History Theatre / Oklahoma

* IrrelevantActOpener: Subverted with "The Farmer and the Cowman," which begins like this, but soon turns into a heated argument and a fight between the farmers and cowboys, which Aunt Eller has to break up by brandishing a gun.

The musical is a radical departure from the mostly fluffy musical comedies that had preceded it. It integrated the book (the spoken dialogue) with the music without attempting to justify it. Its use of dance as adding to the plot and atmosphere was also a change from the showgirls of previous musicals. It was not the first to use such techniques (''Theatre/ShowBoat'', which also featured lyrics and libretto written by Hammerstein, predated it by nearly 20 years), but its impact is unmistakable.

%% * TheBrainlessBeauty: Ado Annie

* TheCasanova: Ali Hakim, who has a girl (or two or three) in every town along his peddling route..

%%* PlotParallel

%% * SexDressed

%% * PleaseIWillDoAnything: Not outright stated but implied in the dream sequence.

* AlternateShowInterpretation: The 2019 Broadway revival, which restaged the show in modern times, stripped down the orchestrations to a minimalist band, and had more of an emphasis on gun violence. It went on to win the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

%% * TheElevenOClockNumber: "Oklahoma!", added between tryouts and the show's Broadway premiere, was one of these (the show was originally titled '"Away We Go!"' And was renamed after the number was added).

* ImmuneToBullets: Jud in movie's DreamBallet doesn't even react to Curly's shots.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The 2019 revival placed much more emphasis on the darkness of the show, achieving this primarily through staging the most uncomfortable scenes completely in the dark, leaving the lights on otherwise so the audience was complicit, giving more sympathy to Jud as an outsider pstracized by the town, and changing the ending [[spoiler:into a case of SuicideByCop]] while [[MoodDissonance keeping the cheery finale song]].

* DarkReprise: The 'sarcastic echo' version occurs in the supposedly friendly and upbeat "The Farmer and the Cowman", which keeps being undercut as the farmers and the cowmen interject sarcastic comments into the praises of the other. Unlike most other sarcastic echoes, the other party does notice and it nearly leads to BarBrawl at the social.

%% * ImmuneToBullets: Jud, in the DreamBallet.
%% * ImprobableAimingSkills: Curly shows these off during his confrontation with Jud, shooting through a knothole "no bigger than a dime".

%% * VillainousCrush: Jud for Laurey, though how much one considers Jud to be a villain is up for debate.

* DisneyAcidSequence: The 2019 revival of the show portrayed the dream ballet as a ''very'' trippy dream sequence, with electric guitars to emphasize the feeling of being out-of-place.

* BetaCouple: Will and Ado Annie. Their romance is more straightforward that Laurie and Curly's in that both actually admit that they love each other, but is complicated by Annie's [[ReallyGetsAround promiscuity]] and Andrew's dislike of Will as a suitor for his daughter.

* MelancholyMusicalNumber: Curly attempts to persuade Jud to hang himself, and "Lonely Room" begins with Jud detailing how miserable his life is. However, at the end, rather than deciding to kill himself, he decides he will instead take what he wants (i.e. Laurie) and kill whoever stands in his way.

* ObsessionSong: Jud Frye's song "Lonely Room" starts off as a self-pitying reflection of how empty and meaningless his life is, but turns into an angry obsession song by the end as he decides he is going to leave his room and take what he believes is his by rights, i.e. Laurie.

** To be fair, he stalks her and it's quite clear Laurey's picnic basket isn't what Just is after.

* FelonyMisdemeanor: Laurey is horrified over this, weeps over this, has nightmares over this. Curly would rather see Jud dead than let him go through with this. Curly sells every prized possession he has to stop this from happening. And in the end Jud ''DIES'' over this. The crime? Asking Laurey out on a date, taking her to a party, and bidding on a picnic basket. To be fair, he does stalk her.

* MobileKiosk: Ali Hakim the peddler has one of these, from which he sells just about everything, inckuding the 'magic potion' (i.e. laudanum) Laurey takes to receive her dream vision.

* ParentalMarriageVeto: Andrew Carnes' won't give his consent to Will marrying his daughter Ado Annie unless Will can prove that her can earn, and hang on to, $50 ($1,400 in today's money).

* BetaCouple: Will and Ado Annie. Their romance is more straightforward that Laurie and Curly's in that both actually admit that they love each other, but is complicated by Annie's [[RealyGetsAround promiscuity]] and Andrew's dislike of Will as a suitor for his daughter.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Some versions of Laurey (the rough-and-tumble farm girl) and Ado Annie (a voluptuous FamersDaughter who enjoys male attention).

%% * BetaCouple: Will and Ado Annie

%% * TheCasanova: Ali Hakim.

%%* MobileKiosk: Ali Hakim the peddler has one of these.

%%* NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight: A lesson [[spoiler: Jud]] would do well to learn.

%% * ShipperOnDeck: Pretty much the entire town for Laurey/Curly, as the song "People Will Say We're in Love" hints at. Most definitely Aunt Eller.

%% * SnakeOilSalesman: Ali Hakim.
%% * StalkerWithACrush: Jud.

%% * TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Some variations of Laurey and Ado Annie.

%% * UnableToSupportAWife: Will's problem, which is why he needs $50 to marry Ado Annie.

* VillainSong: "Lonely Room," and it's a damn good one. This is the moment that it becomes clear that, Curly being kind of a jerk to him aside, Jud is actually quite dangerous and Laurey may be in trouble.

%% * ReallyGetsAround: She ''is'' a girl who can't say no, after all.

* HotterAndSexier: The 2019 revival, sometime nicknamed "Sexy Oklahoma".

* MelancholyMusicalNumber: Curly attempts to persuade Jud to hang himself, and "Lonely Room" begins with Jud detailing how miserable his life is. However, at the end, rather than deciding to kill himself, he decides will instead take what he wants (i.e. Laurie) and kill whoever stands in his way.