美國音樂劇學者將1943年作為音樂劇歷史的一座里程碑，原因在於當年正是《奧克拉荷馬！》首演之年，這齣劇以寓意式的地方性題材展現美國的民族性、本土化，革命性的突破了歐洲輕歌劇的傳統模式，成功的塑造出美國人本土的音樂劇。
成立於1918年的「戲劇協會」(Theatre Guild) 是個講究戲劇藝術的團體，藉由發起人羅倫斯‧廉納 (Lawrence Langer) 長期的經營，以及製作人特蕾莎‧海爾本 (Theresa Helburn) 尊重戲劇專業的態度，才能克服現實問題並成功的推出《奧克拉荷馬！》。另外，作曲家理查‧羅傑斯 (Richard Rodgers) 與作詞家奧斯卡‧漢姆斯特恩二世 (Oscar Hammerstein II)「先作詞再作曲」的合作模式，使富有韻律的歌詞與音樂成功結合，並藉由歌曲串聯劇情、表達意識形態，大大的提升了歌曲在音樂劇中扮演的角色。

Most of American musical savants took the year of 1943 as a milestone in the musical history. The reason lied in the Oklahoma! opened on Broadway in that year. This musical succeeded to break the traditional style of Europeanize operetta by local story with implied meaning which expressed America’s nationality and localization.
Theatre Guild established in 1918 was an art theatre group. Due to the founder, Lawrence Langer’s long-run operation and Theresa Helburn’s attitude in respecting professional, Theatre Guild could then overcome the financial problems to successfully produce Oklahoma! Besides, the collaboration of composer and lyricist was different from anterior musical. With Oscar Hammerstein II writing lyric first and Richard Rodgers composing music later, Rodger’s rhythmic music perfectly matched Hammerstien’s lyricism, and with the songs linking up the story plots and expressing ideology, they greatly escalated the role of songs playing in musical.

中文書目
余光雄。《英語語言學概論》。台北：書林，民82。
李永剛。《實用歌曲作法》。台北：全音，民89。
邱瑗。《Show Time! 音樂劇的九種風情》。台北：音樂時代文化，民95。
楊蔭瀏。《中國音樂史綱》。台北：樂韻，民85。
蕭興華。《中國音樂史》。台北：文津，民83。
慕羽。《百老匯音樂劇：美國夢和一個恆久的象徵》。台北：大地，民93。
________。《西方音樂劇史》。上海：上海音樂，2004。
蘇維雄。《英詩韻律學》。台北：台灣商務，民56。
羅基敏。《文話文化音樂》。台北：高談文化，民92。
中文期刊
林蓓莉。〈唱作俱佳的生意經〉。《表演藝術》No. 53 (四月號，1997)：19-21。
青廷。〈除了熱鬧，「融合」仍須努力〉。《表演藝術》No. 53 (四月號，1997)：22-23。
陳音如。〈熱門音樂劇台北不打烊〉。《表演藝術》No. 77 (五月號，1999)：24-25。
陳煒智。〈一把無名火，點燃百年風流：百老匯音樂劇發展史上的十件大事〉。《表演藝術》No. 139 (七月號，2004)：17-37。
耿一偉、陳煒智、田國平。〈音樂劇相關歷史年表〉。《表演藝術》No. 139 (七月號，2004)：22-23。
羅北安。〈藝術創作沒困難，只有挑戰〉。《表演藝術》No. 53 (四月號，1997)：24-25。
學術論文
程鈺婷。〈芝加哥一齣概念式音樂劇的實踐〉。國立台北藝術大學碩士論文，2006。
郭澤寬。〈臺灣現代中文歌劇創作之研究〉。國立高雄師範大學博士論文，2006。
薛雅琦。〈伯恩斯坦輕歌劇「憨第德」之音樂素材運用〉。國立台灣師範大學碩士論文，2006。
外文書目
Baker, Ann, and Sharon Goldstein. Pronunciation Pairs: an introductory course for students of English. Cambridge: Cambridge, 1997.
