R&H Theatricals to Release Student Versions of OKLAHOMA! and ONCE UPON A MATTRESS

Students will soon be able to take the stage in new, age-friendly versions of the classic musicals OKLAHOMA! and ONCE UPON A MATTRESS.

R&H Theatricals, a division of Rodgers & Hammerstein, an Imagem Company, is releasing Getting To Know...OKLAHOMA! and Getting To Know...ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, it was announced today by Rodgers & Hammerstein president Ted Chapin and iTheatrics founder and CEO Timothy Allen McDonald. The Getting to Know... titles are 60 minute educational versions for performance by young people.

Applications are being accepted now at www.rnh.com/collection/10/Getting-To-Know. A free perusal is available through the end of October 2015 at www.rnh.com/login.html?referer=lrf-perusal-request.html.

"OKLAHOMA! changed the course of musical theatre; the show was the first time people saw drama, comedy, music and dance seamlessly working together to further the plot. Meanwhile, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS was a different kind of revelation. The musical takes an accepted and revered fairy tale, and -- playfully, charmingly and lovingly -- turns all the expectations associated with it 180 degrees. It's a show that continues to illustrate the power that art has to encourage each of us to think about the world with a fresh new perspective," says Ted Chapin, President of Rodgers & Hammerstein. "These two musicals are some of the first that we have made available through the re-launch of our Getting to Know... collection as they represent such important aspects of the musical theatre experience."

The hour-long musicals were adapted for student performance by iTheatrics, the world's leading authority on musical theatre for young people, under the supervision of its founder and CEO, Timothy Allen McDonald. iTheatrics has been collaborating with Rodgers & Hammerstein to completely re-imagine the entire Getting To Know Collection.... Prior to this, the companies released Getting To Know...THE SOUND OF MUSIC into the educational theatre market.

"OKLAHOMA! and ONCE UPON A MATTRESS are two of the shows that made me fall in love with musical theatre," says Timothy Allen McDonald, "Since the Getting To Know... titles make it possible for groups of all levels to present successful productions, the release of these educational versions means exponentially more young people will get to experience these musicals on stage, backstage or in the audience. R&H Theatricals' Getting To Know... series is not only engaging students in musical theatre's cultural history, it is shaping its future," he adds.

The Getting To Know... OKLAHOMA! release comes at a particularly relevant time as a fully-restored film version of the Academy Award-winning 1955 film version of the musical will return to theatres for the first time in 60 years with more than 800 screenings nationwide, beginning November 1st. Tickets for the OKLAHOMA! special event are available at participating theatre box offices and online at www.Oklahoma60.com. The film event includes an extended pre-show featurette featuring Oklahoma native Kristin Chenoweth singing songs from the classic musical based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II stage production.

All the music in the Getting To Know Collection... has been transposed into keys appropriate for young voices and each title comes with accompanying show-specific resources which make sure that educators of all levels may produce an engaging and successful theatre production with students. These resources include: vocal and accompaniment tracks (no accompanist needed); a guide to Staging and Choreography DVD featuring numbers from the show fully presented by iTheatrics' resident choreographer Steven G. Kennedy in collaboration with a student cast; a fully annotated production guide detailing the process of producing this show with young people on every budget and experience level; a music cue sheet; a props and costumes list, and a scene-by-scene set breakdown.

All licensees will have immediate access to an instant digital download rehearsal ready pack, which includes audition-ready materials, the production guide and vocal tracks so that directors may get started on their productions prior to receiving their physical Production Pack.

OKLAHOMA! is based on the 1931 play "Green Grow the Lilacs" by Lynn Riggs and features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and original dances by Agnes de Mille. The show depicts life in the Oklahoma territory just before statehood in the early 1900s. It is recognized as the first musical play and kicked off what is known as the "Golden Age" of musical theatre. Oklahoma! was the first of many musicals written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was not only a smash hit on Broadway when it opened in 1943, but it also led to countless touring productions, revivals, awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and the Academy Award-winning movie version, which was released in 1955.

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS features music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barker, and a book by Jay Thompson, Dan Fuller and Marshall Barker and is based on the fairytale, "The Princess and the Pea," by Hans Christian Andersen. In the musical Queen Aggravain has declared that no one in her land may wed until her son, Prince Dauntless, finds a suitable wife, yet the regent sabotages every potential bride. Once Upon a Mattress debuted off-Broadway in 1959, eventually ran on Broadway for 244 performances and earned a Tony nomination for Best Musical. The 1959 production also gave actress Carol Burnett her Broadway debut. Once Upon a Mattress has enjoyed three televised productions (1964, 1972, and 2005) and its Broadway revival in 1996 was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

Founded in 2006 by educator and author Timothy Allen McDonald, and headquartered in New York City, iTheatrics is the world's leading authority on musical theatre for young people. iTheatrics develops collections of musicals for leading musical theatre licensing agencies including the the Getting To Know... Collection (R&H Theatricals); the Young Performers' Edition of musicals (Tams-Witmark Music Library); and the Broadway Junior Collection and School Edition musicals (Music Theatre International and Disney Theatrical Group). Working with esteemed partners such as the President's Committee on Arts and the Humanities, New York City's Department of Education, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, McGraw-Hill Education and NBC Universal, iTheatrics develops and implements dynamic programs to build cost-effective and sustainable musical theatre programs in under-served schools. iTheatrics produces the annual Junior Theater Festival, the world's largest festival exclusively dedicated to celebrating young people and student-driven musical theatre. Find out how you can make the world a better place - one musical at a time - at iTheatrics.com.

As the theatrical licensing division of Rodgers & Hammerstein, R&H Theatricals represents the theatrical works of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adam Guettel and many more. We are the liaison between those who own the musicals we represent and those who wish to present them. On behalf of the copyright owners, we issue performance licenses to our customers granting the live stage production rights.

Our extremely wide range of customers includes over 50,000 elementary, middle and high schools; summer stock and dinner theaters; colleges and universities; regional theaters and opera companies; community, civic and religious organizations; youth theaters, cruise ships, casinos, and hotels worldwide. In addition to being served by R&H Theatrical offices in New York, London and Berlin, our catalogue of musicals is represented by agents around the world. Our customers encompass anyone and everyone who desires, anywhere in the world, to experience and share the joy of live musical theater.

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