MUSE/IQUE explores the making of ‘Oklahoma!’ and the Broadway musical

MUSE/IQUE’s next show of their 2024 season is “Plenty of Heart. Plenty of Hope, The Making of Oklahoma! and the Broadway Musical.” The concerts take place on July 26 and July 27 at 7:30 p.m. and July 28 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at The Wallis in Beverly Hills.

The concert is partially inspired by Todd S. Purdum’s acclaimed book, “Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution.” Purdum, Vanity Fair national editor and political correspondent, will appear on stage, and serves as an artistic and historical advisor to the concert.

Joining Artistic and Music Director Rachael Worby and the MUSE/IQUE orchestra onstage as guest performers are 2024 Tony Nominee Brandon Victor Dixon, direct from “Hell’s Kitchen” on Broadway; American Ballet Theatre principal dancer and choreographer Herman Cornejo; acclaimed opera mezzo soprano Abi Levis; and the DC6 Singer Collective.

Purdum wrote in “Something Wonderful,” “From the distance of three-quarters of a century, it is difficult to fathom just how revolutionary ‘Oklahoma!’ was in its day. It was not, as if so often said, the first musical play to integrate dance into its drama. Nor was it the first to eschew the typical musical comedy conventions, such as an opening chorus. Nor was it the first to deal with serious themes and personalities in its storyline. But ‘Oklahoma!’ was the first to do all three at once. ‘Oklahoma!’ was in its day as radical in its way as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop genre bending ‘Hamilton’ would be more than 70 years later.”

“The reason was simple: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s combined lifetimes of consummate theatrical knowledge, taste and skill. Between them they knew virtually everything there was to know about the theater … by the time the two men teamed up, Hammerstein would recall years later, they didn’t ‘want anything that looks like a good musical comedy.’ They wanted something else.’ In their prime, they seemed to stand for the best of America: forward-looking, liberal, innovative, internationalist — progressive both artistically and ideologically.”

Worby said, “Please join MUSE/IQUE for the dazzling story of how the Broadway musical came to represent hope and wonder in American culture. We trace the history of the modern musical beginning with the provocative, unprecedented ‘Oklahoma!,’ which dared to tackle darker themes and serious subject matter, all while capturing the hopeful, resilient spirit of the nation during World War II. In the 80 years since, brave artists have continued to push the boundaries of Broadway even further.”

The MUSE/IQUE program features songs from the classical musical along with works that followed and were influenced by “Oklahoma!” including songs from “West Side Story,” “Company,” “Hair,” “The Wiz,” “Company,” and “Hamilton,” among others.

Purdum concluded, “If they had never so much as met, Rodgers and Hammerstein each would be remembered as signal figures in theatrical history. Together they achieved immorality. But no one could have known that on the long-ago March evening [that ‘Oklahoma!’ opened in 1943] when a handsome young cowhand loped onto a stage, singing about the dawn.”

Reservations for “Plenty Of Heart, Plenty Of Hope” are now open. Visit muse-ique.com to learn about attending MUSE/IQUE events and to explore membership plans.