OKLAHOMA! (COMPLETE ORIGINAL SCORE) / JOHN WILSON, SINFONIA OF LONDON

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! was first performed in 1943, and was a significant turning point in the history of musical theatre. It was the first musical to put drama and plot to the fore, portrayed by rounded, believable characters. It swept aside traditions that had their roots in vaudeville – star turns, comic sketches, and endless lines of high-kicking chorus girls. Oklahoma! does feature dance, but in the hands of the choreographer, Agnes de Mille, this was idiomatic to the plot, and revolutionary in terms of the fifteen-minute dream-sequence ballet at the close of Act I. The first collaboration between composer and writer, the show was a hit, running for more than five years on Broadway, and paving the way for their masterpieces to come.

John Wilson’s long-held fascination for researching original musical theatre scores of this period and bringing them anew to modern audiences reaches a milestone with this world première recording of the original score in its entirety (no cuts) and in the original orchestrations for twenty-nine-piece orchestra made by Robert Russell Bennett for the original production. His outstanding cast features Nathaniel Hackmann, Sierra Boggess, Jamie Parker, Louise Dearman, Sandra Marvin, Rodney Earl Clarke, Nadim Naaman, and Leo Roberts, ably supported by the ‘Oklahoma!’ Ensemble – twenty-two artists drawn from London’s West End. Wilson comments: ‘I love the connective tissue of the piece, the scene-change music, the ballet, the songs that sometimes get cut, the underscoring. And when so many vastly different new versions are appearing on stage, it’s more important than ever that we have a document of the actual source material.’ CHANDOS

Disc 1
1 Overture 05:18
2 Opening Act I - 1 Curly: 'Oh, What a Beautiful Morning' 03:19
3 Opening Act I - 2 Laurey: Laurey's Entrance 00:26
4 Opening Act I - 3 Curly, Aunt Eller & Laurey: 'The Surrey with the Fringe on Top' 06:04
5 Opening Act I - 4 Will Parker, Aunt Eller, Ike Skidmore, and Boys: Kansas City' 05:23
6 Opening Act I - 5 Aunt Eller and Curly: 'The Surrey with the Fringe on Top' (Reprise) 00:59
7 Opening Act I - 6 Ado Annie: 'I Cain't Say No!' 03:11
8 Opening Act I - 7 Ado Annie: 'I Cain't Say No!' (Encore) 00:57
9 Opening Act I - 8 Will Parker, Ado Annie, Curly, and All: Entrance of Ensemble 00:59
10 Opening Act I - 9 Laurey, Aunt Eller, and Girls: 'Many a New Day' 03:06
11 Opening Act I - 10 Girls and Laurey: 'Many a New Day' (Dance and Reprise) 03:49
12 Opening Act I - 11 Ali Hakim, Men, and Girls: 'It's a Scandal! It's a Outrage!' 03:25
13 Opening Act I - 12 Girls and Laurey: 'People Will Say We're In Love' - 05:55
14 Opening Act I - 13 Change of Scene 02:26
15 Opening Act I - 14 Curly and Jud Fry: 'Pore Jud is Daid' 05:07
16 Opening Act I - 15 Jud Fry: 'Lonely Room' 02:41

Disc 2
1 Act I concluded - 16 Change of Scene 17 Dream Sequence 01:46
2 Act I concluded - a. Melos. Vivian, Gertie Cummings, Ellen, and Kate 00:42
3 Act I concluded - b. Out of My Dreams. Kate, Ellen, Virginia, Vivian, and Laurey 02:31
4 Act I concluded - c. Interlude to Ballet 00:15
5 Act I concluded - d. Dream Ballet 13:28
6 Act I concluded - 18 Entr'acte 02:34
7 Act II - 19 Andrew Carnes, Aunt Eller, Will Parker, Curly, Cord Elam, Farmer, Fred, Ado, Annie, and All: 'The Farmer and the Cowman' 04:22
8 Act II - 20 Farmer Dance. All 02:10
9 Act II - 21 Change of Scene 00:29
10 Act II - 22 Will Parker and Ado Annie: 'All er Nothin' 05:15
11 Act II - 23 Change of Scene 00:30
12 Act II - 24 Curly and Laurey: 'People Will Say We're in Love' (Reprise) 01:34
13 Act II - 25 Change of Scene - 26 Change of Scene 02:11
14 Act II - 27 Laurey, Aunt Eller, Ike Skidmore, Curly, Fred, Cord Elam, Andrew Carnes, and All: 'Oklahoma' 03:17
15 Act II - 28 All: 'Oklahoma' (Encore) 01:07
16 Act II - 29 Finale Ultimo. Ike Skidmore, Curly, and All: 'Oh, What a Beautiful Morning'/'People Will Say We're in Love' 01:53
17 30 Exit Music 02:20

Total Discs Time: 99:43