It was a box office hit and ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances, later enjoying award-winning revivals, national tours, foreign productions and an Oscar-winning 1955 film adaptation.

Rodgers, with Lorenz Hart, had produced over two dozen musicals since the 1920s, including such popular successes as Babes in Arms (1937), The Boys from Syracuse (1938) and Pal Joey (1940).

Hart lost interest in the musical; he preferred contemporary, urbane shows that would showcase his witty lyric writing, and he found the farmers and cowhands in Green Grow the Lilacs corny and uninspiring.

[9] Musicals of that era featured big production numbers, novelty acts, and show-stopping specialty dances; the libretti typically focused on humor, with little dramatic development, punctuated with songs that effectively halted the story for their duration.

Though Theresa Helburn, codirector of the Theatre Guild, suggested Shirley Temple as Laurey and Groucho Marx as Ali Hakim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, with director Rouben Mamoulian's support, insisted that performers more dramatically appropriate for the roles be cast.

Confused by her feelings for Curly and her fear of Jud, Laurey purchases a "magic potion" (laudanum) from Ali Hakim, which the unscrupulous peddler guarantees will reveal her true love.

Awakening, she realizes that Curly is the right man for her, but it is too late to change her mind about going to the dance with Jud, who arrives, and they leave for the box social.

It was directed by Rouben Mamoulian, choreographed by Agnes de Mille and starred Alfred Drake (Curly), Joan Roberts (Laurey), Celeste Holm (Ado Annie), Howard da Silva (Jud Fry), Betty Garde (Aunt Eller), Lee Dixon (Will Parker), Joseph Buloff (Ali Hakim), Jane Lawrence (Gertie), Barry Kelley (Ike) and George S. Irving (Joe).

[29] A pre-London run opened a day late at the Manchester Opera House on April 18, 1947, after the ship carrying the cast, scenery, and costumes ran aground on a sandbank off Southampton.

[39] The following year, James Hammerstein directed a production at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester, in January 1980, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Emile Litler.

Again presented by Cameron Mackintosh, the tour was produced by the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, Edgley International and The MLC Theatre Royal Company.

The international cast included Hugh Jackman as Curly, Maureen Lipman as Aunt Eller, Josefina Gabrielle as Laurey, Shuler Hensley as Jud Fry, Vicki Simon as Ado Annie, Peter Polycarpou as Ali Hakim and Jimmy Johnston as Will Parker.

[50] According to the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, the limited engagement was a sell-out and broke all previous box office records,[51] and so the show was transferred to the Lyceum Theatre in the West End for a six-month run.

Only two of the London cast, Josefina Gabrielle as Laurey and Shuler Hensley as Jud, were in the production, which also featured Patrick Wilson as Curly, Andrea Martin as Aunt Eller and Justin Bohon as Will.

Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times: "At its best, which is usually when it's dancing, this resurrection of Rodgers and Hammerstein's epochal show is dewy with an adolescent lustiness, both carnal and naive, exuberant and confused."

The review stated that "Anthony Ward's harmoniously curved set, in which the sky seems to stretch into eternity, again pulses with the promise of a land on the verge of transformation.

"[57] The New York Daily News review commented that "Visually, this one is stunning – at times, Anthony Ward's sets have a pastoral, idyllic quality, like Thomas Hart Benton's paintings.

"[58] However, USA Today gave the production a tepid assessment, its reviewer writing: "A cold breeze blows through this beautiful mornin', and that golden haze is never quite bright enough.

The production was directed by Daniel Fish in an intimate, immersive in-the-round style, set in a community hall, with chili and cornbread served to the audience at intermission.

[63][64] For the 2021–2022 national tour, Fish rethought the presentation, which remained expressionistic but substituted a proscenium back-drop, which "renders the original authorial intents far more in balance with the radical ideas of the production", allowing the cast to play their parts with a contemporary naturalism, according to Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones.

[65][66] In May 2022, the production reopened at the Young Vic in London for a seven-week limited run, starring Arthur Darvill as Curly and Anoushka Lucas as Laurey, with Marisha Wallace as Ado Annie, Liza Sadovy as Aunt Eller, and James Davis and Patrick Vaill reprising their roles as Will Parker and Jud, respectively.

On a spare stage, decorated only with blue sheets, "Confetti of rose petals stains the floor like drops of blood, and a nightmarish dream-dance sequence has Freudian overtones as Laurey's bridal gown becomes her shroud.

[79][80] Artistic Director Molly Smith cast African-American actresses as Laurey and Aunt Eller to mirror both modern Washington, D.C., demographics and the diverse population of the musical's 1906 Oklahoma territory setting.

[84] The choice was intended, as in the Arena Stage production, to reflect the historical presence of African Americans in the Oklahoma territory, but it "has some audience members squirming in their seats ... they're seeing on stage one of the ugliest stereotypes in our history: an imposing black man ravaging a petite white woman [and] the white hero ... all but urges Jud to hang himself – and even pantomimes the act.

"[84] A UK tour ran from February to August 2015, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh and starring Ashley Day as Curly, Charlotte Wakefield as Laurey, Belinda Lang as Aunt Eller and Gary Wilmot as Ali Hakim.

[90][91] Rodgers and Hammerstein personally oversaw the film to prevent the studio from making the changes that were then typical of stage-to-film musical adaptations, such as interpolating new songs by others.

"[93] Decca Records president Jack Kapp settled with the union in September 1943, and three weeks later he hastily booked the original cast and orchestra of Oklahoma!

Oscar Hammerstein 2nd has written a dramatically imaginative libretto and a string of catchy lyrics; Agnes de Mille has worked small miracles in devising original dances to fit the story and the tunes, while Rouben Mamoulian has directed an excellent company with great taste and craftsmanship.

"[8] The only negative review of the musical appeared in the New York Post: The critic wrote that "it all seemed just a trifle too cute", stating that the score consisted of "a flock of Mr. Rodgers's songs that are pleasant enough, but still manage to sound quite a bit alike ... without much variety in the presentation."

It is the first fully integrated musical play and its blending of song, character, plot and even dance would serve as the model for Broadway shows for decades.