When Oklahoma! hit Broadway, the American musical changed, and for good. For the first time, a serious-minded book and sensitive lyrics were wedded inextricably to music in a way that deepened the experience on both sides. And what’s more, audiences loved it. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II would go on to have a string of hits, but arguably none was quite as revolutionary as Oklahoma!.

Given its reputation, it’s perhaps surprising that we’ve had to wait until now for a recording of the complete score in Robert Russell Bennett’s original orchestrations, and performed by the exact forces that played opening night, 31st March 1943, at the St. James Theatre in New York City. Thanks to the expert attentions of the indefatigable John Wilson and his stellar Sinfonia of London, we get to hear the show as Rodgers and Hammerstein would have heard it. Yes, historically informed performance has come to Broadway, and it couldn’t be hipper.

Curiously, the greatest song-writing team in musical theatre history might never have been. Following his success in 1927 with the ground-breaking Showboat