Oklahoma! is the first musical play written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. A special Pulitzer Prize award was given to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for Oklahoma! in the category of "Special Awards And Citations - Letters" in 1944.
The original Broadway production opened on March 31, 1943. It was a box-office smash and ran for a then unprecedented 2,212 performances, later enjoying award-winning revivals, national tours and an Academy Award-winning 1955 film adaptation. Originally entitled Away We Go, the musical is based on Lynn Riggs's 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it 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 tension generated by this conflict. (Read more...)