Shows · Oklahoma! · St. James Theatre, 1943
The run closed July 28, 1951
- Opened
- March 31, 1943
- Closed
- July 28, 1951
- Performances
- 2,212
- Previews
- Unknown
- Theatre
- St. James Theatre
Of the 890 productions we hold that opened in the 1940s and carry a performance count, this is the 1st longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Other stagings of Oklahoma! 6 more that season
| 1951 | Broadway Theatre Revival · Rouben Mamoulian | 100 perf. |
| 1953 | City Center Revival · Rouben Mamoulian | 40 perf. |
| 1979 | Palace Theatre Revival · William Hammerstein | 293 perf. |
| 2002 | Gershwin Theatre Revival · Trevor Nunn | 388 perf. |
| 2019 | Circle in the Square Theatre Revival · Daniel Fish | 391 perf. |
| 2023 | Wyndham's Theatre Original |
Who was in it156 named
Diana Adams
Remo Arlotta
Elsie Arnold
Bobby Barrentine
John Baum
Harvey Brown
Kenneth Buffett
Edwin Clay
Joseph Cunneff
Margit de Kova
Jack Dunphy
Nona Feid
Gary Fleming
Maria Harriton
Jack Harwood
Rhoda Hoffman
Edmund Howland
George Irving
Barry Kelley
Eric Kristen
Jane Lawrence
Suzanne Lloyd
Ellen Love
Dorothea Macfarland
Owen Martin
May Muth
Carl Nelson
Virginia Oswald
Robert Penn
Rosemary Schaefer
Paul Shiers
Vivienne Simon
Faye Smith
Gary Smith Jr
Vivian Smith
Arthur Ulisse
Billie Zay
Howard Keel
Harry Stockwell
Betty Jane Watson
Evelyn Wyckoff
Herbert Berghof
Edith Gresham
James Parnell
Bonita Primrose
Richard Rober
Edna Skinner
Murvyn Vye
Ruth Weston
Carolyn Adair
John Alda
Patricia Allen
Vivienne Allen
Florenz Ames
Leif Argo
Bonita Atkins
Tom Avera
Jack Baker
Tom Bowman
Pamela Britton
Buster Burnell
Maxwell Coker
Lloyd Cole
Payne Converse
Paul Crabtree
Ann Crowley
Miriam Day
Gemze de Lappe
Jacqueline Dodge
Jay Dowd
Patricia Englund
Jane Fischer
Louise Fornaca
Phyllis Gehrig
Harold Gordon
J Gould
Muriel Gray
Stokely Gray
Nancy Hachenberg
Birgin Haldorson
Bruce Hamilton
Joan Hansen
Ruth Harte
Mary Hatcher
Marian Horosko
Harold Keel
Barry Kelly
Bob Kennedy
Jack Kilty
Marie Korjinska
Alicia Krug
Dania Krupska
Joe Landis
Irene Larson
Kenneth Leroy
Pat Likely
Paul Lyday
Beatrice Lynn
Betty Lynn
Remi Martell
Pat Meany
Scott Merrill
Joseph Meyer
Jack Miller
Margot Moser
Mae Muth
David Neuman
Ann Newland
Remington Olmstead
Valentina Oumansky
Miriam Pandor
Susan Pearce
Marianna Peterson
Donna Phillips
Frances Rainer
Guy Rennie
Chris Robinson
Boris Runanin
Elena Salamatova
Allen Sharp
Tiny Shimp
Guy Smith Jr
Jean Snider
Tom Spencer
George Stecher
Bill Sumner
William Sutherland
Carolyn Tanner
David Tihmar
Frank Vespia
Ginger Vetrand
Helen Wagner
Jack Ward
J T Ward
Max Willenz
Marek Windheim
Shelley Winters
Iva Withers
37 of these 156 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 119 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name, so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.
Creative team
- Director
- Rouben Mamoulian
- Choreographer
- Agnes de Mille
- Producer
- Theatre Guild
A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.
Recordings 45 held for the work
None of these is attributed to this staging. They are filed against Oklahoma!, and nothing says which production any of them documents. Closing that join is the point of this catalogue and it is not closed yet.
Around this production
The original title was "Away We Go!" and early tryouts were so uncertain that producer Mike Todd left at intermission saying, "No legs, no jokes, no chance." It ran for over five years.
- Mike Todd’s condemnation of Oklahoma! “no gals no gags” epitomizes what it is assumed the public requires in this respect — something safe, comfortable, and requiring no effort to enjoy; messages (as was said in another context) are for Western Union. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 6
- The 1940s institutionalized the traditional book musical by using story, song, and dance to further the plot (Oklahoma! being perhaps the most obvious example) Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 3
- Joan McCracken had created roles in the original productions of Oklahoma! (1943) and Bloomer Girl (1944). Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 22
- In the past, program covers had displayed generic color covers (and at least one used tints to brighten the photograph on its cover), but Jotham Valley offered bright red-and-yellow artwork that was somewhat reminiscent of the logo design for the original production of Oklahoma! Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 127
- The superb 1979 revival opened on December 13 at the Palace Theatre for 301 performances. It offered a slightly darker interpretation of the work, and Martin Vidnovic was especially striking in his unusual approach to Jud Fry. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 163
Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.
What this page does not know
- No photograph of this staging.
- No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
- Which of the 45 recordings of Oklahoma! document this run, if any.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.
Something wrong here? Correct a field or report the problem. Every change is recorded in public under the contributor licence.