First published in 2007, "Oklahoma!": The Making of an American Musical tells the full story of the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Author Tim Carter examines archival materials, manuscripts, and journalism, and the lofty aspirations and mythmaking that surrounded the musical from its very inception. The book made for a watershed moment in the study of the American musical: the first well-researched, serious musical analysis of this landmark show by a musicologist, it was also one of the first biographies of a musical, transforming a field that had previously tended to orient itself around creators rather than creations. In this new and fully revised edition, Carter draws further on recently released sources, including the Rouben Mamoulian Papers at the Library of Congress, with additional correspondence, contracts, and even new versions of the working script used - and annotated - throughout the show's rehearsal process. Carter also focuses on the key players and concepts behind the musical, including the original play on which it was based (Lynn Riggs's Green Grow the Lilacs) and the Theatre Guild's Theresa Helburn and Lawrence Langner, who fatefully brought Rodgers and Hammerstein together for their first collaboration. The crucial new perspectives these revisions and additions provide make this edition of Carter's seminal work a compulsory purchase for all teachers, students, and lovers of musical theater.

About the Author
Tim Carter is David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel (OUP, 2017), Understanding Italian Opera (OUP, 2015), and a wide range of other books on opera and musical theater.

Reviews
...highly recommended. * R. D. Johnson, CHOICE *
Tim Carter has written the most comprehensive account ever of the origins, development, and production history of the world renowned Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play. * Journal of American Cultures *
Carter's virtuosic handling of archival material, forming the basis of an astonishingly detailed narrative account, sets his study apart. * Journal of the American Musicological Society *
If you want to know how Oklahoma! became Oklahoma! you must read this book. * Geoffrey Block *
Carter's well-documented treatment should delight both musical aficionados and researchers alike. * Studies in Musical Theater *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190665210
Author Tim Carter
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions(mm) 155mm * 231mm * 20mm