Storyline: In the first decade of the twentieth century, as the people of
the Oklahoma Territory look forward to statehood, two young women have man
trouble. There's Laurey, who is being courted by charming young cowboy
called Curly when Jud, a surly hired hand, enters the equation. The other is Ado
Annie, who "Cain't Say No!" to her boyfriend who is just back from Kansas
City, but her father has already used his shotgun to convince a traveling
peddler to marry her. Things take a fatal turn when Jud and Curly compete
for Laurey's box lunch at the sociable.
The American musical had been evolving toward a
more integrated, serious form of entertainment for decades before Rodgers
and Hammerstein crafted this confection with a solid story told in part by
dialogue, part by song and part by dance. It struck a chord in the hearts of
a war-weary nation when it opened in 1943. Oscar Hammerstein II, who had
been a major force in developing the form for twenty years, but who hadn't
had a hit in nearly a decade, teamed with Richard Rodgers, who had just
about had it with the unreliability and difficulty of working with his
long-time partner Lorenz Hart. Oklahoma! was a hit of enormous
proportions, running for over five years on Broadway, hitting big again in
London, becoming a Cinemascope 35 and Todd-AO 70 movie and being revived on
Broadway four times. It was the start of a new partnership which, over the
next sixteen years, added Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and
The Sound of Music to the list of classic American musicals.
The show is famous for beginning not with a
chorus line of pretty girls, but with a single male voice off stage singing
"Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'." Here that voice is Jake Odmark's. He has just
the right blend of swagger and charm as Curly. "Many a New Day," one of the
finest mergers of words and music in theater history, is given a charmingly
light delivery by Jessica Lauren Ball, who is as "purty" a Laurey as any
Curly would want. Adam Grabau, who was so good as the demented Nazi in
Toby's The Producers,
comes up with a strong performance at the other end of the emotional
spectrum as the troubled hired hand who nurses grudges in his "Lonely Room."
The secondary story of Ado Annie isn't given short shrift in its casting.
Annie is Elizabeth Rayca, displaying skill as a singing comedienne. Jeffrey
Shankle brings energy to his singing and dancing as her beaux back from
Kansas City (where "everything is up to date") while Vishal Vaidya lands
most of the laughs reserved for the Persian peddler.
A significant element of any production of
the show has to be the execution of the dream dance which ends the first
act. Rachel Schur is as graceful as one could want as the "Dream Laurey."
Surprisingly, the orchestra seems to rise to the minimum requirements for
this exclusively instrumental segment. It is during the vocal work that the
orchestra's weakness and thinness becomes a distraction, drawing attention
away from the glories of the score.
Music by Richard Rodgers. Book and lyrics by
Oscar Hammerstein II. Directed and choreographed by Mark Minnick. Musical
direction by Reenie Codelka. Design: David A. Hopkins (set) Samn Huffer
(costumes) Lynn Joslin (lights) Drew Dedrick (sound) Kirstine Christiansen
(photography) Drew Dedrick and Terrence Sweeney (stage managers). Cast: MaryLee Adams, Frank Anthony, Trish Baker, Jessica Lauren Ball, Parker Drown,
Joel Adam Gerlach, Adam Grabau, Andrew Horn, Chris Jehnert, Shawn Kettering,
Katie Keyser, Jordan Klein, Jen Kohlhafer, Julia Lancione, Darren McDonnell,
Jake Odmark, Elizabeth Rayca, Rachel Schur, Jeffrey Shankle, Christen
Svangos, Susan Thornton, Vishal Vaidya, Kate Williams, Victoria Winter. |
