 Oklahoma ! had been a struggle to finance and produce . Hammerstein and Rodgers met weekly in 1943 with Theresa Helburn and Lawrence Langner of the Theatre Guild , producers of the blockbuster musical , who together formed what they termed " the Gloat Club " . At one such luncheon , Helburn and Langner proposed to Rodgers and Hammerstein that they turn Molnár 's Liliom into a musical . Both men refused — they had no feeling for the Budapest setting and thought that the unhappy ending was unsuitable for musical theatre . In addition , given the unstable wartime political situation , they might need to change the setting from Hungary while in rehearsal . At the next luncheon , Helburn and Langner again proposed Liliom , suggesting that they move the setting to Louisiana and make Liliom a Creole . Rodgers and Hammerstein played with the idea over the next few weeks , but decided that Creole dialect , filled with " zis " and " zose " would sound corny and would make it difficult to write effective lyrics . 
