www.limelightmagazine.com.au: Oklahoma! was the first musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein and was ground-breaking in its day, developing the idea of the “book musical” initiated by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II when they wrote Show Boat. Not only did Oklahoma! integrate the songs and dance into the narrative, but it used recurring musical motifs throughout to underpin the story.
2 comments:
I am fascinated by musical theatre history so it was kind of fun to find out that the first show Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together was Oklahoma!. I absolutely love that people are taking their work and modernizing it in a way that is trying to take their stories out of their racist and sexist past. The musicals written in the “Golden Age” of musical theatre history are not inclusive, and having them be played all across the country in many companies’ repertoire is so destructive and counter-intuitive to creating a more diverse and equitable future. If companies insist on putting up shows such as Oklahoma! due to the age of their subscribers, I think changing the status quo of the piece and making the story reflect today is a great way to keep history alive but also hopefully start healing the trauma and harm that they have caused. Oklahoma is one of the lesser problematic pieces that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together, but its encouraging to see that people are starting somewhere to facilitate this necessary change.
I am intrigued. I was very intrigued with the more recent Broadway revival or Oklahoma! (Which I did not get to see, yet idolize just a bit--) But what is interesting about this more modern revival and the Broadway revival is this version by Black Swan State Theatre Company is considering the idea of gender and sexaulity. While the Broadway revival almost poses itself to be an entirely different story, this revival plans to stay pretty true to Rogers and Hammersstien and let the audience make their own interpretation on some of the changes. I am highly interested and would love to hear more about and think about seeing the production.
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