Something feels wrong about skipping over the great musical composers to the deeper cuts. It’s not like any of my cuts are that deep, but I’d still feel embarrassed if any of my readers were caught in public knowing Come From Away and not Cole Porter. Last time, I covered Company, one of many great Sondheim musicals. This time we’re going back to the Golden Age (a suspicious name for the first era when people wrote musicals as we now know them) and Rodgers and Hammerstein.
The Sound of Music is their best and it’s not close (sorry to The King and I). It has nuns, 7 children who stand in order by height, Julie Andrews, and the Austrian Alps, and (almost) every number is iconic. I’m trying to account for the bias from growing up watching it on VHS every Summer at my grandmother’s. Even so, it really is that good. A classic among movies, not just musicals. But that also means that most people know it or at least know a lot about it.
I’d rather write about Oklahoma! because it occupies such a curious niche in the public consciousness. It is one of the most famous, recognizable, nameable musicals, A lot of people have heard of Oklahoma!, and almost all of those people have no idea what it’s about. I know this because, if more people knew what it was about, they’d be talking about it all the time. They’d always be changing the subject or saying they were distracted because they remembered the ending to Oklahoma!
The only songs anyone can name are “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” and “Oklahoma” and of those, they can only sing the titles. “People Will Say We’re in Love” is also famous but no one knows that it’s from the musical.
As for me, I’ve seen the 1999 pro shot starring Hugh Jackman and enjoy the 2019 cast recording, and I’m pretty sure it’s about some cowboys in Oklahoma. I saw the 1955 edition when I was too young to keep my movies straight and believed that every Western might have a 15 minute Dream Ballet.
Whereas Company had no plot, Oklahoma! has a plot to spare but isn’t really about anything which makes it harder to talk about without summarizing which puts me in an odd position. I know I said that I wanted to highlight the positives of these musicals. Once I start summarizing, it will sound like I hate it or enjoy it only ironically because everything about the plot is either forgettable or highly questionable. You’ll have to take me at my word that I genuinely enjoy this. I love the clean, classical vocals and full orchestral instrumentation of Golden Age musicals. I’m able to suspend my disbelief just well enough for this plot.
Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ - A deserved classic. I sing it every sunny morning. This must have been written before every musical began with an “I Want” song because Curly the cowboy doesn’t want for anything. It’s a beautiful day and he’s about to ask out Laurey, a farmer’s daughter. Call him arrogant and entitled, but he has an ace up his sleeve.
The Surrey with the Fringe on the Top - Curly has rented a really fancy wagon to take Laurey to the dance, and he tells her all about it. Laurey is annoyed that he thought he could wait this long and she’d still be available (even though he’s right). Besides, she doesn’t believe that he actually has the surrey. She turns him down just to stick it to him.
Kansas City - The “B” story is introduced when Will Parker returns from the big city and reminds everyone what an ignorant, backwards hick he is. I do get a kick out of this number though.
I Cain’t Say No - Ado Annie, Will’s love interest and the best character, explains why she’s been a bit promiscuous while he’s been away. Ali Stroker’s performance is iconic.
Many a New Day - Laurey is upset that Curly is talking to other girls after she rejected him, but she doesn’t show it. She sings a whole song about how unbothered she is. It’s actually a good song. I like the lyric “Never have I asked an August sky / ‘Where has last July gone?’”
It’s a Scandal! It’s a Outrage! - Oh did I mention that the one character who’s not a cowboy or a farmer is a Persian merchant named Ali Hakim? He’s upset because he was just fooling around with a girl (yep, Ado Annie, you guessed it), and her father threatens to kill him if he doesn’t marry her.
People Will Say We’re in Love - Curly and Laurey reconcile so that they can sing a song that doesn’t make much sense in the plot. Everyone already knows they’re into each other, so I think they’re just being flirty here. This is a standard, so if you don’t like musicals, many people have covered it.
Pore Jud is Daid - Now that they’re on the same page, Curly has to go deal with Jud, a certified creep who Laurey agreed to go to the dance with because she really wanted to stick it to Curly. Curly deals with Jud by trying to convince him to kill himself.
Lonely Room - You know in Greek tragedies when you try to escape your prophesy and instead mess everything up? Anyway, Jud spots that Curly is an arrogant, condescending jerk and becomes more determined to steal Laurey away by any means necessary.
Out of my Dreams - Laurey gets high and introduces the dream ballet. This is when Laurey realizes that she likes Curly more than Jud and in fact Jud is probably going to try to kill someone.
The Farmer and the Cowman - Oh that’s right. There’s this whole beef between the farmers and the cowboys which also supposedly contributes to Curly and Laurey’s supposed star-crossedness. Let’s be honest though. They’re no Montagues and Capulets. I defy you to pick out which cowboys are cowboys and which are farmers. “I don’t say I’m no better than anybody else, but I’ll be damned if I ain’t just as good” is one of my mottos.
All Er Nuthin’ - Poor Will Parker finally gets Ado Annie to settle down a little bit aided by Ali getting out of Dodge.
People Will Say We’re in Love (Reprise) - Cute turn on the original. Now they’re trying to make it obvious that they’re together.
Oklahoma - Then Curly and Laurey get married and everyone sings about how great life in OK is at their wedding. What a happy ending!
Oh but we’re forgetting a character (and the reason I’m writing this). Jud shows up at the wedding, tries to kill Curly, but he gets killed instead. For a second it sours the mood, but then they hold an informal trial for Curly and decide that no one liked Jud anyway, and OK isn’t a state yet, so everything’s fine.
Anyway, that’s mainly what I wanted to say. If you only listen to a few songs, I’d recommend the famous ones plus “I Cain’t Say No”, “Many a New Day”, and maybe even “Lonely Room”.