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Oklahoma!: Encyclopedia BETAFree Encyclopedia |
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StoryOklahoma!, which is based on Lynn Riggs's 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs, is set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, and tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance with farmer girl Laurey Williams. Their love is challenged by Laurey's threatening farmhand, Jud Fry, and much of the play follows the contest between Curly and Jud for Laurey's affections. A comic subplot follows Laurey's friend, Ado Annie Carnes and her on-again/off-again relationship with cowboy Will Parker.Stage playThe original production of Oklahoma! opened on March 31, 1943 at the St. James Theatre in New York, was directed by Rouben Mamoulian, and starred Betty Garde, Alfred Drake, Joan Roberts, Celeste Holm, Joan McCracken, and Howard Da Silva. The production was choreographed by Agnes de Mille, who provided one of the show's most notable and enduring features: a 15-minute first-act ballet finale (often referred to as a dream ballet) arising from Laurey's inability to make up her mind between Jud and Curly. The original production ran for a then unprecedented 2,212 performances and was closed on May 29, 1948.There have been many revivals of Oklahoma! since, including national tours.MovieThe play was adapted into an Academy Awardâ€"winning musical film in 1955, starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones (in her film debut), Rod Steiger, Gloria Grahame and Eddie Albert. This film was shot with two sets of cameras, in the new 70 mm widescreen process of Todd-AO and again in the more established Cinemascope 35 mm widescreen process for the majority of theatres lacking 70 mm equipment. Rodgers and Hammerstein personally oversaw the film themselves to prevent the studio from making the changes that were then typical of stage-to-film musical adaptations—such as putting in new songs by different composers. (They also maintained artistic control over the film versions of several of their other stage musicals).The film Oklahoma! followed the original stage version extremely closely, more so than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein stage-to-film adaptation. Robert Russell Bennett expanded his Broadway orchestrations, Jay Blackton conducted, and Agnes de Mille again choreographed. The film omitted very little from the stage production, and thus ran two-and-a-half hours, much longer than most other screen musicals of the time. The movie of Oklahoma! revived an early talkie trend which had not lasted long—filming stage musicals virtually complete, and showing them as road show attractions (two performances a day, usually with an intermission, like stage productions). Although the film versions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel and The King and I did not have intermissions and cut more from the stage originals than did the film version of Oklahoma!, they also ran over two hours, followed the stage originals quite closely and retained most of their songs. South Pacific (filmed in 1958), as well as most other stage-to-film musical adaptations that came after it, did have an intermission and was also quite long, as was The Sound of Music. The trend of "road show" stage-to-film musicals lasted into the early 1970's, the last of them being the film versions of Fiddler on the Roof and Man of La Mancha. DVD releasesFor unexplained reasons the original UK DVD release is a pan and scan version from a noticeably grainy Cinemascope print, even though the companion DVD of South Pacific was taken from a pristine Todd-AO master and presented in widescreen. The current US DVD release of Oklahoma! by partial rights holder 20th Century Fox is a double-disc release that includes both the Cinemascope and original 70 mm Todd-AO versions in widescreen. In March 2006 this version was also released in the UK as part of a set of remastered Rodgers & Hammerstein DVDs.Stage revivalA new production of the stage version was presented on Broadway in New York City in 2002 and was well received with special praise for its innovative and evocative stage sets.NoteMarc Platt danced the role of the original "Dream Curly" for the 1943 stage production of Oklahoma!, and he also appeared in the 1955 movie version of Oklahoma! in the role of a cowboy.Paul Newman screen tested for the role of Curly in the film but the role went to Gordon MacRae. Musical numbers* "Overture"* "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" - Curly * "The Surrey With the Fringe On Top" - Curly * "Kansas City" - Will, Aunt Eller, Male Ensemble * "I Cain't Say No" - Ado Annie * "Many a New Day" - Laurey and Female Ensemble * "It's a Scandal! It's a Outrage!" (omitted from the 1955 film) - Ali Hakim and Male Ensemble * "People Will Say We're In Love" - Curly and Laurey * "Pore Jud is Daid" Curly and Jud * "Lonely Room" (omitted from the 1955 film) - Jud * "Out of My Dreams" - Laurey * "Laurey Makes Up Her Mind" (Dream Ballet) - Ensemble * "The Farmer and the Cowman" - Carnes, Aunt Eller, Soloists, Ensemble * "People Will Say We're In Love (Reprise)" - Curly and Laurey * "All Er Nuthin'" - Will and Ado Annie * "Oklahoma!" - Curly, Soloists, Ensemble * "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin' (Reprise)" - Ensemble Cultural references* The songs "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "Oklahoma!" were spoofed in the animated film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.* In the Simpsons episode "Milhouse of Sand and Fog," Milhouse briefly imagines himself and Bart singing "The Farmer and the Cowman." External links* Official site for the 2002 Broadway production (Flash 5 plug-in required)* A short description of Oklahoma!
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