Board members and play selection committees, consider Terry Teachout’s Top 15 pre-1970 (pre-Company) American musical comedies.
As far as most theatergoers are concerned, modern musical comedy starts with Oklahoma! [Rogers and Hammerstein, 1943] It’s effective to the point of infallibility—even amateurs can make it work—though the 1955 wide-screen film version is more than a little bit overblown. If you know only the movie, you’ll be surprised by how much more touching Oklahoma! is on stage.