Bell, Marty. Broadway Stories: a backstage journey through musical theatre. New York: Sue Katz & Associates, 1993.
Block, Geoffrey, ed. The Richard Rodgers Reader. New York: Oxford University, 2002.
Bordman, Gerald. American Musical Comedy: From Adonis to Dreamgirls. New York: Oxford University, 1982.
________. American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. New York: Oxford University, 2001.
Brantley, Ben, ed. The New York Times book of Broadway: on the aisle for the unforgettable plays of the last century. New York: St. Martin’s, 2001.
De Mille, Agnes. Speak to Me, Dance with Me. Boston: An Atlantic Monthly, 1973.
DeVenney, David P. The Broadway Song Companinon: an annotated guide to musical theatre literature by voice type and song style. Lanham: Scarecrow, 1998.
Easton, Carol. No Intermissions: The Life of Agnes de Mille. Canada: Little, Brown & Company, 1996.
Engel, Lehman. Words with music: the Broadway musical libretto. New York: Schirmer, 1981, c1972.
Everett, William A., and Paul R. Laird, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Musical. New York: Cambridge University, 2002.
Ewen, David. Panorama of American Popular Music: the story of Our National ballads and folk songs—the songs of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and Hollywood—New Orleans jazz, swing and symphonic jazz. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1957.
Fink, Bert comp. Rodgers & Hammerstein Birthday Book: a celebration of the world’s best loved musicals. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1993.
Forte, Allen. The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era, 1924-1950.New Jersey: Princeton University, 1995.
Grote, David. Staging the Musical: organizing, planning, and rehearsing the amateur production. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1986.
Green, Stanley. Broadway Musical, Show by Show. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 1987.
________. The World of Musical Comedy: The story of the American musical stage as told through the careers of its foremost composers and lyricists. New York: Da Capo, 1984.
Hamm, Charles. Yesterdays: Popular song in America. New York: W. W. Norton, 1979.
Hammerstein II, Oscar. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1949.
________. Lyrics. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1949.
Helburn, Theresa. A Wayward Quest: the autobiography of Theresa Helburn. Boston: Little, Brown, 1960.
Henderson, Mary C. Theater in America: 200 years of plays, players, and productions. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1986.
Hischak, Thomas S. Word Crazy: Broadway lyricists from Cohan to Sondheim. New York: Praeger, 1991.
Josefs, Jai. Writing music for hit songs: including new songs from the '90s. New York: Schirmer, 1996, c1989.
Kasha, Al, and Joel Hirschhorn. Notes on Broadway: conversations with the great songwriters. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1985.
Kislan, Richard. Hoofing on Broadway: a history of show dancing. New York: Prentice Hall, 1987.
Langner, Lawrence. The Magic Curtain: the story of a life in two fields, theatre and invention. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1951.
Long, Robert Emmet. Broadway, the golden years: Jerome Robbins and the great choreographer-directors: 1940 to the present. New York: Continuum, 2001.
McGovern, Dennis, and Deborah Grace Winer. Sing out, Louise! : 150 stars of the musical theatre remember 50 years on Broadway. New York: Schirmer, 1993.
Middleton, Richard. Studying popular music. Philadelphia: Open University, 1990.
Morton, Robert, ed. Rodgers & Hammerstein Birthday Book: A celebration of the world’s best loved musicals. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1993.
Nolan, Frederick. The Sound of Their Music: the story of Rodgers and Hammerstein. New York: Applause, 2002.
Riggs, Lynn. The Cherokee night and other plays. Norman: Oklahoma University, 2003.
Rodgers, Richard. Musical Stages: An Autobiography. New York: Da Capo Press, 2002.
________, and Oscar Hammerstein II. 6 Plays by Rodgers and Hammerstein. New York: Modern Library, 1953.
Rosenberg, Bernard, and Ernest Harburg. The Broadway Musical: collaboration in commerce and art. New York: New York University, 1993.
Rubin, Rachel, and Jeffrey Melnick. American popular music: new approaches to the twentieth century. Amherst [MA]: University of Massachusetts, 2001.
