Rodgers & Hammerstein

Bambi speaks fondly of Rodgers & Hammerstein, citing one special memory, when the composer and lyricist came backstage to thank her.

“Rodgers reminded me of my father, so I felt very sympathetic towards him,” she says. “He was sweet and gentle, and he never put you in a situation where you could not answer or feel uncomfortable.

“And I adored Hammerstein. He was very friendly and giving. You know, some people give things… it comes out of their body and then lands on you? Well, that's the kind of person he was. Whenever he would come and talk to me, he was very kind and very nice. And he treated me like a person.

“Hammerstein, to me, was like a god. I thought he was the best ever. And he was a poet.

And to be even near him... He's the kind of person I wanted to touch because maybe some of it would come off on me.”

Agnes de Mille

Bambi is equally effusive about Oklahoma! choreographer Agnes de Mille, citing de Mille’s dedication to truthfulness and specificity. “Whenever you worked for Agnes, you weren't just a person, you were a definite character,” she says.

But de Mille was strict. Bambi recalls one instance when de Mille caught her and her castmate Diana Adams dancing on a show day: “Diana and I were in a class at Ballet Arts 61. And Agnes just happened to walk by and see us in class and she made us get out. We had to save that energy for the show tonight!”

But she loved working for Agnes, saying de Mille helped her become authentically “transplanted” into the role of a young girl living in the Great Plains.

Just People

That authenticity, to Bambi, is what made Oklahoma! a landmark. “It’s special because it’s about people, and they're ordinary, you know? They're not extraordinary. And that's important. We weren’t show girls, we were just people.”

Of course, she adds, it might also be because “the songs are so wonderful.” She cites the title song as a particular favorite. She laughs as she confesses “once you start singing ‘Oklahoma,’ you get very enthusiastic about the state… It’s ridiculous!”

Bambi and the rest of the cast first heard that title song while the show, then titled Away We Go!, was in its trial run out of town. “In New Haven, they said, ‘Hey, we've got a new song for the show,’ and we all had to learn it,” she explains. “And, at the end of that, Theresa Helburn, one of the producers, said, ‘Let's call the show Oklahoma.’ And then someone said, ‘with an exclamation point!’”

Cows and Pigeons

Though Oklahoma! famously begins with a simple song presented in a simple setting, Theatre Guild Director Lawrence Langner kept trying to spice up the first scene, at one point attempting to add live animals. “I think we were in New Haven,” Bambi recounts, “and in the opening scene, (‘Oh, what a beautiful mornin’’), Langner said, ‘Oh, we should have a cow on stage!’ And they tried it, and of course, the cow immediately plopped, and they said, ‘No, that's no good.’ And he said, ‘Well, how about pigeons?’ And so, they sent some pigeons in, and the pigeons flew to the rafters and were up there forever and ever, making noises.” Chalk it up to life on the road. “You know… we were out of town, and they were trying out things,” she shrugs. “Anything goes when you're out of town!”

The Creative Team

Though Langner, Helburn, Rodgers, Hammerstein, de Mille and director Rouben Mamoulian all had strong personalities and forceful opinions, Bambi swears she never saw them clash. “They were working together, that was their agreement,” she says. “Whatever they felt towards one another was never reflected in their work.”

Wartime Audiences

When Oklahoma! premiered on Broadway, America was in the throes of a global war. Two years after the U.S. entered World War II, Americans were hungry for entertainment that inspired patriotism, and men and women in the United States Armed Services flocked to see the new Rodgers & Hammerstein musical. When asked why servicemen liked the show so much, Bambi is bluntly candid: “Well, first of all, they were let in for free.” But she and her castmates loved the matinee performances, when service people were admitted at no charge. “The servicemen loved it, and we were delighted because they were a wonderful audience,” she says. “And I think they made it a hit. It would have been a good show and people would have liked it, but the servicemen really embraced the show.” Bambi believes their positive word of mouth made the musical a blockbuster. “So, they helped us as we helped them.”

Oklahoma! played for an astonishing 2,212 performances, and Bambi loved being a part of it. “It was lovely to have the audience be thrilled with everything that you did on stage,” she says.