Selections from the Theatre Guild Musical Play
OKLAHOMA!

MUSIC BY RICHARD RODGERS • BOOK AND LYRICS BY OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II

Featuring Members of the Original New York Production

ALFRED DRAKE • JOAN ROBERTS • CELESTE HOLM • HOWARD DA SILVA • LEE DIXON

Oklahoma Orchestra and Chorus directed by Jay Blackton

SELECTIONS INCLUDE

Side One

1. OKLAHOMA OVERTURE OKLAHOMA ORCHESTRA

Act 1 — Scene 1

2. OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING' ALFRED DRAKE

3. THE SURREY WITH THE FRINGE ON TOP ALFRED DRAKE

4. KANSAS CITY Comedian — LEE DIXON and MALE CHORUS

5. I CAINT SAY NO Comedienne — CELESTE HOLM

6. MANY A NEW DAY JOAN ROBERTS and GIRL CHORUS

Side Two

1. PEOPLE WILL SAY WE'RE IN LOVE ALFRED DRAKE and JOAN ROBERTS

Act 1 — Scene 2

2. PORE JUD IS DAID ALFRED DRAKE and HOWARD DA SILVA

Act 1 — Scene 3

3. OUT OF MY DREAMS JOAN ROBERTS and GIRL CHORUS

Act 2 — Scene 1

4. ALL ER NOTHIN' Comedy Duet—CELESTE HOLM and LEE DIXON

Act 2 — Scene 2

5. OKLAHOMA ALFRED DRAKE and CHORUS

6. FINALE ALFRED DRAKE, JOAN ROBERTS and CHORUS

"Oklahoma!" which has become an American classic of fabulous proportions, made history in the theatrical as well as the musical world. It opened in New York on March 31st, 1943, and closed more than five years later, after a run of some twenty-two hundred performances. Its collaborators, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, have made a tradition which has been compared to Gilbert and Sullivan; its songs are a part of our national culture.

Founded on a Theatre Guild play (Lynn Riggs's "Green Grow the Lilacs"), "Oklahoma!" is compounded of many things: an absorbing story, smooth and memorable lyrics, simple but unforgettable music, imaginative ballet, colorful settings, and highly original costumes, all blended into one magic-making unit. The idea originated with Theresa Helburn, who, with her partner, Lawrence Langner, produced the play for the Theatre Guild, the most distinctly American musical since "Show Boat." Said

Miss Helburn: "I felt that 'Green Grow the Lilacs,' like 'Porgy' (which the Theatre Guild had put on), had a great native flavor, and a background rich in native music and dances... We wanted to keep the gaiety and freshness, the poetry and humor of the people in Lynn Riggs's play." Lawrence Langner continued with the story of how "Oklahoma!" came to be. "Our friendship with Dick Rodgers," said Langner, "dated back to the days of the 'Garrick Gaieties' and we'd been trying to get together on a show ever since." Richard Rodgers took up the story: "The first thing we did, after agreeing on the play and tossing out the folk-songs in the original script, was to decide to do the whole thing over — to do it fresh, from start to finish. The next thing we did was to get hold of Oscar Hammerstein and ask if he would do the book and lyrics. Oscar said he'd been planning to do a musical version of 'Green Grow the Lilacs' for two years! Then we decided together, Oscar and I, on the viewpoint — what kind of music, what kind of lyrics, what size orchestra — in other words, we tried to set the personality of the show we wanted to create. ... Then came the mechanical work: who would do what number and where, what the number should be like, etc. Then I retired to get my ideas and begin composing, and Oscar went to work on the book."

Prevailed upon to add a few details, Hammerstein continued where Rodgers had left off. "First I cut the original script to make room for the music. Then I wrote in a sub-plot and added some characters. We put in 'Will,' who wasn't in the original; we built up 'Ado Annie' and the peddler. 'Curly' and 'Laurey,' the heroine, we left alone — they were perfect as they were. So was 'Aunt Eller.' Then we had a first draft of the book, but no music and lyrics. Before I did anything else, I wrote the lyrics to the first song in the first act. That was for Dick and me — to set the mood of the show for us. And to set the mood for the audience, too. When 'Curly' sings off-stage as the curtain goes up, and then wanders into the front yard of Laurey's farmhouse singing 'Oh! What a Beautiful Mornin', you can feel the audience smile and relax and settle back. At least that's what we aimed for."

