Oklahoma! a young farm girl who must choose which of two men
will escort her to a social. One is Curly, the rowdy but sweet cowhand, the other is Jud the dark, brooding and dangerous farmhand. One thing leads to another,
there is endless singing and dancing and they ride off into the sunset. Songs from the musical include the title song, "Surrey with the Fringe on
Top", "People Will Say We're In Love", "Oh, What a Beautiful
Mornin," and many others. The film was shot in Todd_AO,
Cinemascope and Stereophonic sound, a showcase for film technology at the time.
The original score for Oklahoma! was composed by Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II. Hammerstein worked as a lawyer before using a family connection to begin working in the theater. He wrote librettos and lyrics
with such Jerome Kern and George Gershwin and then teamed up with Richard Rodgers in the early 1940s. He has earned Oscars for the
songs "The Last Time I Saw Paris" from Lady Be Good (1941) and "It Might as Well Be Spring" from State Fair (1945).
Richard Rodgers came to prominence with the many '20s editions
of The Garrick Gaieties, in which Rodgers and his lyricist collaborator Lorenz Hart created such hits as "Mountain Greenery" and "I'll Take
Manhattan". This partnership continued through such Broadway hits as The Connecticut Yankee, Babes in Arms, On Your Toes and Pal Joey. After
Hart's death in the mid 1940's Roger's began working with Oscar Hammerstein Jr. In creating Oklahoma, a huge success both on Broadway and later,
when the team ventured to Hollywood.
(http://imusic.interserv.com/soundtracks/oklahoma.html)
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