As Ado Annie sings in Oklahoma!, “I’m in a holiday mood!” August 15 marks the anniversary of the first kiss for the town’s resident flirt, a date she wants to commemorate as her wedding day to Will Parker.
To celebrate the day, look back at the actors who brought Ado Annie to life onstage.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical Oklahoma! is based on Lynn Riggs' play Green Grow the Lilacs, which appeared on Broadway in 1931. Originally titled Away We Go!, the show premiered at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven in 1943, and later at the Colonial Theatre in Boston where it was further developed ahead of its Broadway run.
Renamed Oklahoma!, the musical opened on Broadway at the St. James in 1943 and ran for almost five years, setting records with its 2,212 performances. The show featured a cast that included Alfred Drake as Curly, Howard Da Silva as Jud Fry, Joan Roberts as Laurey, and Celeste Holm as Ado Annie. The production featured dance sequences by Agnes de Mille that broke new ground in choreography
Since its debut, Oklahoma! has been revived five times on Broadway, most recently in reimagined production at the Circle in the Square Theatre. The revival, directed by Daniel Fish, opened April 7, 2018, after beginning preview performances March 19, 2018. The Tony Award-winning production, which featured new arrangements and orchestrations by Daniel Kluger, was first mounted at Bard College in 2015, which was followed by a sold-out run at St. Ann's Warehouse in the fall of 2018.
