Why (Not) This One? Why (Not) Now? Why Bother?

In 1943, De Mille was hired to choreograph the musical Oklahoma! , which became an overnight sensation and ran for a record-setting 2,212 performances. Feeling that critics and the public had long ignored work into which she had poured her heart and soul, De Mille found herself dispirited by the sense that something she considered “only fairly good” was suddenly hailed as a “flamboyant success.”