Secrest, Meryle. Somewhere for me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.
Tamplin, Ronald. Rhythm and Rhyme. Buckingham: Open University, 1994.
Thall, Peter M. What They’ll Never Tell You about the Music Business: the myths, the secrets, the lies (& a few truths). New York: Watson-Guptill, 2002.
The Theatre Guild Anthology. With an introduction by the Board of directors of the Theatre Guild. New York: Random House, 1936.
Wilk, Max. OK! The Story of Oklahoma! New York: Applause, 1993.
________. Overture and Finale: Rodgers & Hammerstein and the Creation of Their Two Greatest Hits. New York: Back Stage, 1993.
外文期刊
Filmer, Paul, Val Rimmer, and Dave Walsh. “Oklahoma!: ideology and politics in the vernacular tradition of the American musical” Popular Music, vol. 18, no. 3 (October 1999): 381-396.
Gordon, John Steele. “Oklahoma!” American Heritage, vol. 44, issue 1 (Feb/Mar, 1993): 58.
Mason, Keith. “Richard Rodgers: the man and his music” Music Educators Journal, vol. 88, issue 6 (May 2002): 17.
Sheed, Wilfrid. “The Songwriters in Hollywood” American Heritage, vol. 44, no. 6 (October, 1993): 82.
Vacha, John E. “The Sound of Musicals: How orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett helped shape many a Broadway show” Opera News (July 1993): 22-23.
樂譜
Rodgers, Richard and Oscar Hammerstein II. Oklahoma! New York: Williamson, 1943.
Rodgers & Hammerstein. Oklahoma! Milwaukk: Hal Leonard, 1943.
Rodgers & Hammerstein. The Illustrated Songbook. Milwaukk: Hal Leonard, 1998.
有聲資料
Rodgers, Richard. Nelson Eddy in Oklahoma! Nelson Eddy, starring, Lehman Engel. CD. Columbia, 1952. Reissue, Sony Broadway, SK 53326, 1993.
Rodgers, Richard. Oklahoma! : 16 original recordings. Prism Leisure, PLATCD 729, 2002.
Rodgers, Richard. Oklahoma! : Featuring members of the original New York production. Jay Blackton. CD. Decca, 1943. Reissue, Decca Broadway, 012 157 981-2, 1993.
Rodgers, Richard. Oklahoma! : Howard Keel, Betty Jane Watson & the original London Cast. Rod McKuen, produced. CD. Stanyan, 1972. Reissue, Laserlight, 12 450, 1995.
Rodgers, Richard and Oscar Hammerstein II. Oklahoma! Arthur Hornblow, produced. DVD. 1955. Reissue, CBS/Fox, 1999.
Rodgers, Richard and Oscar Hammerstein II. Oklahoma! Trevor Nunn and Chris Hunt, directed. DVD. Will Go, AWD-033, 1999.
參考網站
東尼獎 http://www.broadway.com/tonys/tonys_buzz.aspx
百老匯網路資料庫 (Internet Broadway Database) http://www.ibdb.com/default.asp
紐約市百老匯劇院導覽 (New York City Landmark Guide) http://www.jimsdeli.com/theater/default.htm
大眾廣播機構 (PBS) 之百老匯經典音樂劇 (Broadway: The American Musical, Memorable Musicals) http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/musicals/index.html
大眾廣播機構 (PBS) 之作曲家與作詞家百科全書 (Encyclopedia of Composers & Songwriters) http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/songbook/multimedia/index.html
紐約建築物影像 (New York Architecture Images) 之聖詹姆斯劇院的歷史沿革http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID115.htm
耶魯大學貝尼克稀有文件手稿圖書館 (Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library) 之「美國藝術史上女性」(Intimate Circles: American Women in the Arts) http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/awia/gallery/helburn.html
柏萊‧莫爾大學 (Bryn Mawr College) 特蕾莎‧海爾本之戲劇檔案 (The Theresa Helburn Theatre Collections) http://people.brynmawr.edu/cwillifo/helburn/about.html