The American Revolution came to Broadway when Hamilton began previews July 13. At the same time the Richard B. Fisher Center at Bard College celebrated the revolution in the American musical — Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! When Oklahoma! premiered in 1943, the curtain opened not on a production number but on a man singing to himself. R&H had written a musical play, not a review (however sparkling). Musical history followed their footsteps.

Bard did it as a chamber play — nine characters, a six-piece band. They inflected the score with a country twang (mandolin, steel pedal guitar), and scaled the choreography back to western swing, giving the war horse bright new shoes.

As in every revolution, there are some problems with Oklahoma! The opening is spectacular. “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” cow poke Curly McLain’s solo, is like the song of the first happy man (maybe the last one): Adam in the Garden. If it doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, you’re dead, or at least deaf. “The Surrey With the Fringe on Top,” slowed down at Bard, is both seductive and innocent.

The rest drags a bit. The supporting roles are cartoons: round-heeled girl, dumb lug lover, wily shyster. The unsolvable problem is Jud Fry, the hired hand who is Curly’s dark rival for farm girl Laurey Williams. Thug, or wretch? R&H never got him right, so he sits on the show like a slab.

But the talent and energy of cast and musicians carried everything before it. Damon Daunno (Curly) was a charmer, a tenor Hank Williams.

I saw the end of the run, but director Daniel Fish has been working on Oklahoma! for years. It should reappear somewhere; when it does, go.