Composing the music was as natural as easy breathing and as logical as life. "I just put the lyrics on the piano and the music wrote itself," said Rod-

gers. After the play began to assume shape, other artists entered the picture. Agnes de Mille took over the problem of integrating the dances with the drama. Since "Oklahoma!" was not to be done in the chorus-line and "specialty dance" routine or the conventional musical comedy manner, Miss de Mille had to pioneer along entirely new lines. "I got a group of girls and men who were all dance soloists in their own right, but who could also act. We didn't want a 'chorus-line.' We wanted people — boys and girls you'd remember when the show was over, friends you'd hope to meet again sometime. We got them." Next Rouben Mamoulian arrived to take overall charge of the production. "It has always been my conviction," he explained, "that the ideal theatre should combine drama and music interwoven to compose one rhythmic and dramatic pattern. That was the guiding principle which governed me in directing 'Porgy and Bess'—the principle that the show itself is the star." Meanwhile, two other gentlemen were hard at work: Lemuel Ayres, who pored over prints and history books to get the feel and color of the scene — the strong sun of the Southwest, the good smell of the wheat, the vigor of the freshening winds — and Miles White, who brooded happily over old Sears Roebuck catalogs and faded costume prints to find out what patterns Milady of Prairie Ridge was working over during the long winter evenings in the early 1900s.

So one night these people congregated in the back of an empty theatre to watch a dress rehearsal. Everything was tentative; even the title (at first thought of as "Away We Go") was uncertain. Among them was Lynn Riggs, at that time a sergeant, a man who, back in 1931, started the whole thing by writing a play with such charm and earthy humor, such unaffected poetry and common humanity that its appeal is universal. And on another night a sophisticated New York audience assembled to inspect causally and appraise critically a musical play which, with the first few notes of the overture, was to make them suspend all critical appraisal and which, after the opening song, swept them off their stolid feet. It was a cold night outside — the last night in March — but inside the Oklahoma sun shone with ever-increasing radiance. Its lustre has never dimmed. It still shines wherever honest words and inspired music sing themselves into the heart.
L. U.

OTHER BROADWAY SHOW RECORDINGS AVAILABLE ON DECCA LONG PLAY RECORDS

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN—Original Cast
One 12-inch Long Play Record . . . DECCA 8001 • Price $4.85

CAROUSEL—Original Cast
One 12-inch Long Play Record . . . DECCA 8003 • Price $4.85

DESERT SONG—Kitty Carlisle, Wilbur Evans, Felix Knight, etc.
One 10-inch Long Play Record . . . DECCA 7000 • Price $3.85

MERRY WIDOW—Kitty Carlisle, Wilbur Evans, Felix Knight, etc.
One 12-inch Long Play Record . . . DECCA 8004 • Price $4.85

MISS LIBERTY—Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians.
One 10-inch Long Play Record . . . DECCA 5009 • Price $2.85

OKLAHOMA! Selections and PORGY AND BESS (A Symphonic Picture)
Philharmonic Orchestra of Los Angeles, Alfred Wallenstein, Conductor.
One 10-inch Long Play Record . . . DECCA 7002 • Price $3.85

SONG OF NORWAY—Original Cast
One 12-inch Long Play Record . . . DECCA 8002 • Price $4.85

MEDEA—Judith Anderson and Supporting Cast
One 12-inch Long Play Record . . . DECCA 9000 • Price $5.85

Printed in U.S.A.

Prices do not include

State or Local Taxes.

This DECCA Long Play Microgroove Record can be played only on 33 1/2 RPM instruments. For maximum enjoyment it should always be kept in this protective envelope, away from heat.

OKLAHOMA! - Selections - Original Cast

DECCA 8000

OKLAHOMA!

Selections - Original Cast

DECCA 8000