniques. these included use of song , dance convey , advance both plot , character rather act diversion story , firm integration of every song plot-line.

oklahoma! called away go! , opened @ shubert theatre in new haven in march 1943. few changes made before opened on broadway, 3 prove significant: addition of show-stopping number, oklahoma! ; deletion of musical number boys , girls , me , after replaced reprise of people re in love ; , decision re-title musical after song.

the original broadway production opened on march 31, 1943, @ st. james theatre. although typical musical of time written around talents of specific performer, such ethel merman or fred astaire, no stars used in production. original cast included alfred drake (curly), joan roberts (laurey), celeste holm (ado annie), howard da silva (jud fry), betty garde (aunt eller), lee dixon (will parker) , joseph bulloff (ali hakim). marc platt danced role of dream curly , , katharine sergava danced part of dream laurey . in oklahoma!, story , songs considered more important sheer star power. nevertheless, production ran then-unprecedented 2,212 performances, closing on may 29, 1948. many enduring musical standards come show, among them oh, beautiful mornin , surrey fringe on top , cain t no , aforementioned people re in love , , oklahoma! .

in 1955 made academy award-winning musical film, first feature shot todd-ao 70 mm widescreen process. film starred gordon macrae , shirley jones, , soundtrack #1 on 1956 album charts.

after initial success oklahoma!, pair took break working , hammerstein concentrated on musical carmen jones, broadway version of bizet s carmen characters changed african americans in contemporary south, wrote book , lyrics. musical adapted screen in 1954, , scored best actress oscar nomination leading lady dorothy dandridge.