Oklahoma! (Original 1943 Broadway Cast) [CAST RECORDING]

Celeste Holm, Oklahoma! (Related Recordings), Howard Da Silva, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Joan Roberts, Alfred Drake

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 30, 1993)
• Original Release Date: August 1, 1955
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B000002ONS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,374 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
It's been said that Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical interpretation of Lynn Riggs's Green Grow the Lilacs was the beginning of the modern American musical. Likewise, the show also gave birth to the "Original Cast" recording, when, for the first time ever, Decca producer Jack Kapp took the entire cast, chorus, and orchestra into a studio to record this LP, which entered the NARAS Hall of Fame in 1996. Alas, in 1998, what's here sounds like something recorded in 1943 for 78-rpm vinyl albums. Most of the stars here are now forgotten (although Celeste Holm would later replace Angela Lansbury in Mame), and this definitely lacks the oomph! expected by anyone who grew up with the 1955 movie soundtrack recording (and what Baby Boomer didn't?). --Bill Holdship

Product Description
Digitally remastered and presented in a deluxe digipack with 12 page booklet featuring comprehensive liner notes. Oklahoma remains one of the greatest and best-loved film musicals of all time. Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones bring their special magic to Rodgers and Hammerstein's immortal and timeless songs including 'Oh What a Beautiful Morning', 'The Surrey With The Fringe On Top' and 'People Will Say We're In Love'. Snapper. 2006. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE DIFINITIVE ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM!!!, January 4, 2002

By	Pope (Wisconsin, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oklahoma! Selections from the Theatre Guild Musical Play (Audio CD)

Over the last nearly sixty years, the musical Oklahoma has been ground into our psyche and has become a part of our culture. It opened on Broadway in 1943 and the musical theatre has never been the same. Oklahoma set many "firsts" in the musical theatre, and the original cast album was one of them. When the Original Cast Album of Oklahoma was first released in 1943 in conjunction with the Show's opening, it was the first "complete" cast album ever recorded. Bits and pieces of other shows had been recorded for decades (and even some entire shows sung to piano accompaniment), but this marked the first time the entire cast and orchestra went into the recording studio to record the show's songs. And, ever since that time nearly 60 years ago, this recording of Oklahoma has never gone out of print.

The Original Cast Recording was so extremely popular that the cast reunited the following year to record "Volume 2" of the Original Cast Album, which contained 3 songs left out of the first album.

The original recording was released as a set of 78 RPM records in 1943. Volume 2 was released a year later, but when the set was transferred to LP several years later, Volume 2 was left out and remained thus for decades. The entire contents of both volumes have been included in proper order for the CD release.

Okay, enough blabbing now. To the point, this is definately the Oklahoma recording of choice. With Alfred Drake as Curly, Joan Roberts as Laurey, and Celeste Holm as Ado Annie, this album is not to be surpassed. They all give stellar performances. With many cast albums to follow, songs had to be truncated and/or sped up to fit the limited playing time of a 78 RPM side. That is not the case here. There are a few cuts, but these are not major and the score does not sound rushed by any means. Sound quality is also great. While quality is beginning to show the considerable age of the recording, it does not get in the way of the listening experience. I would not recommend any recording of Oklahoma over this one. It is THE BEST and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Buy it, at the very least for its historical significance.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it, at the very least for the history, December 26, 2000

By	Tommy Peter (Baltimore, Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oklahoma! Selections from the Theatre Guild Musical Play (Audio CD)

Among the many innovations Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" brought to the musical theatre was the practice of taking the entire original cast into a recording studio to record the songs from the show with the original orchestrations as conducted by the original conductor. Musical theatre fans like myself are forever grateful for the invention of the original cast album that this show brought on.

But there are many other reasons why you should buy this recording besides its historical significance. This recording captures the groundbreaking show as it first sounded to audiences back in 1943, and it certainly rings with energy, heart, and obvious love and admiration. The great Robert Russell Bennett's orchestrations are still magnificent, but what especially distinguishes this album is the wonderful performances by the cast. Alfred Drake certainly gives Gordon MacRae from the 1955 film a run for his money as the definitive Curly; he has lots of energy and comic timing, and what a voice! Joan Roberts is a feisty Laurey, Lee Dixon is a fine Will Parker, and Celeste Holm, in her musical debut as Ado Annie, is completely charming. The supporting cast right down to the chorus is all first-rate, with the exception of Howard da Silva's strident Jud Fry. (It's just as well Drake recorded Jud's beautiful solo, "Lonely Room," as I doubt da Silva's version would have done it justice) By the way, though many of the stars are indeed not really known today, many of them did go on to great careers after this show; Drake was the original Fred in "Kiss Me Kate" and Hajj in "Kismet," among several other musical roles, and even tried his hand at Shakespeare, playing King Claudius in "Hamlet;" da Silva played Benjamin Franklin in the stage and screen versions of the musical "1776;" and Holm, of course, went on to a very rewarding career in theatre, movies, and television.

This recording still sounds as fresh and exciting as it must have been back in 1943. More modern recordings give you stereo sound and more complete readings of this classic score, which is certainly not a bad thing, but this recording is not only historicaly significant, but a valuable record of a great show as it first sounded.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BASIC LIBRARY SELECTION, July 10, 1998

By A Customer

OKLAHOMA! was the first of the mega-musicals running through several seasons on Broadway and spinning off multiple touring companies.

Decca recorded the original Broadway cast in 12 selctions and issued the 6-record 78 RPM set in December 1943. That set sold so well that in 1945 they issued a second album containing 3 selections left off the first set. When it was transferred to LP in 1949, however, only the first album was included and for the next 40 years that is how the album of OKLAHIOMA! remained - missing the additional 3 selections.

In 1993 to mark the 50th anniversary of the musical MCA went back to the original masters and lovingly restored the entire score for this CD issue. The sound is glorious: Far better than any previous edition. It's in mono, but of such high fidelity that the listener will not mind at all.

It's the performances that make this album such a fascinating document: This is how the show sounded when it was setting a new standard by which all subsequent shows would be judged. Later casts often try too hard to either mimic the originals, or they go too far in the opposite direction.

In order to fit the songs on the early records some minor trims had to be made but these do not seriously detract fom the recording. If fact they work to ensure that no single song out-stays its welcome.

The CD comes with excellent backgroudn notes on the production, and colour reproductions of both original album covers.

Anyone building a library of original cast recordings would do well to start with this disc.