Oklahoma!

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Musical dates
Title: Oklahoma!
Original language: English
Music: Richard Rodgers
Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Premiere: 1943
Place of premiere: St James Theater
in New York
Roles / people
  • Curly McLain
  • Laurey Williams
  • Aunt Ela
  • Will Parker
  • Ado Annie
  • Ali Hakim
  • Jud Fry

Oklahoma! is a musical written by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein (text). The play premiered in 1943 at the St. James Theater on New York's Broadway . The story is based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs . Oklahoma! marks a milestone in the history of the musical, as it was one of the first to use the songs and dance numbers not as interludes, but to continue the plot. Hammerstein wanted to create a kind of American folk opera with the piece (see Musical Play ).

action

The play is about the rivalry between farmers and ranchers in Oklahoma and a love story in which the protagonists Laurey and Curly are actually already a couple, but quarrel because of their stubbornness. Out of defiance, Laurey promises outsider Jud Fry to accompany him to a dance party, without realizing that he is unhappily in love with her and ready to use any means to keep Curly away from her. When a kind of duel between Curly and Jud looms, the awkward Jew falls into his own knife. - Ado Annie, who “can't say no”, and the shrewd second-hand dealer Ali Hakim appear as a strange couple.

Music numbers

I. act

  • Overture orchestra
  • Oh What a Beautiful Mornin ' - Curly
  • Laurey's Entrance - Laurey & Curly
  • The Surrey with the Fringe on Top - Curly, Laurey and Aunt Ela
  • Kansas City - Will, Aunt Ela, entire male cast
  • I Cain't Say No - Ado Annie
  • Entrance of Ensemble (Reprise) - Will, Ado Annie, Curly, Tante Ela, Ensemble
  • Many a New Day - Laurey and the entire female ensemble
  • It's a scandal! It's an outrage! - Ali Hakim and Ensemble
  • People Will Say We're in Love - Curly and Laurey
  • Pore ​​Jud is Daid - Curly and Jud Fry
  • Lonely Room - Jud
  • Out of My Dreams / Dream Ballet - Laurey and dream characters

II. Act

  • Entr'acte - orchestra
  • The Farmer and the Cowman - Andrew Carnes, Aunt Ela, Curly, Gertie Cummins, Will Parker, Ado Annie Carnes, Laurey, Ike Skidmore, Cord Elam and Ensemble
  • All Er Nuthin ' - Will and Ado Annie
  • People Will Say We're in Love (Reprise) - Curly and Laurey
  • Oklahoma - Curly, Laurey, Aunt Ela and Ensemble
  • Finale Ultimo (Oh What a Beautiful Mornin ' and People Will Say We're in Love) - entire ensemble

Performances and Achievements

Oklahoma performances in Berlin 1951

Oklahoma! was rehearsed a total of five times on Broadway. The first series from 1943 to 1948 with a total of 2122 performances was a record for Broadway at the time.

The musical was first seen in Germany in the English-language original production of the Theater Guild from New York in twelve performances from September 12 to 22, 1951 as a guest performance on the occasion of the Berlin Festival in the Berlin Titania Palast and in the Corso Theater (choreography of the dances: Agnes de Mille ).

The German-language premiere was on August 24, 1973 in Münster .

The musical was named Oklahoma! In 1955 by director Fred Zinnemann . filmed.

1998/1999 became Oklahoma! staged in a new production at the London Royal National Theater. Here the roles were cast for the first time with actors who danced in the ballet scene (dream scene) themselves. It played u. a. Hugh Jackman as Curly McLain, Josefina Gabrielle as Laurey Williams, Shuler Hensley as Jud Fry, Jimmy Johnston as Will Parker, Maureen Lipman as Aunt Eller, Peter Polycarpou as Ali Hakim and Vicki Simon as Ado Annie. This staging was the basis for another film version with the aforementioned cast. The London production was later performed with a different cast on Broadway, but could not build on the London success there.

The musical received the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 , a Grammy Award in 1976 and a Tony Award in 2002 .

The theme song Oklahoma! has been the official anthem of the US state Oklahoma since 1953 .

literature

  • Timothy Carter: Oklahoma! The Making of an American Musical, Revised and Expanded Edition. Oxford University Press, New York 2020, ISBN 978-0-19-066521-0 .
  • Max Wilk: OK !: The story of Oklahoma! Grove Press, New York 1993, ISBN 0-8021-1432-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Official program of the Berliner Festwochen 1951 , p. 11.
  2. Joachim Sonderhoff , Peter Weck : Musical - history, productions, successes. Westermann Verlag, Braunschweig 1986, ISBN 3-07-508818-8 .