We know we belong to the land, and the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say, "Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!"
We're only sayin', "You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is a 1943 musical, possibly the most influential musical in the genre. Based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs and adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein, it tells the story of a young cowboy named Curly, and a farm girl, Laurey. They're obviously in love, but neither of them will admit it. The sinister farmhand, Jud, asks Laurey to a dance. Laurey is afraid of him, but she accepts to spite Curly. The story takes a dark turn as Laurey realizes that Jud is dangerous, and that, if she were to turn him down, he could become violent.
The musical is a radical departure from the mostly fluffy musical comedies that had preceded it. It integrated the book (the spoken dialogue) with the music without attempting to justify it. Its use of dance as adding to the plot and atmosphere was also a change from the showgirls of previous musicals. It was not the first to use such techniques (Show Boat, which also featured lyrics and libretto written by Hammerstein, predated it by nearly 20 years), but its impact is unmistakable.
Oklahoma! was successfully adapted to film in 1955, and has been revived numerous times on Broadway and in London.
- Annoying Laugh: Gertie, full-stop.
- Anti-Villain: As creepy as he is, it's hard not to feel at least a little sorry for Jud, with the way he's ostracized by the town and seems to be completely starved for affection. Oh, and did we mention the fact that the hero tries to encourage Jud to kill himself before he had even done anything wrong?
- Arizona Doubling: Nogales, Arizona stands in for Oklahoma in the 1955 film.
- Badass Aunt: Aunt Eller. At one point, she brandishes a gun at everyone, in order to make sure everyone gets along.
- Beta Couple: Will and Ado Annie
- Book Ends: The play and movie begin with Curly singing, "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" before asking Laurey out to the dance, and end with everyone singing the song while celebrating Curley's and Laurey's marriage and Oklahoma's becoming a state.
- Bowdlerise: In the play, "Kansas City" had a part with Will singing about how one of the burlesque girls he saw undressed herself to prove that she had a shapely figure, as opposed to a padded outfit. In the movie, Will sings about how when she danced, her body moved naturally.
- Brainless Beauty: Ado Annie
- Car Song: "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" could be considered the 1900s equivalent.
- Casanova: Ali Hakim.
- Cool Old Lady: Aunt Eller.
- Cut Song: "Boys and Girls Like You and Me." It later turned up in Screen To Stage Adaptations of State Fair and Cinderella.
- Dream Ballet: The paradigmatic example of the form.
- Driven to Suicide: Curly attempts to do this to Jud in "Pore Jud is Daid".
- The Eleven O'Clock Number: "Oklahoma!"
- Evil Sounds Deep: Jud Fry is always cast as a bass.
- Not always. The 1979 revival saw Martin Vidnovic play Jud, and "Lonely Room" was transposed up a third (still keeping it in baritone territory, but with a tessitura higher than a bass's song would have.)
- Farmer's Daughter: Ado Annie.
- Fauxreigner: Ali Hakim can be one depending on the production. Despite the character claiming to be Persian, the part was written for a "Jewish Comic"-type actor, and it is in line with the characterization for Hakim to be an outsider/more worldly than the characters (which a Jew from New York City would be in the setting), but still lying about his background in being American-born. The role finally went to an actual Muslim (although not an Iranian) in a major production when the 2002 Broadway revival gave the part to Aasif Mandvi.
- Feuding Families: Not families per se, but the farmers and cowboys otherwise fit this trope.
- Final Love Duet: "Let People Say We're in Love" - which, unlike most instances of this trope, is actually a reprise (with different lyrics) of the earlier flirty duet "People Will Say We're in Love."
- Good Bad Girl: Ado Annie, who might actually be the Ur Example.
- Immune to Bullets: Jud, in the Dream Ballet.
- Kangaroo Court: The final sequence is the entire town holding a mock trial to excuse Curly for a murder charge. Regardless of whether or not he should have been guilty, they didn't even bother to hide that they were going to happily let him go after a few seconds.
- Karma Houdini: Curly's conversation with Jud during "Pore Jud is Daid." Nothing is done to point out how wrong this is.
- Love Triangle: Curly, Laurey, and Jud; Will, Annie, and Ali Hakim
- Madness Mantra: "Think you're better than me..."
- Miss Yo Yo Knickers: She is a girl who can't say no, after all.
- Mobile Kiosk: Ali Hakim the peddler has one of these.
- The Musical
- Never Bring a Knife to A Fist Fight: A lesson Jud would do well to learn.
- Pair the Spares: Ali Hakim and Gertie. An interesting variation as they were paired by being the spares from two completely separate triangles.
- Please, I Will Do Anything!: Not outright stated but implied in the dream sequence.
- Plot Parallel
- Serial Killer: In all likelihood, Jud himself. Some productions add more hints of this to keep him from being too sympathetic.
- Sex Dressed
- Shotgun Wedding: Ali Hakim seems to attract these-- Carnes tries to force him to marry Ado Annie. He escapes that one, only to be forced to marry the intolerable Gertie Cummings.
- Sidekick Song: "Everything's Up to Date in Kansas City", "I Cain't Say No" and others.
- Snake Oil Salesman: Ali Hakim
- Stalker with a Crush: Jud.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Some variations of Laurey and Ado Annie.
- Tsundere: Laurey.
- Villain Song: "Lonely Room"
- True, sung by the villain, but not really a villain song nonetheless. The song generates what little sympathy the audience does have for Jud.
- What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: Laurey is horrified over this, weeps over this, has nightmares over this. Curly would rather see Jud dead than let him go through with this. Curly sells every prized possession he has to stop this from happening. And in the end Jud DIES over this. The crime? Asking Laurey out on a date, taking her to a party, and bidding on a picnic basket.
- Some stagings of the play add subtext that Jud is going to rape Laurey if he gets her alone.