Editing Oklahoma! (section)

===Original Broadway===
The original Broadway production opened on March 31, 1943, at the [[St. James Theatre]] in New York City.  It was directed by [[Rouben Mamoulian]], choreographed by [[Agnes de Mille]] and starred [[Alfred Drake]] (Curly), [[Joan Roberts]] (Laurey), [[Celeste Holm]] (Ado Annie), [[Howard da Silva]] (Jud Fry), [[Betty Garde]] (Aunt Eller), [[Lee Dixon (actor)|Lee Dixon]] (Will Parker), [[Joseph Buloff]] (Ali Hakim), [[Jane Lawrence]] (Gertie), [[Barry Kelley]] (Ike) and [[George S. Irving]] (Joe). [[Marc Platt (dancer)|Marc Platt]] danced the role of "Dream Curly", [[Katharine Sergava]] danced the part of "Dream Laurey" and the small dancing part of Aggie was played by [[Bambi Linn]]. George Church danced the part of "Dream Jud".<ref name=Hischak/> Church was replaced by [[Vladimir Kostenko]] two months after the premiere.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} The production's scenic designer was [[Lemuel Ayers]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/09/11/archives/lemuel-ayers.html|title= Obituary: Lemuel Ayers|date=September 11, 1955|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Arnold Saint-Subber}}</ref>

The production ran for 2,212 performances, finally closing on May 29, 1948.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/songbook/multimedia/bio_hammerstein2.html Oklahoma!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050216053436/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/songbook/multimedia/bio_hammerstein2.html |date=February 16, 2005 }} at ''Encyclopedia of Composers and Songwriters'', PBS.org, accessed April 30, 2012</ref>  "The demand for tickets was unprecedented as the show became more popular in the months that followed" the opening.<ref name=Hischak>Hischak, p. 202</ref>  ''Oklahoma!'' ran for over five years, a Broadway record that "would not be bested until ''My Fair Lady'' (1956)."<ref name=Hischak/> The [[Tony Award]]s and other awards now given for achievement in musical theatre were not in existence in 1943, and therefore the original production of ''Oklahoma!'' received no theatrical awards.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/art/Tony-Awards "Tony Awards: American theatrical awards"], Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed February 24, 2019</ref>