The play was produced by the Theatre Guild and directed by Herbert J. Biberman. Franchot Tone portrayed cowboy Curly; June Walker was seen as his sweetheart Laurey. Tex Ritter sang four songs in the role of Cord Elam and was the understudy for the lead part as Curly, though he never had occasion to perform in that role. Theatre Guild board member Helen Westley, who had appeared as Mrs. Muskat in the original Broadway production of Ferenc Molnár's Liliom, played Aunt Eller. Lee Strasberg, later to become a teacher of method acting, played the part of the Syrian peddler. The play also toured the Midwest, and appeared at the Dallas Little Theatre during the week of March 7, 1932, and again in Dallas at the Festival of Southwestern Plays, on May 10, 1935.[2]
The 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play Oklahoma! was based on the Riggs play. It uses newly composed songs in place of the traditional folk songs in Riggs' work, but the plot is largely similar, though the endings are different: unlike the musical, the end of Green Grow The Lilacs is left rather undecided as to Curly's trial for accidentally killing farmhand Jeeter (renamed Jud Fry in the musical).[3] In addition, the cowboy Will Parker is only referred to in the Riggs play and does not actually appear in it; the entire comic subplot involving the fifty dollars that Will must obtain in order to be able to marry Ado Annie is an invention of Hammerstein's.
Green Grow the Lilacs is today rarely performed, while Oklahoma! is a widely acclaimed and popular American musical.
green, grow, lilacs, play, green, grow, lilacs, play, lynn, riggs, performed, times, broadway, opening, guild, theatre, january, 1931, closing, march, 1931, town, tryout, running, january, 1931, national, theatre, washington, basis, 1943, musical, oklahoma, wh. Green Grow the Lilacs is a play by Lynn Riggs 1 It was performed 64 times on Broadway opening at the Guild Theatre on January 26 1931 and closing March 21 1931 It had had an out of town tryout running January 19 24 1931 at the National Theatre in Washington D C It is the basis of the 1943 musical Oklahoma which had a 1955 film adaptation Green Grow the LilacsFirst edition 1931Written byLynn RiggsDate premieredDecember 8 1930Place premieredTremont Theater BostonOriginal languageEnglishSubjectLoveGenreDramaSettingIndian Territory Oklahoma 1900 Contents 1 Production 2 Characters 3 Setting 4 References 5 External linksProduction edit nbsp June Walker Laurey Williams Helen Westley Aunt Eller Murphy and Franchot Tone Curly McClain in the original Broadway production of Green Grow the Lilacs 1931 The play was produced by the Theatre Guild and directed by Herbert J Biberman Franchot Tone portrayed cowboy Curly June Walker was seen as his sweetheart Laurey Tex Ritter sang four songs in the role of Cord Elam and was the understudy for the lead part as Curly though he never had occasion to perform in that role Theatre Guild board member Helen Westley who had appeared as Mrs Muskat in the original Broadway production of Ferenc Molnar s Liliom played Aunt Eller Lee Strasberg later to become a teacher of method acting played the part of the Syrian peddler The play also toured the Midwest and appeared at the Dallas Little Theatre during the week of March 7 1932 and again in Dallas at the Festival of Southwestern Plays on May 10 1935 2 The 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play Oklahoma was based on the Riggs play It uses newly composed songs in place of the traditional folk songs in Riggs work but the plot is largely similar though the endings are different unlike the musical the end of Green Grow The Lilacs is left rather undecided as to Curly s trial for accidentally killing farmhand Jeeter renamed Jud Fry in the musical 3 In addition the cowboy Will Parker is only referred to in the Riggs play and does not actually appear in it the entire comic subplot involving the fifty dollars that Will must obtain in order to be able to marry Ado Annie is an invention of Hammerstein s Green Grow the Lilacs is today rarely performed while Oklahoma is a widely acclaimed and popular American musical Characters editCurly McClain Aunt Eller Murphy Laurey Williams Jeeter Fry Ado Annie Carnes A Syrian Peddler Cord Elam Old Man PeckSetting edit nbsp Poster for a 1937 Federal Theatre Project production of Green Grow the LilacsIndian Territory 1900 Scene 1 The front or living room of the Williams farmhouse a June morning Scene 2 Laurey s bedroom Scene 3 The smoke house Scene 4 The porch of Old Man Peck s house that night Scene 5 The hayfield a month later Scene 6 The front room three nights laterReferences edit Green Grow The Lilacs A Play Lynn Riggs Samuel French Inc 1931 ISBN 0 573 60962 4 Lynn Riggs Archived 2009 04 13 at the Wayback Machine Mary Hays Marable and Elaine Boylan pages 93 96 of A Handbook of Oklahoma Writers University of Oklahoma Press Norman Oklahoma 1939 ASIN B0006AONUW Lynn Riggs An Oklahoma Treasure Archived 2011 10 04 at the Wayback Machine Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma Archived 2011 10 04 at the Wayback MachineExternal links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Green Grow the Lilacs play Green Grow the Lilacs production credits Internet Broadway Database Green Grow the Lilacs at NMAI Broadway s Forgotten Man by Charles Morrow nbsp This Oklahoma related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Green Grow the Lilacs play amp oldid 1174848732, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,