Editing Oklahoma! (section)

==Background==
By the early 1940s, Rodgers and Hammerstein were each well known for creating [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] hits with other collaborators.  Rodgers, with [[Lorenz Hart]], had produced over two dozen musicals since the 1920s, including such popular successes as ''[[Babes in Arms]]'' (1937), ''[[The Boys from Syracuse]]'' (1938) and ''[[Pal Joey (musical)|Pal Joey]]'' (1940).<ref>Secrest, pp. 403–04</ref>  Among other successes, Hammerstein had written the words for ''[[Rose-Marie]]'' (1924), ''[[The Desert Song]]'' (1926), ''[[The New Moon]]'' (1927) and ''[[Show Boat]]'' (1927).  Though less productive in the 1930s, he wrote musicals, songs and films, sharing an [[Academy Award]] for his song with [[Jerome Kern]], "[[The Last Time I Saw Paris (song)|The Last Time I Saw Paris]]", which was included in the 1941 film ''[[Lady Be Good (1941 film)|Lady Be Good]]''.<ref>[http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C13 “Oscar Hammerstein II”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217193407/http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C13 |date=December 17, 2010 }}.  Songwriters Hall of Fame, accessed December 22, 2010</ref>  By the early 1940s, Hart had sunk into alcoholism and emotional turmoil, and he became unreliable, prompting Rodgers to approach Hammerstein to ask if he would consider working with him.<ref>Layne, Joslyn. [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p84807|pure_url=yes}} Lorenz Hart Biography], Allmusic, accessed December 22, 2010</ref>

===Conception===
In 1931, the [[Theatre Guild]] produced [[Lynn Riggs]]'s ''[[Green Grow the Lilacs (play)|Green Grow the Lilacs]]'', a play about settlers in [[Oklahoma]] [[Indian Territory]]. Though the play was not successful, ten years later in 1941, [[Theresa Helburn]], one of the Guild's producers, saw a [[Summer stock theatre|summer-stock]] production supplemented with traditional [[folk song]]s and [[square dance]]s and decided the play could be the basis of a musical that might revive the struggling Guild. She contacted [[Richard Rodgers]] and [[Lorenz Hart]], whose first successful [[Rodgers and Hart|collaboration]], ''[[The Garrick Gaieties]]'', had been produced by the Theatre Guild in 1925.  Rodgers wanted to work on the project and obtained the rights for himself and Hart.  Rodgers had asked [[Oscar Hammerstein II]] to collaborate with him and Hart. During the tryouts of Rodgers and Hart's ''[[By Jupiter]]'' in 1941, Hammerstein had assured Rodgers that if Hart was ever unable to work, he would be willing to take his place.<ref name=Nolan>Nolan, pp. 1–25.</ref>  Coincidentally in 1942, Hammerstein had thought of musicalizing ''Green Grow the Lilacs'', but when he had approached [[Jerome Kern]] about it, the latter declined.  Hammerstein learned that Rodgers was seeking someone to write the book, and he eagerly took the opportunity.  Hart lost interest in the musical; he preferred contemporary, urbane shows that would showcase his witty lyric writing, and he found the farmers and cowhands in ''Green Grow the Lilacs'' corny and uninspiring. Moreover, spiraling downward, consumed by his longstanding alcoholism, Hart no longer felt like writing.  He embarked on a vacation to Mexico, advising Rodgers that Hammerstein would be a good choice of a new collaborator.<ref name=Kantor>Kantor and Malson, pp. 196–202</ref><ref name=Heritage/>

This partnership allowed both Rodgers and Hammerstein to follow their preferred writing methods: Hammerstein preferred to write a complete lyric before it was set to music, and Rodgers preferred to set completed lyrics to music. In Rodgers' previous collaborations with Hart, Rodgers had always written the music first, since the unfocused Hart needed something on which to base his lyrics. Hammerstein's previous collaborators included composers [[Rudolf Friml]], [[Herbert Stothart]], [[Vincent Youmans]], and Kern, who all wrote music first, for which Hammerstein then wrote lyrics.  The role reversal in the Rodgers and Hammerstein partnership permitted Hammerstein to craft the lyrics into a fundamental part of the story so that the songs could amplify and intensify the story instead of diverting it.<ref name=Nolan/> As Rodgers and Hammerstein began developing the new musical, they agreed that their musical and dramatic choices would be dictated by the source material, ''Green Grow the Lilacs'', not by musical comedy conventions.<ref name=Kantor/>  Musicals of that era featured big production numbers, novelty acts, and show-stopping specialty dances; the libretti typically focused on humor, with little dramatic development, punctuated with songs that effectively halted the story for their duration.<ref name=Kenrick2>Kenrick, John. [http://www.musicals101.com/1940bway2.htm "History of the Musical Stage, 1940s Part II: Oklahoma, OK!"] Musicals101.com, accessed October 11, 2011</ref>

