THEATRICAL THROWBACK THURSDAY: Vivid Vintage Video Of 1969 OKLAHOMA! Lincoln Center Revival

This week we celebrate a musical theatre classic with an astonishing recently surfaced vintage performance clip!

Kansas City

Regarded by many Broadway babies and entertainment enthusiasts as one of the most important musicals in theatre history, and rightly so, Rodgers & Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA! is virtually peerless insofar as its incalculable influence on all musicals that have come since. Originally titled AWAY WE GO!, the musical based on the popular 1931 novel GREEN GROW THE LILACS by Lynn Riggs took a cue from SHOW BOAT and the previous Rodgers musicals BABES IN ARMS, THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE and PAL JOEY in bringing the art form to an entirely new level. Indeed, OKLAHOMA! was the first fully-formed musical in the Golden Age tradition as we now know it, complete with the perfect cohesion of music, lyrics, dance, dialogue and drama, expertly directed by a formidable director and daring choreographer - Rouben Mamoulian and Agnes De Mille, no less, in this instance. To say that the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical which ran for over 2000 performances on Broadway following its 1943 debut was merely revolutionary and game-changing is severely undercutting its massive impact. It reinvented - or, really, invented - the art form as it stands.

Many revivals of OKLAHOMA! have graced Broadway and far beyond in the intervening years since its debut on the Great White Way, becoming a staple of schools and community theaters while also a familiar favorite on tour. Nevertheless, in the 1960s a special production of the show arrived at the recently built and ever-evolving Lincoln Center with a cast that included the original Wicked Witch Of The West from iconic 1939 feature film THE WIZARD OF OZ, Margaret Hamilton, along with Bruce Yarnell and a talented ensemble of actors including then-upcoming fresh face Lee Roy Reams.

Today, it is with the utmost pleasure that I bring to your attention a recently surfaced clip of the 1960s revival cast of OKLAHOMA! performing one of the score's standout selections, "Kansas City", not onstage but on the actual front steps of Lincoln Center itself - fountain included - with Hamilton, Yarnell and Reams all visible in the arresting and enchanting performance capture. Revisit one of America's most remarkable artistic achievements with this spectacular clip set on the grounds of one of our most respected and well-regarded institutions with a cast sure to beat the band below.

So, what is your absolute favorite aspect of the incomparably iconic OKLAHOMA!? Furthermore, what is your choice for best performance clip pertaining to the popular property? With its most recent mainstage revival being nearly 15 years ago, it seems very likely that Broadway will warm to the charms of one of the best musicals ever written some season very soon. Until then, we have great clips such as this to enjoy - and review, again and again.