Release Date: 31 December 2004
Label: Naxos - Nostalgia / Naxos Nostalgic
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943278727
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: RODGERS
Description
Oklahoma!Music by Richard Rodgers Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein IIOriginal Broadway Cast and Bonus Recordings, 1943-1944Sometime after 11:00 pm on 11 March 1943, thecurtain fell at New Haven's Shubert Theatre onthe world premi?â?¿re of a new musical entitledAway We Go!One of the first people up the aisle wasRose Bigman, personal secretary to Broadway'smost feared columnist,Walter Winchell. Shewasted no time in sending a telegram to herboss telling him what she thought of the show:'No legs, no jokes, no chance',was her nowlegendarymessage.Some sources attribute the remark toproducer Mike Todd, but that isn't as likely,because he was spotted leaving during theshow so he could catch an early train back toNew York.The once-mighty Theatre Guild was in apanic, since this project was all that wasstanding between them and bankruptcy. In fact,they had to chase frantically after investors forthe $100,000 necessary to get this musical ontothe stage.It looked like their efforts had been in vain,because the Gotham 'wrecking crew' who hadcome up to the opening either joined Todd inhis early departure, or let the Guild know thislatest piece was 'weak...dull...unappealing'.But the next day, the newspaper critics wereoptimistic, if guarded, and the box office, whichhad been empty, started doing brisk business.Audiences liked this show. It opened thefollowing week in Boston to even betterreviews and the creative team kept honing andworking down to the wire.Then on 31 March, the day it was set toopen on Broadway, a freak early springsnowstorm hit the city and that, coupled withthe low-key feeling about the show in thetheatre community,was responsible for apremi?â?¿re performance filled with empty seats.But that would be the last time there wereany empty seats for the next five years. Thenext morning's reviews were almost universallyecstatic and by noon, the box office was undersiege.Oh yes, between Boston and New York, theyhad changed the name of their troubled tuner.It was now called Oklahoma!Considering the fact that the show isregarded today as one of the greatest and mostinfluential musicals of all time, you may find ithard to imagine how everyone could have beenso wrong about it until you look at these facts.Composer Richard Rodgers had just beenobliged to end a successful twenty-yearpartnership with Lorenz Hart due to the latter'salcoholism. No one knew if Rodgers would beas good with another partner, especially not theone he had chosen.Oscar Hammerstein II had once been a greatlyricist/librettist with hits like Show Boat to hiscredit, but his work in the past decade hadconsisted of nothing but flops and he wasgenerally perceived as yesterday's man.The same thing with director RoubenMamoulian. He had once electrified Broadwaywith his stagings of the original play Porgy andits operatic sequel, Porgy and Bess, but hehadn't done a legit show in eight years and hisonce-soaring film career was in freefall.Ballet-trained Agnes DeMille had been firedas choreographer
Tracklisting
Various
Wisdom:Grenfell:Murray
Whiteman
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Rodgers & Hammerstein
