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In 1942 Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart were at the top of their field, writing musical comedies universally praised for their wit, sophistication and innovation. A decade earlier Oscar Hammerstein II had been at the top of his field, writing operettas that consistently challenged and reshaped the artform; his SHOW BOAT, written with Jerome Kern in 1927, is considered a landmark of the American stage. Independent of each other, both Rodgers and Hammerstein were attracted to Lynn Riggs' folk play of life in his native Oklahoma entitled GREEN GROW THE LILACS. When Jerome Kern declined Hammerstein's invitation to write the musical adaptation with him, and when Hart bowed out of his commitment to musicalize the work with Rodgers, it was only inevitable that the ensuing musical play would become the first work by the team of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, choreographed by a then unknown ballet choreographer named Agnes de Mille, Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical version of LILACS, entitled AWAY WE GO, was given its world premiere engagement at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut in March of 1943. Only a few changes were made on the road, but they were significant. One number, "Boys and Girls Like You and Me," was cut, and a number about the land originally planned as a duet for Laurey and Curly became instead a showstopping chorale called "Oklahoma." So successful was this number during the musical's pre-Broadway engagement in Boston that the decision was made to add an exclamation point to the title, and make it the name of the show. OKLAHOMA! opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway on March 31, 1943. At that time, the longest running show in Broadway history had run for three years. OKLAHOMA! surpassed that record by two more years, running for a marathon 2,212 performances. The national tour cris-crossed the United States of America for an unprecedented 10 and a half years, visiting every single state, and playing before a combined audience of more than 10 million people. In 1947 OKLAHOMA! opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, where it ran for 1,548 performances, the longest run of any show up to that time in the 267-year history of the theatre. In 1953 the Oklahoma State Legislature named "Oklahoma" the official state song. In 1955 the motion picture version of OKLAHOMA!, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones and produced by Rodgers & Hammerstein, was released to great success. Major revivals were seen on Broadway, in London's West End and across Australia in the early '80s. To date, more than 600 productions of OKLAHOMA! are licensed every year in the U.S.A. and Canada alone; in the 50th Anniversary season of 1993 a record 900 productions were performed. Also in its 50th Anniversary year, OKLAHOMA! became the first Broadway musical honored with a commemorative U.S. postage stamp (issued in New York and Oklahoma on the anniversary of the musical's Broadway premiere), and was the recipient of a special Tony Award. Worldwide, OKLAHOMA! has been translated into over a dozen languages, including French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Hebrew, Icelandic, Norwegian, Hungarian, Dutch and Polish. English language productions have been seen in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa. Review from Rodgers & Hammerstein web site: www.rnh.com | Photos of 'Oklahoma!' | History of 'Oklahoma!' | Drama Director | Musical Director | Choreographer | Rehearsal/Show Pianist | Co-Producers | Musical Numbers | Setting | Awards | | OKLAHOMA! | 'FIDDLER ON THE ROOF' | Crazy for You | The Music Man | | Past Productions | Anything Goes | Thoroughly Modern Millie | | Return Home | Genuardi's Gives Back | About WMP | Scholarship Fund | Contact Us | Mailing List | |
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