You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

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You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/1/08 at 12:03am

65 years ago tonight...right around this time (11:30 pm) audiences were emerging from the St. James Theatre from the opening night performance of Broadway's first blockbuster musical. Not just a hit, but also a worldwide phenomenon. Until then no musical had ever lasted over 2,000 performances. No musical had yet spun off a best-selling original cast album. And no musical had achieved the kind of nation-wide popularity that OKLAHOMA! achieved.

Tonight as we re-listen to Decca's historic cast album we travel back to a night when it was all fresh and new.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/1/08 at 12:09am

ok.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I? I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/1/08 at 12:49am

Well I guess I will be nicer and say thank you for the info! It really is such a great show. Awesome music and simple, yet very lovely story. It really is such a groundbreaking show. Happy Birthday!

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/1/08 at 12:53am

Yay Oklahoma! How wonderful to think of that historic night. Thank you for the lovely post, frontrowcentre2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY OKLAHOMA! Thank you for truly revolutionizing the American Musical Theatre.

[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/2/08 at 12:55pm

I saw my first production of this show when I was 23 (eight years ago). It was an exciting show to me then (still is), and the dream ballet--the concept of which I had not yet seen done--awed me. I now understand why it was so awesome for audiences when it was done for the first time--it had the same effect on me.
Broadway Mouth: From the Mouth of Mary Martin: On the Writing and Selecting of Roles

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/2/08 at 2:12pm

Yay for Oklahoma! The first musical I ever watched, well I can't remember if it was The Music Man or Oklahoma! but whatever...it will always be one of my faves.

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 3:22am

And I find the show just as fresh and wonderful today as it must of been 65 years ago. Now THAT is brilliant writing.

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 8:42am

All right... I've never really been to fond of it to be honest. It doesn't seem like one of those shows that's still relevant, but I respect the fact that it is a classic and lots of people still do enjoy it...just not me.

"I think of avant-garde as downtown shows where you rub waffles and chocolate on yourself."- Hunter Bell

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 8:56am

I've never liked it at all. Yeah yeah, of undeniable historic importance, like BIRTH OF A NATION, but if you've seen it once there's no need to ever sit through it again, which I certainly never will.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

#10

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 9:20am

Being a fan of Rodgers and Hammerstein and having only seen their musicals in movies, I decided to see a London revival of one of them on an unexpected business trip in London in early 1999. So, I can honestly say that my first live R&H show onstage was their first hit, OKLAHOMA! That was a lucky chance as this was the much acclaimed Trevor Nunn revival for the Royal National Theatre! And what a lucky break as well that Trevor had the foresight to film this production - as it is one of those musicals that I never tire of watching

You're certainly doing fine, OKLAHOMA! - even at 65!!

#11

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 10:05am

Funny, it was exactly that Trevor Nunn production that made me vow never to sit through OKLAHOMA again, when I sat through it at the Gershwin. Totally misconceived production, where Laurey had a bizarro fatal attraction with Jud. They expected me to believe that anyone would choose Shuler Hensley over Patrick Wilson.

#12

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 2:52pm

Well the story makes a lot more sense if Laurey is conflicted, attracted by yet also repulsed by Jud's rough-hewed nature.

For me, the major weakness of the 2002 revival was Susan Stroman's kitschy choreography, which was frequently wrong for the characters save for Justin Bohon's amazing "Kansas City" routine.

Today the seams in OKLAHOMA! show a bit, but when you read the scripts for most of the hits that preceded OKLAHOMA! (1900-1943) It was leaps and bounds ahead of all the others. And THAT is why it was such a huge hit at the time, and remains an important show.

#13

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 3:02pm

Okay, go ahead and fire, but for the life of me I have never succumbed to the charms of Oklahoma. I first saw it in summer stock in 1954, the movie and the 2002 revival. Yes, it has a nice score. But who the hell cares who takes Laurey to the picnic? And that interminable Laurey's Dream at the end of an already long first act. I can enjoy R&H with the best of them, am looking forward to SP, love Carousel, and am one of the few who enjoys the score of Pipe Dream (well, some of it). I don't HATE the show, but what gives? I'm sure part of its initial popularity stemmed from its opening during the throes of WWII, when its basic optimism was a relief for the gloom of the '40s. But I don't care if I never see it again. I'm in the minority on this one, I guess.

BroadwayEd

#14

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 3:07pm

I love this show so much. And if that makes me a loser, then I willingly accept that.

A work of art is an invitation to love.

#15

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 3:12pm

When I was a little boy, I somehow got a copy of the Soundtrack. And I loved it so much. A very important show for me. Unfortunatly, my mother told me the movie had scary parts and scared me away from it for years.

PLEASE! Do not post anything negative or dramatic! DidYouReallyHearMe has LOST the ability to ignore such posts and he will comment! Please, help him.

With Clay Aiken in Spamalot, all of Broadway is singing a collective "There! Right! There!" -Me-

"Not Barker, Todd is the only person I've ever known who could imitate Katherine Hepburn...in print." -nmartin-

#16

re: You're doin' fine OKLAHOMA! - Even at 65

Posted: 4/3/08 at 3:26pm

EVERYBODY had a copy of the movie soundtrack back then. In fact it was one of the very first albums to be certified Gold by the RIAA when they started making these certifications in 1958. Decca later applied for certification for their original Broadway cast album as well.

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