===Casting and development===
Between the world wars, roles in musicals were usually filled by actors who could sing, but Rodgers and Hammerstein chose, conversely, to cast singers who could act. Though [[Theresa Helburn]], codirector of the Theatre Guild, suggested [[Shirley Temple]] as Laurey and [[Groucho Marx]] as Ali Hakim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, with director [[Rouben Mamoulian|Rouben Mamoulian's]] support, insisted that performers more dramatically appropriate for the roles be cast.  As a result, there were no stars in the production, another unusual step.<ref name=Nolan/> The production was choreographed by [[Agnes de Mille]] (her first time choreographing a musical on Broadway), who provided one of the show's most notable and enduring features: a 15-minute first-act ballet finale (often referred to as the [[dream ballet]]) depicting Laurey's struggle to evaluate her suitors, Jud and Curly.<ref name=Kenrick2/>

The first title given to the work was ''Away We Go!'' which opened for out-of-town-tryouts in [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]]'s [[Shubert Theatre (New Haven)|Shubert Theatre]] on March 11, 1943.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.capa.com/newhaven/venues/shubert_history.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511195305/http://www.capa.com/newhaven/venues/shubert_history.php|url-status=dead|title=Try out history|archive-date=11 May 2008}}</ref>  Expectations for the show were low; Hammerstein had written six flops in a row, and the show had no star power.  Producer [[Mike Todd]] walked out after the first act during the tryout and wisecracked, "No girls, no gags, no chance."<ref>Mordden (1988), [https://books.google.com/books?id=WFyJdLgYlikC&pg=PA139 p. 139]</ref> But Rodgers and Hammerstein were confident.  The New Haven and [[Boston]] audiences were enthusiastic, although the reviews were only fair. Of the changes made before the show went to Broadway, two would prove significant: the dramatic restaging of the show-stopping [[Number (music)|musical number]], "[[Oklahoma (Rodgers and Hammerstein song)|Oklahoma]]" and the decision to retitle the musical after that number.<ref>[[Helene Hanff|Hanff, Helene]]. [http://thingsthatmadeanimpression.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/excerpt-from-underfoot-in-show-business-by-helene-hanff-away-we-go/ "Excerpt ... ''Away We Go''"], ''Underfoot in Show Business'', Harper and Row, 1962. {{ISBN|0-316-34319-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=Stanley |author-link1=Stanley Green (historian)|editor1-last=Root |editor1-first=Deane L. |title=Oklahoma!: Its Origin and Influence |journal=American Music |date=1984 |volume=2 |issue=4, Winter 1984 |page=92 |doi=10.2307/3051564 |jstor=3051564 |issn=0734-4392}}</ref>

Todd had been wrong; the show opened on Broadway to raves from the critics, sold out, and won a [[Pulitzer Prize Special Citations and Awards|special Pulitzer Prize]].<ref>[https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/richard-rodgers-and-oscar-hammerstein-ii "Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for ''Oklahoma!''"], Pulitzer.org, 1944, accessed November 16, 2019</ref> [[Brooks Atkinson]] wrote in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that the show's opening number, "[[Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin']]" changed the history of musical theater: "After a verse like that, sung to a buoyant melody, the banalities of the old musical stage became intolerable."<ref name=Heritage>[[John Steele Gordon|Gordon, John Steele]]. [https://www.americanheritage.com/oklahoma-0 "''Oklahoma!''"] ''American Heritage'', February/March 1993, accessed December 31, 2022</ref> The ''[[New York Post]]'' was the only major paper to give ''Oklahoma!'' a mixed review.  Its critic felt that while the songs were pleasant enough, they sounded much alike.<ref>Lewis, David H., ''Broadway musicals: A Hundred Year History'', 2002, McFarland & Company, p. 35</ref>  The show's creativity stimulated Rodgers and Hammerstein's contemporaries and ushered in the "Golden Age" of American musical theatre.<ref name=Heritage/>