When Oklahoma! first arrived on Broadway, much was on the line for the creative and producing team. Many were skeptical that an interesting musical could be crafted from a homespun play that only saw moderate success, dealing with farmers and cowmen in the middle of the country. In addition, the producers were in a slump, and many of the creators had never worked together before. Nevertheless, on a rainy Wednesday night, March 31, 1943, at the St. James Theatre, the first collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II played its opening night performance, and the reaction was extraordinary. The next morning, rave reviews for Oklahoma! poured in, and the box office was frenzied with theatergoers eager to claim their ticket to see the new musical critics were calling “a striking piece of theatrical Americana.”  Choreographer Agnes de Mille’s groundbreaking contribution was noted and applauded.

Starring Betty Garde, Alfred Drake, Joan Roberts, Celeste Holm and Howard da Silva, the original Broadway production of Oklahoma! went on to play a staggering 2,212 performances, running almost five years, holding the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for 15 years. In its first year, Oklahoma! received a special Pulitzer Prize, and the original production launched an international tour that stopped in 361 cities around the world for nearly ten years. Much like Hamilton many years later, the show was greeted as a game-changer, one that cemented the notion that a musical could operate on many levels at the same time, while providing a more than satisfying entertainment.