BWW Retrospective: Celebrating 75 Years of Rodgers and Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA!

Celebrating 75 years on the stage! Rodgers & Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA! opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on March 31st, 1943, forever changing what we thought musical theatre could be.

One of the most beloved and innovative Broadway musicals of all-time, OKLAHOMA! is set in a Western Indian territory just after the turn of the century. The high-spirited rivalry between the local farmers and cowboys provides the colorful background against which Curly, a handsome cowboy, and Laurey, a winsome farm girl, play out their love story.

Although the road to true love never runs smooth, with these two headstrong romantics holding the reins, love's journey is as bumpy as a surrey ride down a country road. That they will succeed in making a new life together, we have no doubt, and that this new life will begin in a brand-new state provides the ultimate climax to the triumphant OKLAHOMA!

Based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs, composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II joined a cast of relative unknown performers in 1943 on a production that would hit the Great White Way. The show would run 2,212 performances, win a Special Tony Award and a Special Pulitzer Prize, lead to the blockbuster 1955 film starring Shirley Jones, and be produced all over the world.

Let's take a walk down memory lane with this game-changing Broadway classic!

The original Broadway Production opened on March 31, 1943 and ran through May 29, 1948 at Broadway's St. James Theater.

The show ran for over five years, a record which would stand until My Fair Lady bested it in 1956. Oklahoma! premiered before the advent of awards in theatrical achievement, so the original production of the show received no awards recognition.

In 1947, Oklahoma! premiered on London's West End at Royal Theatre Drury Lane.

In 1951, the show received a Broadway revival which ran from May 29- July 28, 1951 at the Broadway Theater. See archived photos from the production below!

Ridge Bond (Curly) and Patricia Northrup (Laurey)

Jerry Mann (Ali Hakim), Jacqueline Sundt (Ado Annie) and Dave Mallen (Andrew Carnes)

Walter Donahue (Will Parker) and Jerry Mann (Ali Hakim)

Claire Pasch (Dream Laurey)

Ridge Bond (Curly

Ridge Bond (Curly) and Patricia Northrup (Laurey)

Ridge Bond (Curly) and Patricia Northrup (Laurey)

Mary Marlo (Aunt Eller)

Jerry Mann (Ali Hakim)

Roy Milton (Dream Curly)

Images courtesy of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

In 1953, the show received its second Broadway revival, running from August 31st, 1953- October 3, 1953 at City Center, New York. The cast included Florence Henderson as Laurey, Ridge Bond as Curly and Barbara Cook as Ado Annie.

Also in 1953, George Nigh, a newly elected state legislator, began a movement to adopt the show's titular anthem as the state song of Oklahoma...and succeeded! Governor Nigh recalls how it happened at the state capitol below:

In 1955, the show headed to the big screen in a Hollywood motion picture starring Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae.

In 1979, the show received it's fourth Broadway revival, in a production starring Christine Andreas, Laurence Guittard, Mary Wickes, and Christine Ebersole. The production played 293 performances at Broadway's Palace Theatre.

In 1980. the musical received it's first West End revival at the Haymarket Theatre. John Diedrech starred as Curly with Alfred Molina appearing as Jud Fry. Both actors received Olivier Award nominations for their performances.

In 1998, the show appeared once more on the West End, in a popular production directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Susan Stroman, starring Hugh Jackman as Curly and Schuler Hensley as Jud Fry. The production received numerous Olivier Award nominations, winning for Outstanding Musical Production, Supporting Actor, Set Design and Choreography (Stroman).

In 2002, the show received its most recent Broadway revival, in a production starring Patrick Wilson, Andrea Martin, and Schuler Hensley. It was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (awarded to Hensley).