In America the musical was renewed (rinnovato) during the 1920s and early 1930s. Lyricist (scrittori di libretti) Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) and composer Jerome Kern (1885-1945) created the musical Show Boat (1927). Later, the collaboration between librettist Oscar Hammerstein II and composer Richard Rodgers launched (lanciarono) light-hearted (leggero) musicals, in particular the love story Oklahoma! (1943) which was successfully performed (ebbe successo) until the 1960s, and The Sound of Music (1959) which was made into a movie (fu adattato in film) by Robert Nize in 1965. Oklahoma! is based on Lynn Riggs’ 1931 play, Green Grow (crescono) the Lilacs.It takes place in Oklahoma Territory in 1906 and it tells the love stories of cowboy Curly McLain and the farm girl (contadina) Laurey Williams and cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious (civettuola) fiancée (fidanzata), Ado Annie. Oklahoma had been an immediate success since the opening of the production on March 31, 1943 and ran (furono fatte repliche) for an record period of time: 2,243 performances. Inspired to the previous musical Show Boat, it exemplified the development of the “book musical”: a musical play where the songs and dances are fully integrated (integrate) into a well-made story which mixes (mecsola) dramatic moments with laughters (risate).The 1955 film adaptation by Fred Zinnermann was also awarded (premiata)of the Academy Awards (Oscar) for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Sound.