Show guide
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the landmark 1943 musical that reshaped what a Broadway show could be, fusing story, song, and dance into a single dramatic whole. It remains a foundational work of the Golden Age of American musical theatre.
- Broadway premiere
- 1943
- Music by
- Richard Rodgers
- Genre
- Golden Age
- Setting
- 1900s
Oklahoma!: quick answers
What is Oklahoma! about?
- Oklahoma! follows farm girl Laurey Williams as she chooses between cheerful cowboy Curly McLain and the menacing farmhand Jud Fry, while the flirtatious Ado Annie juggles cowboy Will Parker and a peddler.
When did Oklahoma! open on Broadway?
- Oklahoma! opened on Broadway on March 31, 1943, at the St. James Theatre and ran 2,212 performances until May 29, 1948. A 2019 revival at Circle in the Square won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
Is Oklahoma! a Golden Age musical?
- Yes. Oklahoma! is usually treated as the start of the Golden Age: it fully integrated songs and dance into a well-made story, and it is often called the most influential work in American musical theatre.
Where and when is Oklahoma! set?
- Oklahoma! is set in the farm country outside Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, shortly before Oklahoma became a state.
Has Oklahoma! played in London's West End?
- Oklahoma! opened in London in 1947 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and ran 1,543 performances. The National Theatre's 1998 revival, starring Hugh Jackman as Curly, won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production.
Is there a Oklahoma! movie?
- The 1955 film, directed by Fred Zinnemann and the first feature shot in Todd-AO, starred Gordon MacRae as Curly, Shirley Jones as Laurey, and Rod Steiger as Jud, and won Oscars for its musical scoring and sound recording. The musical itself is adapted from Lynn Riggs's 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs.
The story of Oklahoma!
Set around 1900 in Indian Territory just before Oklahoma became a state, the musical follows a farm girl courted by two very different suitors, a warm-hearted cowman and a brooding farmhand, against the backdrop of a community caught between the ranching and farming ways of life. Their romantic entanglements play out alongside the broader story of a frontier territory finding its identity.
The show captures a slice of Americana, celebrating the optimism and rough charm of settlers building a new home, while also allowing darker undercurrents of jealousy and danger to surface among its characters.
The music and the makers
Composer Richard Rodgers, working with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, crafted a score rooted in the Golden Age tradition: melodic, folk-inflected songs that grow naturally out of character and story rather than existing as standalone numbers. Oklahoma! is frequently credited as the first musical to fully integrate song, dialogue, and dance into a unified narrative, including an extended dream ballet sequence.
That innovation set a template that Rodgers and Hammerstein and countless successors would follow for decades, making Oklahoma! a genuine turning point in how musicals were constructed.
Oklahoma! on Broadway
Oklahoma! opened in 1943 during World War II and became an enormous hit, running for years and touring widely, offering wartime audiences a burst of homegrown optimism and tuneful comfort. Its influence on the structure of the American musical is hard to overstate.
It has been revived on Broadway multiple times since, including reinterpretations that dig into the show's darker psychological undercurrents, proof that this founding classic still has room for fresh discovery generations later.
Oklahoma!: frequently asked questions
When did Oklahoma! open on Broadway?
Oklahoma! opened on Broadway in 1943.
Who composed Oklahoma!?
Richard Rodgers composed the music, working with lyricist and book writer Oscar Hammerstein II.
What genre is Oklahoma!?
It is a Golden Age musical, widely regarded as a founding work of the modern integrated American musical.
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