Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oklahoma! is heading on tour in Ireland

Jo Kerrigan explores the dark side of the much-loved musical, Oklahoma!, in advance of its Irish run.

IN 1931, the American Theatre Guild produced a new Broadway play, Green Grow the Lilacs. A story of settlers in Indian territory, it was mildly successful. Ten years later, one of the guild’s directors saw a summer stock production of it that incorporated traditional square dances. He thought it would make a good musical.

Rodgers & Hammerstein were called in, and the result was musical theatre legend — the two scrapped the working title and wrote a new, showstopping number, which gave the musical its final name, Oklahoma!.