On July 8th 1958 the first Gold record album presented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was awarded to the soundtrack LP, Oklahoma!
The honor signified that sales of the album had reached one million dollars.
Oklahoma! was the first musical written by the legendary duo of Rogers and Hammerstein and was based on a 1931 play, Green Grow The Lilacs.
The original Broadway production opened in March 1943 and ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances.
Then, in 1955, came the film adaptation starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones and Rod Steiger.
In 2007 Oklahoma! was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.
Enjoy songs from this and many other musicals on our dedicated Collections radio station.