Oklahoma! Opens at the St. James

On March 31, 1943, Rodgers and Hammerstein's first show together opened at the St. James Theatre on West 44th Street, with Alfred Drake as Curly and Joan Roberts as Laurey. Instead of opening on a line of dancing girls, the curtain rose on Aunt Eller alone on stage churning butter while Curly sang "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" from offstage, a choice that told the audience this show planned to work differently. Agnes de Mille's choreography, especially the dream-ballet, folded dance into the plot instead of stopping it for a specialty number, and Rouben Mamoulian directed the whole thing as one continuous story rather than a string of songs and gags. The show ran at the St. James for more than five years, and Rodgers and Hammerstein went on to write Carousel, South Pacific, and The King and I off the model they set here.