March 31, 1943: "Oklahoma!" Premieres On Broadway

March 31, 1943: The musical Oklahoma! premieres on Broadway, written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, beginning one of the great partnerships in musical history -- but also ending another.

In 1919, composer Richard Rodgers began to write songs with lyricist Lorenz "Larry" Hart. It took them until 1925 to have their first Broadway success, The Garrick Gaeties. Over the next 15 years, they would produce many instances of what would later be called "standards" and "The Great American Songbook": "Thou Swell," "Ten Cents a Dance," "Isn't It Romantic?" "Blue Moon," "There's a Small Hotel," "Where Or When," "My Funny Valentine," "The Lady Is a Tramp," and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered."

By 1942, Hart had fallen so deep into alcoholism that he had become unreliable. So when Rodgers wanted to write his next musical, he turned to Oscar Hammerstein II. Neither Hart nor Hammerstein's writing partner, Jerome Kern, objected.

Hammerstein, the grandson and namesake of an opera impresario, and Kern had changed Broadway forever with Show Boat in 1927, including "Old Man River." Later, they wrote "I Won't Dance," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes."

Before Show Boat, most musicals were light in tone, light in tune, and light on story. Much like a rock and roll album from the Beatle era onward, a 1920s musical would be lucky to have one of its songs remembered. But Show Boat began the era of the "book musical," a play where the story mattered, might be serious, and the songs and dances were fully integrated into it.

Oklahoma!, based on Green Grow the Lilacs, a 1931 play by Lynn Riggs, took this a step further, featuring musical themes, or motifs, that recurred throughout the show, to connect the music and the story, set in 1907, at the time of Oklahoma gaining Statehood.

And the show would be remembered for considerably more than one song: There would be the title tune, plus "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "Kansas City" (not the later Wilbert Harrison song: This is a comedy tune, about how "Everything's up to date" there in 1907), and "People Will Say We're In Love."

It premiered  on March 31, 1943, at the St. James Theatre, at 246 West 44th Street. (It is still in operation.) Rouben Mamoulian directed it, and Agnes de Mille choreographed it. The original stars were Alfred Drake as Curly McLain, Joan Roberts as Laurey Williams, Celeste Holm as Ado Annie Carnes, and Howard Da Silva as Jud Fry.

The show was an absolute smash, just what the public needed during those dark days of World War II. The Tony Awards didn't start until 1948, so it didn't win any. But it ran for 5 years, 2,212 performances, a record that stood until My Fair Lady surpassed it at the end of the 1950s.

Just 8 months after the premiere, Hart was dead, only 48 years old; 2 years after that, so was Kern, at 60. Hammerstein lived on until 1960, Rodgers until 1979.

It was filmed in 1955, with Gordon MacRae as Curly, Shirley Jones (his real-life wife at the time) as Laurey, Gloria Graham as Ado Annie, and Rod Steiger as Jud. The film also had Eddie Albert and James Whitmore.

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March 31, 1943 was a Wednesday. Actor Christopher Walken was born. But there were no scores on this historic day. The baseball season hadn't yet begun. Football was in the off-season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL had no games scheduled: The Stanley Cup Semifinals had both ended the day before, and the Finals began the next day. The Detroit Red Wings ended up beating the Boston Bruins in 4 straight.