One hundred years ago, dozens of young California men enrolled at the new University Farm, studying agriculture and no doubt vying for the attention of the few women who also enrolled at the place that would become UC Davis.

Half a continent away, in Indian Territory, farmers and cowmen with names like Curly and Jud were fighting over fences, and vying for the attention of young women like Laurey and Ado Annie. They are among the characters of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! — which takes place in the early years of the 20th century, around the same time the University Farm came into being.

No wonder the Department of Theatre and Dance and the Department of Music decided to present this classic musical as a UC Davis Centennial event.

Based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs, Oklahoma! was first staged in 1943 and has become one of the best-loved musicals of all time. Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics) received the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1944 for Oklahoma! It was their first collaboration, and they went on to craft a string of famously popular Broadway musicals during the 1940s and '50s.  

Granada Artist-in-Residence and Broadway artist Mindy Cooper is directing the UC Davis Centennial's Oklahoma! with a cast of university, community and professional actors. Cooper previously served as a theatre and dance department Granada artist in residence in 2007, when she directed and choreographed the department’s production of Urinetown.

UC Davis students comprise the majority of the 31 people in the Oklahoma! cast. They include graduate students and undergraduates, and a few high school students and other people from the community.

Thirty-five people — graduate students, undergrads and faculty — are in the orchestra. The conductor is David Moschler, who is completing his master’s degree program in music with an emphasis in conducting.

The production also features an onstage band: Frogstrekers, with violin, banjo, guitar and bass.

Oklahoma! is a family-friendly musical, delivering “exciting scenes with cowboys, roping and dancing,” declares the Web site for the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, where the university production is being staged.

“It offers emotional value in a love story tangled by jealousy and pride and enduring songs like ‘Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ ’ and ‘Surrey with the Fringe on Top.’”

With an overall production cost of $185,000, Oklahoma! may represent the largest undertaking ever between the theatre-dance and music departments. More than 300 rehearsal hours have gone into the production, and 150 hours into the planning and construction of props.

Three-hundred batteries are being used in wireless microphones. And the orchestra will be using new music stands with energy-efficient lighting (light-emitting diodes). They replace music stands with incandescent lights.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Oklahoma!

WHEN: 8 p.m. May 2, 8 and 9, and 2 p.m. May 3 and 10

WHERE: Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

TICKETS

General: $28, $24, $20 in advance (add $2 for purchases at the door)

Students and children: $20, $16, $12 in advance (add $2 for purchases at the door)

MAY 3 DISCOUNTS:

General: $16, $14, $12 in advance (add $2 for purchases at the door)

Students and children: $12, $10, $8 in advance (add $2 for purchases at the door)

Tickets are available through the Mondavi Center box office: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or www.mondaviarts.org.

PREPERFORMANCE TALK: With dramaturge Jon Rossini, professor, Department of Theatre and Dance, discussing the history, influence and importance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! in musical theater. 1 p.m. May 3, Studio Theatre. Free for anyone with a ticket to any performance of Oklahoma!