YEOW BROADWAY FANS! We are only 20 Days Away from New York’s legendary MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET kicking off the holiday season, The 90th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. To celebrate, we at New York Broadway Tours are launching our first ever TOP 20 BROADWAY AT THE MACY’S PARADE COUNTDOWN. We will be sharing with you each day some of our favorite Broadway performances from the NBC telecasts (live from Harold Square) and the CBS telecast (pre-recorded on random locations or at their Theaters). Plus we will share some bonus performances (if it’s the same show) a few times. Let’s get started!
Today at #20 is considered as one first Great American musicals that incorporated song and dance with the storytelling. This is one our personal favorites and what we mention a lot on our tours? We of course are talking about Rodgers & Hammerstein?s iconic classic Oklahoma!
From the 2002 telecast, the late Patty Duke (giving a sneak peak prior to her December 14th debut) as Aunt Eller, Stephen Buntrock as Curly, and cast members from that year?s Tony winning revival take us to the Box Social in Harold Square for a toe tapping rendition of the show?s Act 2 opener THE FARMER AND THE COWMEN.
OKLAHOMA first premiered in 1943 at Broadway?s St. James Theatre as a massive box office smash running for 2,212 performances. Ticket sales were so impossible to get when it first came out. The show later was revived 4 times starting in 1951 at the Broadway Theatre running for 100 performances, 1953 for brief stint at City Center (in honor of the 10th Anniversary) for 40 performances, 1979 at the Palace Theatre for 293 performances, and most recently in 2002 (as seen in this video) at Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre for 388 performances. This revival originally came from London’s West End at the National Theatre UK (which starred Hugh Jackman as Curly) and can be seen on Great Performances l PBS and on DVD. It was also well known for having the real actors playing Curly and Laurey to the dance in the show?s iconic Dream Ballet sequence rather than having a professional dancing double do it.
Isn’t OKLAHOMA such a timeless musical?! How about that toe tapping performance?
#CountdownToMacys #NYBTCountdownToMacysOnBroadway #NYBroadwayTours #MacysParade #LetsHaveAParade
