... of chorus girls, but to a woman churning butter and the simple, unaccompanied opening lines of "Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'" sung offstage (figure 1). This departure from what was considered the norm for musicals on Broadway was just one aspect which made Oklahoma such a landmark in the development of the modern Broadway musical. Earlier musicals had already tried and succeeded with the book-driven approach to writing original musical comedies, but many elements within them served no storytelling purpose. Show Boat, a 1927 musical in two acts by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II (of later "Rodgers and Hammerstein", and therefore Oklahoma, fame), featured two songs in its original cut that were removed in later stages of editing the show; "Til Good Luck Comes My Way" and "Hey Feller!". These songs could be cut as they served no purpose to the story, having been written only to cover scenery changes. It ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now