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Oklahoma! (original Broadway cast recording)

Selections from the Theatre Guild musical play "Oklahoma!" featuring members of the original New York production, or simply Oklahoma!, is an album containing the original studio cast recording of the 1943 Broadway musical Oklahoma!. It was released by Decca Records on December 1, 1943.

The album was commercially successful and paved the way for future "original cast albums" of musicals.

Release

The album was originally issued as a set of six 10-inch 78-rpm phonograph records (cat. no. A-359). It contained 12 songs across 12 sides.

In 1949, the album was made available on LP (cat. no. DL 8000).

Reception

William Ruhlmann (AllMusic) credits this album with "establishing the popularity of original cast albums". He explains that "although there had been a tradition of recording music from stage works in their original form with the stage performers in Great Britain, such recordings were only occasional in the U.S." Therefore, "the idea of putting together an album of several 78-rpm records containing a show's major songs as performed on-stage was relatively new." According to him, the album's huge commercial success "forever changed the record business" and laid the foundation for the future "domination of record sales by the cast and soundtrack albums" that lasted 20 years.

Track listing

Album of six 10-inch 78-rpm phonograph records (Decca A-359)

References