When it debuted in 1943, Oklahoma! was so pioneering that the critics confidently predicted that it would bomb. Without comedy and leggy chorus girls, the play didn't have a chance.
Now, 50 years later, the corny, homespun, "sophisticated melodrama" still thrives amid our cynical, angst-obsessed generation, said Mark Fearnow, assistant professor of Theatre Arts.
Not bad for a musical that warbles, "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye" and "A-yip-i-o-ee-ay!"
Oklahoma!, the only Broadway musical to produce a state song, will be performed at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at Eisenhower Auditorium.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic spins a yarn about farmers and cowboys, villains and heros, and box luncheon socials on the Oklahoma territory when it was on the verge of statehood in 1907.
Fearnow said that Oklahoma! was a vanguard because it was based on a play -- Lynn Riggs' Green Grow the Lilacs -- and had a fairly serious plot.
Unlike other musicals at the time, the show's songs directly related to the plot, Fearnow said, adding that very few musicals that were popular before the innovative Oklahoma! are produced today.
Although the Oklahoma! genre is what got Fearnow and many others interested in theater, he was continually told that this sort of play was not very good as he became a sophisticated theater arts academic.
But that's changing now, he said.
"Scholarship is now coming to value these emotional, sincere, popular kinds of works," he said.
Fearnow gives two reasons why this musical has thrived in a time when studies of human misery dominate the theater.
Most importantly, the music is fantastic, featuring memorable melodies with intelligent lyrics, he said, adding that several pop standards came from the show.
Secondly, the plot is solid and the characters have depth. People can relate to the standard plot of villain-wants-heroine, heroine-wants-hero, hero-defeats-villain and hero-gets-heroine.
"It speaks to the part of people that want things like innocence, simplicity, true love and fidelity," Fearnow said.
He adds that Rodgers and Hammerstein were very politically progressive in their day. Although many plays from that era are not performed today because the content is offensive to women, black people or other groups, Oklahoma! is still PC. The story features assertive women and a ditty against xenophobia.
Darrell Smith, the company manager for The Troika Organization, said this is the only national tour for this anniversary year.
He said that Troika has only slightly altered the show as far as scripting and music are concerned.
But the staging and choreography have evolved with the audiences. He explained that this was necessary when working with more sophisticated actors and a choreographer and chorus who are trained in classical ballet.
He admits that there is not a great message in the show, but attributes its success to the "sweet story" and the sense of home that it inspires.
Tickets for both performances are $30, $26 and $24 for non-students; $26, $22 and $20 for students and are available from the Eisenhower Auditorium Ticket Center.
