The audiences who gather at the Civic Center this week for performances of “Oklahoma!” are likely there to enjoy the Lyric Theatre’s adaptation of the state’s namesake musical.
When they do, they’ll also be supporting medical research.
For the past half-century, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has received a small share of the gate whenever and wherever “Oklahoma!” is performed. To date, that’s meant a total of $860,000 to support OMRF’s work.
“There’s a unique bond between the musical and the medical research foundation that both bear our state’s name,” said OMRF President Andrew Weyrich, Ph.D. “I can’t imagine there’s another production that simultaneously helps fight human disease while entertaining thousands of people.”
It wouldn’t be possible without Oklahoma-born playwright Lynn Riggs.
In 1930, Riggs wrote “Green Grow the Lilacs,” a play based on characters from his hometown of Claremore. Although the play closed the next year after only 64 performances, it found new life in 1943, when “Green Grow the Lilacs” inspired a new play – “Oklahoma!” – by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.
“Oklahoma!” borrowed heavily from the original play, with Hammerstein once telling the New York Times that Riggs’ work served as “the wellspring of almost all that is good in ‘Oklahoma!’”
For his contributions, Riggs received a 1% royalty of the show’s box office receipts.
When Riggs died, the royalty was divided evenly among William Edgar Riggs and his three other siblings. William Edgar Riggs lost his wife to heart disease and his daughter to cancer. When he passed away in 1974, he left his entire estate – including his royalty share – to OMRF to benefit research in those areas.
The original production of “Oklahoma!” was performed on Broadway more than 2,000 times over five years. Since then, it has enjoyed film adaptations, several revivals on Broadway and the West End, multiple national tours and countless local productions.
“We’ve received a lot of estate gifts over the years, but this one is easily the most unusual,” said Penny Voss, OMRF’s vice president of philanthropy and community relations. “It really is the gift that keeps on giving.”
