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A note on scale
I've never seen Oklahoma, not even a high school production of it. I had intended to watch the recent Great Performances presentation of it, but I forgot to tape it. But I am reminded of an anecdote that I think I encountered in Gilbert Seldes's The Great Audience.
Oklahoma debuted on Broadway in 1943. It was enormously successful, running for umpty-zillion years. (Seldes was a little more precise.) It had multiple national touring companies within a few years of its debut.
Rogers and Hammerstein, of course, collaborated on many more musicals after that. One of them was created specifically for television--Cinderella, which was shown on March 31, 1957. At that point, Oklahoma had been running professionally for fourteen years.
More people saw the single television showing of Cinderella than saw every professional production of Oklahoma to that point.
Oklahoma debuted on Broadway in 1943. It was enormously successful, running for umpty-zillion years. (Seldes was a little more precise.) It had multiple national touring companies within a few years of its debut.
Rogers and Hammerstein, of course, collaborated on many more musicals after that. One of them was created specifically for television--Cinderella, which was shown on March 31, 1957. At that point, Oklahoma had been running professionally for fourteen years.
More people saw the single television showing of Cinderella than saw every professional production of Oklahoma to that point.
which just goes to show
;>)