Oklahoma!
The Making of an American Musical, Revised and Expanded Edition
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- $29.99
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
First published in 2007, "Oklahoma!": The Making of an American Musical tells the full story of the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Author Tim Carter examines archival materials, manuscripts, and journalism, and the lofty aspirations and mythmaking that surrounded the musical from its very inception. The book made for a watershed moment in the study of the American musical: the first well-researched, serious musical analysis of this landmark show by a musicologist, it was also one of the first biographies of a musical, transforming a field that had previously tended to orient itself around creators rather than creations.
In this new and fully revised edition, Carter draws further on recently released sources, including the Rouben Mamoulian Papers at the Library of Congress, with additional correspondence, contracts, and even new versions of the working script used - and annotated - throughout the show's rehearsal process. Carter also focuses on the key players and concepts behind the musical, including the original play on which it was based (Lynn Riggs's Green Grow the Lilacs) and the Theatre Guild's Theresa Helburn and Lawrence Langner, who fatefully brought Rodgers and Hammerstein together for their first collaboration. The crucial new perspectives these revisions and additions provide make this edition of Carter's seminal work a compulsory purchase for all teachers, students, and lovers of musical theater.
Customer Reviews
Lots of info on the business side; creative side not so much
In some ways this is an extraordinary book. It gives a window into the people who collaborated or competed to produce Oklahoma! There is less about how the show was shaped creatively, most particularly how it went from “Away We Go” to “Oklahoma!” How did the range wars get into the second act opener but not into the play? How is it that the word, “Oklahoma” is not spoken once in the entire show, except in the song that functions as the finale? These questions may seem like picking nits, but there are numerous creative decisions that I had hoped to learn about. Still, there’s an immense amount of information here for an Oklahoma! buff to geek out about.