Fountain City Festival (FCF) announced today that this summer they will be performing the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! this July.

The musical Oklahoma! was the first collaboration between composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. Oklahoma! was based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs, first produced by the Theatre Guild in New York in 1931. Oklahoma! took a radically new approach to musical theatre on several fronts. The story of ordinary, real-life people and rural life during the Oklahoma land rush was an unusual subject at that time. The libretto followed the play closely, breaking with the conventional placement of song and dance elements. The choreography by Agnes de Mille synthesized ballet and American vernacular dance, and a “dream ballet” advanced the story. Oscar Hammerstein’s libretto and lyrics celebrated the hardy, optimistic spirit of the American West during the bleakest years of World War II. Oklahoma! became a runaway hit show and won a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1944. Many of the young actors and dancers in the opening production went on to stellar careers. Since the initial run, touring companies have presented the musical around the world. Oklahoma! proved to be only the first of a series of artistically and financially successful musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein, but none of their works has influenced the development of musical theater more than this one.

A scene from the original production.

Oklahoma! takes place at the turn of the twentieth century between the Oklahoma land rushes in 1889 and 1893, and statehood in 1907. Curley, a cowhand, and Jud Fry, a farmhand, are in love with Laurey. She is in love with Curley, but after an argument with him agrees to go to a dance with Jud Fry, whom she secretly fears. At the dance Curley puts up his entire belongings to buy Laurey’s box lunch. She and Curley admit their love for each other and are married. After the wedding Jud fights with Curley and is killed with his own knife during the struggle. Laurey’s Aunt Eller engineers a trial at the scene and Curley is acquitted, enabling the young couple to begin married life happily. A second, more comic subplot involves man-crazy Ado Annie, her true love cowboy Will Parker, and her temporary interest, peddler Ali Hakim. Like Laurey and Curley, Ado Annie and Will work out their problems and settle down to married life.

Oklahoma! opened at the St. James Theatre in New York on March 31, 1943, remaining on Broadway for a remarkable 2,212 performances.  A remarkable number of popular songs came from Oklahoma!… “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin”‘; “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top”; “Kansas City”; “I Cain’t Say No”; “People Will Say We’re in Love”; and of course, “Oklahoma,” the energetic “title song” which caused the musical’s original title Away We Go! to be changed. Songs from the show became overnight smashes: “People Will Say We’re in Love” was the top radio song of 1943, and the cast recorded the first “original-cast” recording of a Broadway show, beginning a practice which continues today.

Even the United States Postal Service acknowledged its place in American cultural history with a 1993 stamp commemorating the show’s fiftieth anniversary.

“Oklahoma! revolutionized musical theatre and we are committed to bringing the absolute best production to Bryan” exclaims FCF president Christopher Avell.  “Our audience has come to expect professional theatre at a reasonable price and we’re confident that Oklahoma! will deliver.”

Fountain City Festival is currently seeking talented individuals for positions on the staff including: director, choreographer, music director, costume designer, and others.