Oklahoma!: The Making of an American Musical

by Tim Carter

A complete behind-the-scenes look at the landmark show that launched Rodgers and Hammerstein’s creative partnership​

Oklahoma! premiered on Broadway in 1943 under the auspices of the Theatre Guild, and today it is performed more frequently than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. In this book Tim Carter offers the first fully documented history of the making of this celebrated American musical. Drawing on research from rare theater archives, manuscripts, journalism, and other sources, Carter records every step in the development of Oklahoma ! The book is filled with rich and fascinating details about how Rodgers and Hammerstein first came together, the casting process, how Agnes de Mille became the show’s choreographer, and the drafts and revisions that ultimately gave the musical its final shape. Carter also shows the lofty aspirations of both the creators and producers and the mythmaking that surrounded Oklahoma ! from its very inception, and demonstrates just what made it part of its times.

Genres: Music

327 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Oklahoma!” is essentially the story of two men fighting over who will take a girl they both like to a box social. Oh, along with a subplot about a cowboy who is willing to settle down with a girl who is not quite ready to do so. Hardly revolutionary plot wise, yet the musical “Oklahoma!” is said to represent a fault line of sorts in Broadway musicals, saying good-bye to the musical revues of the past and hello to a future of plays with music where the music is integrated with the storyline. The musical has been the subject of popular theatre histories before, but never a scholarly book, says author Tim Carter. While Carter’s effort is certainly thoroughly researched, I found it lacking in other areas. Maybe that comes from the dispassionate distance a scholar is expected to take or maybe the distracting details a scholar is willing to dissect. The former lends itself to a lack of passion in his storytelling; the latter finds him bogged down in details only of interest to, well, other music historians. “Oklahoma!” opened when the U.S. was at war and struck a primal nerve with audiences, none more than soldiers leaving New York to fight in Europe. Carter touches on the nostalgia for an earlier time and place that the musical evokes but never captures the longing and yearning that wartime audiences found so attractive and healing. In “Oklahoma! The Making of an American Musical” Tim Carter provides a meticulous study of the musical’s production from the idea of adapting the play “Green Grow the Lilacs” to rehearsals to out of town tryouts to opening night that’s sure to please even the most casual fan. Many musicals and straight plays are saved with alterations out of town, and there is nothing that seems out of the ordinary in the “Oklahoma!” evolution, but the tryouts remain the most interesting section in the book. The long years of its Broadway run and touring are covered as well as a perfunctory look at the film version. Ultimately, maybe I was expecting something more dramatic and visceral from a book about such a revolutionary musical. Carter ends with a complete timeline for the production of “Oklahoma!” but misses in doing a thorough job of placing “Oklahoma!” within the overall timeline of the evolution of musicals. This “Oklahoma!” is not bad, just o.k.

[Len Knighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's make one thing clear right off the bat: this book is NOT a Pulitzer Prize winner; the Broadway musical OKLAHOMA! did win a Pulitzer Prize.
Now that we have that settled, we will focus on the book by Tim Carter. As I read it, a conversation my parents had with my tenth grade biology teacher, in which I was a subject but not a participant, repeatedly came to mind. My teacher was in his first year of teaching after college graduation; I struggled with the subject, not only in high school but also in college. In the end, both my teacher and I learned something. I seem to have retained more information about plants and animals than I thought possible. My teacher learned, and revealed in his chat with my parents, that it was not necessary or desirable for him to try to teach his students everything he knew about biology.
Tim Carter would have done well to have learned such a lesson. He obviously loves OKLAHOMA! but his readers don't need to know every detail as to its creation and production. I put this book into the Entertainment shelf of my Goodreads library. It is about a Broadway musical which has entertained millions in eighty years. The book is not entertaining.
Two problems I had with the writing:
First, a pet peeve familiar to many of you who have read my reviews is the length of chapters. With few exceptions the chapters were too long. The last chapter took over two hours to read. Most chapters were over an hour --- much too long.
Second, Carter's overuse of parentheses made for choppy reading. Eventually I got into the habit of skipping those phrases.
I thought a little light reading would offset the tenor and tone of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO but instead found Oklahoma! dry as dust and less appealing.

Three stars waning