Oklahoma

Every now and then I have the pleasure of seeing something really magical and this was one of those occasions. Oklahoma by Rogers and Hammerstein 11 is a delightful musical with a good story line, lots of fun and interesting personalities and excellent music. LPOS did full justice to this great show in every department. Despite only a small orchestra the music was a joy providing a really great accompaniment to some superb voices lilting along doing justice to the score but never drowning out the dialogue. The costumes looked right, were colourful and contributed to transporting the audience into the Oklahoma West of the early 1900s. The same can be said of the very clever set with wonderful back-drops projected onto the stage.  The overture was delightfully choreographed. This is an unusual but very effective way to quieten down the audience and get them in the ‘mood’ of the era and place. Tracy Lynch as Aunt Eller was on stage throughout helping to build this ‘mood’. She was great in the entire production showing off her strength as a convincing and powerful actress.

Katie Newman and Tony Baker as Laurey and Curly were outstanding. Katie’s acting, singing and dancing could grace a professional stage at any time and Tony was the perfect partner singing the opening song with so much feeling that the audience were immediately transported to the American West. The comedy roles were filled by Victoria Unsworth as Ado Annie and John Chambers as Ali Hakim. They both gave excellent performances, John as the Peddler Man who couldn’t resist a pretty face and finally got caught by Melanie Baker, as Gertie with the dreadful laugh (how did she keep it up) and Victoria who entertained the audience every time she came on stage. “I’m Just a Girl who can’t say No” was a winning number. Daniel Paine as Jud Fry provided serious tension in the story line. His interpretation of ‘Poor Jud is Dead’ with Curly, ending with them both shooting holes in the wall, built up a feeling of horror and unrest and the fight scene later in the show was very dramatic and cleverly choreographed. Phil Wooton as Will Parker and Jimmy Lynch as the outraged father of Ado Annie both gave strong performances and the remaining principals and chorus members all contributed to an outstanding production.

I loved the opening to Act two, ‘The Farmer and the Cowman should be Friends’, the dancing in ‘Many a New Day’ and the ballet to ‘Out of my Dreams’.  These were all very special and quite delightful to watch. My congratulations to the directors for producing such a realistic and memorable show.

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