The musical Oklahoma! captures American optimism and American romanticism celebrated in the work of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. This paper looks at the scenic design of a post-Y2K production of the musical and the evolving gender implications of its female characters through costume design. The final section, “Epilogue: Osage County,” evaluates the values of twenty-first-century America as demonstrated by the tragicomical Tracy Letts play August: Osage County, set in modern-day Oklahoma.
Matthew J. Kennedy 