VIDEO: Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of OKLAHOMA! with Rodgers & Hammerstein's Retrospective on the Hit Musical

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. The Rodgers & Hammerstein agency has produced a retrospective, titled OKLAHOMA! - Through Time and History, on the OKLAHOMA!'s history-making first Broadway run, the path of the show's continued success, and how Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II serendipitously became one of the most prolific songwriting teams of musical theatre.

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.

Through Time and History, narrated by Lauren Maslon, reminds us how OKLAHOMA! combined story, music, and dancing like theatre had never seen before and to this day, "speaks in a universal language" to all who will listen.

Watch the full video!